WV Bob
Member
I've got a situation in a house I'm rehabbing that I don't seem to be able to get past, where the toilet leaks around the flange seal, keeping the floor wet. I noticed it first after a helper installed the toilet. The toilet looked like it had moved, because the bolt washers weren't vertical, and when I took it off, it looked like the bowl had slipped backward or been installed so it smeared the wax ring. Then, when I reinstalled, I heard the snap nobody wants to hear when the flange broke or popped since it was already broken. Either way, since then I've tried every day after work to get it to stop leaking and have had no success at all.
1. I screwed a metal flange repair kit over the broken flange, and bolted the T bolts down to it. The repair flange thing was not made to hold the bolt from turning, so after 2 or 3 remove and replace cycles, it bent to where it wasn't usable.
2. After giving up on the flange repair I replaced the flange and riser. The original flange was a little low due to adding a tile floor, so I used a flat flange extender under the new flange to bring it above the finished floor surface. It's thoroughly screwed down to the subfloor and level.
3. I was having to overtighten the bolts to get the toilet to where it actually felt tight and wouldn't move. Then I realized the bum who did my flooring left the tile directly behind the toilet about half a tile low. That caused the toilet to rock backward when I tightened it, which I figured would break the seal to the wax. It also left the toilet only partly on the floor so it was not tight and could move no matter what. So I dry fit the toilet to figure out what shimming is needed to bring it to level, and since starting to use the shims I don't have to overtighten the bowl to get it mounted solid.
4. I looked at the underside of the bowl for cracks, and found nothing obvious. I noticed that several details in the sealing surface under the toilet were leaving clear imprints on the wax seal, so I know it's compressing the wax.
5. I have tried different wax rings including thick and regular, reinforced and not, , and one of those green sani-seal foam seals. The wax rings have been compressed and the sani-seal had plenty of squish so it should have sealed.
I've probably had that toilet up off the floor ten times, but every single time, with every flush, I get drips of water through the subfloor and on the basement floor below. Nothing I've done has made it better, some things I tried made it worse. Last night I took special care assembling everything (used the sani-seal) and checking level more than once, but still drip, drip, drip.
I'm at a loss as to what to try next. I'm looking long and hard at that Fernco wax-free seal solution and it seems like that would solve the problem, but then so have other things I've tried. Also, I'm leery of anything being glued to the bottom of the toilet where I can't see it.
Any advice, suggestions, or questions on what I'm doing are greatly appreciated. This problem is keeping me from working on 500 other things that need fixed.
Thanks in advance,
1. I screwed a metal flange repair kit over the broken flange, and bolted the T bolts down to it. The repair flange thing was not made to hold the bolt from turning, so after 2 or 3 remove and replace cycles, it bent to where it wasn't usable.
2. After giving up on the flange repair I replaced the flange and riser. The original flange was a little low due to adding a tile floor, so I used a flat flange extender under the new flange to bring it above the finished floor surface. It's thoroughly screwed down to the subfloor and level.
3. I was having to overtighten the bolts to get the toilet to where it actually felt tight and wouldn't move. Then I realized the bum who did my flooring left the tile directly behind the toilet about half a tile low. That caused the toilet to rock backward when I tightened it, which I figured would break the seal to the wax. It also left the toilet only partly on the floor so it was not tight and could move no matter what. So I dry fit the toilet to figure out what shimming is needed to bring it to level, and since starting to use the shims I don't have to overtighten the bowl to get it mounted solid.
4. I looked at the underside of the bowl for cracks, and found nothing obvious. I noticed that several details in the sealing surface under the toilet were leaving clear imprints on the wax seal, so I know it's compressing the wax.
5. I have tried different wax rings including thick and regular, reinforced and not, , and one of those green sani-seal foam seals. The wax rings have been compressed and the sani-seal had plenty of squish so it should have sealed.
I've probably had that toilet up off the floor ten times, but every single time, with every flush, I get drips of water through the subfloor and on the basement floor below. Nothing I've done has made it better, some things I tried made it worse. Last night I took special care assembling everything (used the sani-seal) and checking level more than once, but still drip, drip, drip.
I'm at a loss as to what to try next. I'm looking long and hard at that Fernco wax-free seal solution and it seems like that would solve the problem, but then so have other things I've tried. Also, I'm leery of anything being glued to the bottom of the toilet where I can't see it.
Any advice, suggestions, or questions on what I'm doing are greatly appreciated. This problem is keeping me from working on 500 other things that need fixed.
Thanks in advance,