Reseating skirted toto after flood

[Aliris19]

Hi - we had a flood in the house due to roots in the main I believe. The horizontal overflow was capped (?!) and water spread and pooled inside. Fortunately the house wasn't actually built very well so it wasn't level and a lot of the water pooled in a corner.

There's a smell of sewer gas now and seepage from underneath the Vespin and under the house the floor is still wet.

I pulled off the toilet and see lots of nasty gunk, but it's not got the goishy ring I expected to replace; it's a one piece molded plastic.

Do I remove that and is there a seal underneath that? How do I keep water from backing up? If there's no seal and water is still backing out does this mean there's a problem in the line underneath the toilet?

TIA!

 

[Terry]

The adapter normally installs with a wax seal on the toilet closet flange.
Then the bowl drops down over the adapter, with hold down bolts at the rear of the adapter.
I normally caulk the bowl to the floor with some Loctite polyseamseal clear.
How high up did the water get? Or was it leaking at the floor seal?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Aliris19]

Thanks for responding, Terry.

We weren't home for the flood. Believe it or not the alarm company called to report a tripped motion sensor. We were actually on the water and couldn't get back, I was positive I'd locked all house doors and so asked them to send the police. We returned home before the police made it - lol!

There was plenty evidence of lots of water but none present upon return. It was eerie until we worked it out. A bathmat with cotton pile looked fine until you stepped on it and it turns out to have been holding gallons right there; very odd feeling to step on.

So, high enough to flow and trip a motion sensor, but contained in spread and not high enough anywhere to leave a water mark on walls. It must have all run away through the afor-mentioned poorly constructed frame. It's complicated.

So… surely that wax ring underneath the PVC adapter must be trashed and I should replace it?

But… why was there smell formerly, yet then having removed the toilet I plugged the open adapter hole and the smell goes away - that hole should have been stoppered by the toilet, no? The smell ought to have been coming through what I presume is a breeched wax ring below, yet stoppering the open adapter stops the smell….(and I haven't yet touched the adapter or seal).

 

[Aliris19]

Is it possible the plastic seal integral to the PVC adapter is bad and needs replacing? Or should I just change out the wax seal and see if that gets better?

The plastic seal on the adapter *looks* fine.

The corresponding ceramic tube on the toilet that fits into the adapter's open hole had some light-colored gunk on it, seemed like putty? But I don't think that's indicative of some problem. The ceramic didn't feel cracked or nicked but I didn't inspect it visually. But I was wondering whether this coupling point could somehow be a problem.

 

[Terry]

If water is in the bowl, then it's sealed.
It's pretty easy to pull the adapter though and check the seal. If the flange is lower than the finished floor, I use two rings stacked.
It never hurts to replace the water supply while you are at it.

 

[Aliris19]

Thanks.

Water supply is new; I added a bidet recently.

I'll replace the wax seal. The travertine flooring is tall so maybe there never was enough wax there?

Water's in the bowl (was).

However it did glug unusually when flushed, like venting might be a problem. But I'll change the seal for now and deal with that later if it persists.

 

[Aliris19]

Cleaned, but must the flange be really dry before replacing with new wax seal?

 

[Terry]

The bowl when being flushed does mack a sucking sound often as it pulls water from the bowl. Pretty common.
Sounds like you need two wax rings. A paper towel will get the flange dry enough.

 

[Jadnashua]

You should feel definite resistance when you push the UniFit adapter down into the wax - the colder it is, the harder the wax. IF you don't, you need either a jumbo, or to stack two together (ideally, it would have been moved when you redid the floor).