: One day about 2 years ago my 2 year old daughter threw a toilet paper roller down the bowl. We tried everything and could not get it out. Called a plumber. Plumber tried everything and could not get it out. Said we needed a new bowl. Went and bought a new bowl, which the plumber installed.

: Flash forward to about 2 months ago. Suddenly there is fluid leaking from the bottom of the bowl. I ask around (having never done any plumbing before) and a plumber friend says no problem, just replace the seal. So I go buy a seal, I'm told the are all the same, remove the bowl, and discover 2 things:

: 1) The outlet pipe is not attached to the wood floor. There are screws that are supposed to anchor it to the floor, but they've pulled completely loose.

: 2) The was no seal at all in between the bowl and the pipe - just a whole bunch of that wax stuff, but no actual 'seal'.

: So I put in the new seal. I've done this twice now, and it seals for about 3 weeks, then starts leaking again. These are brand new seals of course.

: So I have a number of questions:

: 1) One of the things I notice is that the seal does not snugly fit on the outlet of the toilet bowl - it appears the toilet bowl has a smaller 'hole' than the inside diameter of the seal - is this normal?

Answer ..Yes.. The wax seal is larger

: 2) If the pipe is not firmly screwed to the floor, will this cause it to break the seal after a short period of time? I did not screw it down again because there is not much wood material there to screw it to, so I was not sure what to do.

Answer. I cannot believe that any place would allow a "wood floor" to be located under a toilet flange as wood is absorbent and not the best materials to be used if one wants to prevent bacteria from breeding especially with the "mold" lawsuits going nuts

: 3) Is it possible that the bowl itself is cracked and is the source of the leak? There are no visible cracks that I can see.

Answer.Anything is possible BUT the wood flooring is just plain ludicrous.

: 4) Any other suggestions? If you've got a sealing toilet bowl seal that simply will not stop leaking, what is the most likely cause?

Answer .IF your local codes allow try a Hercules DEEP seal wax gasket (with the plastic horn)Also Fluid master makes a plastci type of gasket that supposed to last a life time

: The leak is small - say 1/10 of a cup of fluid over a week's period of time - but for some reason I cannot get it to stop. Of course knowing absolutely nothing about plumbing, I'm sure I am overlooking something simple and obvious. Anyone who can help me out - it would be greatly appreciated.

: Thanks.

: Chad