Pulling toilet - should I remove the tank? Can I reuse the tank to bowl seal?

[CountryBumkin]

I'm tiling the bathroom at my In-laws place. Tonight I pull the toilet.
They have a Toto two-piece installed about a year ago.

Should I remove the water tank to make the toilet lighter (and maybe easier to reposition over studs on reinstall)? How do you pros prefer to do it?

I do not have a new seal for the tank to bowl connection. Are these seals reusable (on a toilet that is one year old)?

I'm planning to use the "Sani-Seal" when I reinstall. I also bought a "thick" wax ring too just in case.

 

[Larry S]

First and foremost I am a procrastinator! That, and a mess on my walls after removing the guest bathroom wallpaper, is why it's taken a few months to finish a minor remodel of our guest bathroom.

I reinstalled our 30 year old Kohler toilet twice during that time for house guests to use on overnight stays. During this time I had just removed the tank, and not the whole toilet in order to work on the walls behind the tank. I hooked it up without changing the large tank to bowl gasket although I did buy a new bolt set that had the rubber washers for the tank bolts. I was very happy that it was all watertight despite the old age of the tank to bowl gasket as I didn't see a replacement at our local hardware store.

I would strongly suggest removing the tank to make things more maneuverable and to avoid any stress on the tank to bowl connection while moving the toilet around. Hopefully your one year old tank washers and gasket will still work fine if my 30 year old gasket still works. But the only way you'll know for sure is to try it.

 

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[CountryBumkin]

Hopefully your one year old tank washers and gasket will still work fine if my 30 year old gasket still works. But the only way you'll know for sure is to try it.

Yeah, that's the problem. If it does leak, I won't be around to check on it (or fix it) for another week.
And my in-laws are in their 80's, so they probably won't notice a leak until it damages something else - which I'll then have to fix.

I could stop at Lowes on the way over tonight and get a tank-to-bowl gasket I suppose.