Rear Outlet Floor Mounted Toilet- HELP

[JohnGillway]

Hi guys,

I have a rear outlet floor mounted toilet causing me some trouble. 6 years ago it started leaking on the floor. I replaced the wax seal. For the last couple of years it has been pretty good, but will leak on the floor a little if it gets flushed multiple times in a row. We hardly use this bathroom so thought maybe it wasn’t worth fixing.

All of a sudden it got really bad. I pulled the toilet again and everything was wet behind there. I am in the process of drying it out and peeling off all the bad paint and silicon caulking. The wax seal looked pretty good and was in place.

I am no expert but I thought I might be able to do this job my self. A job like this here in a big city is very expensive. $100 just to show up.

1. How bad does this water damage look? The floor is tile on top of concrete. But some of the wall was wet. Can I dry it out, spackle around the drain and repaint?

2. Is it possible that the water is leaving the toilet fine, then draining backwards around the wax seal? I feel like the drain in wall does make the turn until several inches and the wax drain seal could have back flow? Best way to deal with this? Crank down tighter on the wall screws once I get it back in place? What is the trick to these?

3. There are no floor bolts, the installer filled up the toilet anchor is lots of caulking to anchor to floor? Can I caulk the area just below the drain, so that if water leaks, it won’t go down the wall, or will that make a mess for down the road?

I plan to sell the condo this year, so not looking to go crazy on this one. Unless an inspector is going to require a total repair down the road.

This is what it looked like 6 years ago when I first repaired it. The wax seal looked much better this time around then this time:

 

[WJcandee]

Well one place to start is that you shouldn't be using a wax ring here.

It should be a neoprene seal or graphite felt seal.

If you "crank down" on the wall screws too much, you will assuredly crack the porcelain. Tighten until the thing is firmly-anchored, but no more. It certainly will take the strain off the wall connection if you properly secure the unit to the floor. That's why the bolts are there. You're going to need to drill and drop in some lag bolts, but it will be a much more secure operation.

And don't think that you're going to protect the wall by "caulking around the drain". The material to protect the connection is already specified above.

Yes you can do this yourself. But I hesitate to say so because I am already imagining you trying to think of creative things to do. DON'T. Just do it right, the way the instructions say, with the proper materials, and it should be fine. It's the doing it wrong (by someone else) that created your problem in the first place.

Good luck, and let us know how it goes. Suggestion: don't use the plumber you used last time, and don't vary from the installations instructions that you can probably still find online for your toilet.