BRad704
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I am looking online at them because I have noticed water around our wobbly toilet, and they have classifications like No. 1, No. 3 or No. 10.... What does that mean? and should I just take up the toilet before buying anything?
Question about Wax Gaskets
- Thread starter BRad704
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Chris
Well-Known Member
When i pull a toilet I use a new Jumbo wax ring. I didn't know they had sizes. If I just installed a thick tile floor I would do a jumbo and a regular.
BRad704
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I think I'll pull it up first anyway... maybe its just loose or something and I can fix it and tighten the toilet back down... Or I could just tighten it down, and caulk really heavy around the base to keep the water from running out? How's that sound?
Chris
Well-Known Member
You need to fix the leak or say goodbye to the floor under there. I would pull it, check the flange, if good and tight throw on a new wax ring and new bolts and tighten it down then re-caulk it.
BRad704
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I know... I was joking about that last part... I will pull the toilet up tonite and see what's going on. I'm sure ya'll will hear all about it tomorrow morning at the latest!
Before you take the two nuts off and pick the toilet up, go out pick up two wax rings, one with the integral funnel looking thing and another just a wax ring. That way you can do the job at one time, be sure to clean as best you can the outlet on the bottom of the toilet of all the old wax ring and also the area around the mounting ring that the bolts slide into. Use both rings, the one with the integral funnel at the floor first, the other on top of it. It will take some pushing down when putting the toilet back, and watch for your bolts, sitting on it and wigglleing-rocking a LITTLE will help 'seat' it in place. I have never in over thirty years had a toilet leak that I used two rings on!
Oh, and do not caulk around the base of the toilet when its installed. If, IF, there is a leak you want to know it!
Oh, and do not caulk around the base of the toilet when its installed. If, IF, there is a leak you want to know it!
bradthebard
neither a bird nor plane
Plus, if you use a really high quality caulk, when you go to take the toilet up ecause you are, say, remodeling or something, it will be so stuck that in tryng to break it loose you might just break the toilet.
ask me how I know..
BRad704
Moderation
I got it up last night... and replaced the internals while I was at it... I have pics on my phone, will add later...
Nothing really looked wrong with teh gasket, but both bolts had pulled loose, and I guess the toilet just didnt line up anymore. I am going to get a new gasket today, and replace it anyway while I have it all open.
PICS ADDED...
Nothing really looked wrong with teh gasket, but both bolts had pulled loose, and I guess the toilet just didnt line up anymore. I am going to get a new gasket today, and replace it anyway while I have it all open.
PICS ADDED...
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BRad704, any time you remove the toilet, a new wax seal is required. Trying to use 2 seals can be tricky and often the top one will slide and block the drain hole causing back-ups. They make thicker seals. Should you decide to seal around the toilet base, leave the back portion open for detecting any future leaks you may have. If the toilet wobbles, use toilet shims.
BRad704
Moderation
I went ahead and bought the Jumbo size kit that includes new hardware... havent gotten to put it all in place yet, I just taped the lid down to the bowl so the kids to try to use it...
I agree that the old seal does not look damaged. It also means that the toilet was not sealing properly. Hope the thicker seal fixes the problem.
BRad704
Moderation
I get the new seal on tonite, and see what happens... I think I caused the problem by sitting sideways on the toilet while helping the kids wash their hair in the tub. It didnt wobble in the past and I guess I twisted it over time.
Chris
Well-Known Member
I used to do tile for a living and whenever we did a bathroom we would have to use the jumbo wax ring and often times we would also add a regular one with no plastic funnel dohicky in it because the new floor pushes the toilet up but the flange stays the same. You could be having this problem.
Also in my house I grouted up to my toilets to take car of any wobbling problem but the downfall to that is that if I ever ned to pull it off again I have chip the grout away.
BRad704
Moderation
Well i do know that the PO of the house had tile added to the bathrooms and had the kitchen floor stained.. so maybe my issue came from #1 not quite enough wax and #2 me twisting the toilet by sitting sideways on it...
bradthebard
neither a bird nor plane
So, you paint behind the tank before you put it back?I just tore out the toilet in my cabin and had the same thing going on. I had a cool plastered finish on the wall and there was a nice clean square right behind the tank.
BRad704
Moderation
That would be a negative...
But I did get the old seal off, new seal on, and found the source of wobbling...
the flange is broken... I didnt have time to get a new one and install with all 4 kids at home this weekend, but the new seal and 1 bolt seems to hold well for now. And its only $4 to replace the seal when I put the new flange on later anyway...
I couldn't have said it better myself! Especially about leaving the back open to allow a place for water to exit if it ever does begin to leak.
Regarding leaving the back of the toilet open so as to spot any leaks, I have a odd story on those lines.
Someone I know called me over because the wax seal seemed to be leaking in his master bath. He had this house built ~ 10 years before this. No problem, I bring a new wax ring, bolts, and some grout. I fight the nuts off of the old bolts, and give the bowl a good nudge with my knee to break it loose of the grout joint. It doesn't budge. So I set myself and give it a more authoritative shove. It breaks loose this time, and a flood of BLACK, nasty water goes flooding across the floor. Ooooo, yuckyuckyuck, I hate plumbing, what was I thinking of getting into this nasty line of work, I wanna be an accountant...... Anyway, I get the bowl moved out of the toilet room and lay it down on it's side so I can scrape the old wax off of it, but no wax there to be scraped. Look at the flange, no wax. This toilet was in daily use for 10 or more years without a wax ring before water finally showed through the grout.
Long story short, about a gallon of bleach and 2 hours later, I had the mess cleaned up and the toilet reset.
Someone I know called me over because the wax seal seemed to be leaking in his master bath. He had this house built ~ 10 years before this. No problem, I bring a new wax ring, bolts, and some grout. I fight the nuts off of the old bolts, and give the bowl a good nudge with my knee to break it loose of the grout joint. It doesn't budge. So I set myself and give it a more authoritative shove. It breaks loose this time, and a flood of BLACK, nasty water goes flooding across the floor. Ooooo, yuckyuckyuck, I hate plumbing, what was I thinking of getting into this nasty line of work, I wanna be an accountant...... Anyway, I get the bowl moved out of the toilet room and lay it down on it's side so I can scrape the old wax off of it, but no wax there to be scraped. Look at the flange, no wax. This toilet was in daily use for 10 or more years without a wax ring before water finally showed through the grout.
Long story short, about a gallon of bleach and 2 hours later, I had the mess cleaned up and the toilet reset.
Otahyoni
Well-Known Member
Oh that's nasty....
That flange does not appear to be an easy one to replace.
It appears that it is either an offset toilet flange or a 45* flange. Either way it will be most difficult to replace.
You should probably put in a spanner flange or a "ring". Inexpensive, and as long as you have solid flooring to put some screws into, it will last a very long time.
It appears that it is either an offset toilet flange or a 45* flange. Either way it will be most difficult to replace.
You should probably put in a spanner flange or a "ring". Inexpensive, and as long as you have solid flooring to put some screws into, it will last a very long time.
