Wax seal on toilet... Ever replaced it? **UPDATE Post #24**

[AKL_Megs]

Pleeeaaassseee tell me it isn't all that complicated.

I noticed last night that some of the grout on our bathroom floor in a few places directly surrounding the toilet was wet.

After investigating (flushing a few times with a piece of paper under the toilet ) I discovered that the toilet is leaking a tiny bit of water with each flush.

I don't know if the water is our "waste" water or clean water, but it looked clean and clear, and smelled "earthy".

I looked online, and it appears that it is the wax seal on the toilet. It makes sense, because the toilet does "shift" a little.

Now we have to fix it.

DH is handy, but gets stressed if the task is too hard.

It seems easy enough... turn off water, empty water, remove toilet, scrape off old wax, replace, put toilet back on.

Right?

 

[coolbeans]

dh did ours in the master not long ago, it was easy!!
now, he did the guest bath once before and the wrench he used to remove the bolt slipped.. he busted his knuckle and a hole in the toliet!! so we had to replace the whole thing.. just tell him to be careful.

 

[AKL_Megs]

dh did ours in the master not long ago, it was easy!!
now, he did the guest bath once before and the wrench he used to remove the bolt slipped.. he busted his knuckle and a hole in the toliet!! so we had to replace the whole thing.. just tell him to be careful.

Thankfully, our toilet is only 6 months old... it is just that whoever installed it before we moved in here didn't tighten the bolts enough, and now it slips and has broken the seal.

The bolts should screw off nicely.


I hope...

Thanks!!!

 

[BellePrincessBelle]

I replaced 2 toilets completely by myself. The wax ring is the easy part.

 

[AKL_Megs]

I replaced 2 toilets completely by myself. The wax ring is the easy part.

Well, if a princess can do it, I sure hope my DH can!

 

[golfgal]

Did you have your house built? Is it still under warranty? A wax ring should NOT wear out in 6 months, those take YEARS to wear out. You are probably correct that the bolts are not tightened properly as the toilet should not move (it is the toilet and not just the seat, right?). I would call your builder and have them get over there and fix this now. I would want to make sure the whole system is installed correctly.

Putting in a new wax ring is easy though.

 

[BellePrincessBelle]

Well, if a princess can do it, I sure hope my DH can!

Well I don't know because I am so special I can do anything. My minion, opps I mean Prince Charming, was at work so it came to me to do the dirty work. It really is easy.

 

[AKL_Megs]

Did you have your house built? Is it still under warranty? A wax ring should NOT wear out in 6 months, those take YEARS to wear out. You are probably correct that the bolts are not tightened properly as the toilet should not move (it is the toilet and not just the seat, right?). I would call your builder and have them get over there and fix this now. I would want to make sure the whole system is installed correctly.

Putting in a new wax ring is easy though.

No, our house wasn't built... well, it WAS built, in 1954!

The people who moved out before we moved in had just updated the bathroom. I have no clue who did the work.

All I know is I read online that once a toilet is able to shift, it breaks the tight seal on the wax seal... so, after 6 months of shifting around, it's toast.

 

[lovepurple]

It should be really easy, unless you find that the floor is rotted which we had happen to ours. But that shouldn't be the case after only six months.

 

[golfgal]

Well, in that case, unscrew the bolts, lift off the toilet, scrape off old wax, apply new wax, replace toilet. Now the hard part, DON'T over tighten the screws holding the toilet or you will have to replace the whole toilet.

Oh, turn off the water first, drain what is left out of the toilet. A new wax ring only costs a few dollars too.

 

[DISdreamin']

One tip if you decide to do this yourself (and it is VERY do-able, DH and I have done them a few times in our houses) - buy TWO wax rings when you buy them.

I say this for a couple reasons - first, when you pull the toilet you *might* find they used two before (sometimes when they have re-tiled a floor and the subfloor is a tad too low the plumber will do this. Or, a second possiblity is that there is only one wax ring, but when you go to set down the toilet you might not have it lined up properly the first time, and this way you will have a spare if that happens.

Considering those wax rings are SUPER cheap, it's very worth it to buy an extra unless Lowe's or HD or whatever is right around the corner!

Good luck and let us know how it goes (pun fully intended).

Oh, oh - and one other thing - if you or your don't DH think there is any reason to pull the tank off the toilet base to do this, try not to! If you have to, you have to, but it usually is NOT necessary! And if you do need to pull the tank off the base for some reason, be sure to buy some new washers - even after only a couple years they sort of lose their elasticity and it's really hard to get them to seal again. BTDT with a 4-1/2 year old house just this winter.

 

[NAB]

You are not suppose to grout(.....oops I mean caulk.) your toliet for this very reason. When we got our bathroom redone I asked them why they didnt' do it and said it is against building code or something.

If your toliet leaks which it did you wouldn't know it and the floor will rot and you will fall though the floor or damage the ceiling of the below rooms.

 

[AKL_Megs]

Well, in that case, unscrew the bolts, lift off the toilet, scrape off old wax, apply new wax, replace toilet. Now the hard part, DON'T over tighten the screws holding the toilet or you will have to replace the whole toilet.

Oh, turn off the water first, drain what is left out of the toilet. A new wax ring only costs a few dollars too.

Sounds easy enough!

You are not suppose to grout(.....oops I mean caulk.) your toliet for this very reason. When we got our bathroom redone I asked them why they didnt' do it and said it is against building code or something.

If your toliet leaks which it did you wouldn't know it and the floor will rot and you will fall though the floor or damage the ceiling of the below rooms.

I should have specified... FLOOR grout... for the tiles.

 

[marlynnp]

It's very easy.

Tell him to buy 2 wax rings. That way if he messes up the first one he doesn't need to run right out for another. He can always return the spare later.

 

[overlyspoiled4sure]

Just be glad, OP, that you have a clue that something's wrong. The people who redid our house before we bought it in 1992 didn't put the wax ring on at all when they worked on the upstairs toilet. The plumber didn't find any evidence of one when he came to our rescue. He even knew what was wrong from my tale of woe when I called. The floor beneath was OK too because water was going straight down. Ewwwwwww!

So, ever since we bought the house in 1992 we were having water leak for EACH flush! So a stream of icky water was going straight down into a closet they'd made in the family room below. If DD & I hadn't been looking for something a year or so ago we still wouldn't have known something was wrong. The items we had stored there were soaking up most of the water because the carpet's OK & we didn't lose any items, but, oh gosh! The boxes & the shelving were ruined. Items in the boxes, our hallmark American Girl bookends were ok. A couple of them were rather icky but did wash off well with bleach water & an old tooth brush.

I imagine when you go to say, Menards or Home Depot they'll be able to tell you how to fix it. Good luck!

 

[buckler]

It may be more than just a wax ring. The toilet flange might be broken and it might be difficult to repair. The previous homeowners might have decided it wasn't worth it when they remodeled and put the toilet back together as best they could without fixing it properly. Google toilet flange for info. My husband had to repair one in one of our bathrooms. Owners years ago didn't want to be bothered doing it correctly and had made a wood spacer and did some other oddball things instead of doing it right. Wood and water don't mix! My DH was able to get a new flange and bolts and do it right. If you husband is handy he will be able to handle it. But he MAY curse a bit at the previous people's stupidity for not fixing it right the first time.

You can find a number of videos on Youtube about repairing a toilet flange.

Edited to add: if your house was built in the 50's you might have cast iron piping in there. That might make things a little more complicated. Here's an example of a thread about that type of situation on a plumbing forum. If you run into trouble, you might post on this site for help.
http://www.terrylove.com/forums/showthread.php?7188-Replace-or-fix-cast-iron-toilet-flange

 

[DISdreamin']

Edited to add: if your house was built in the 50's you might have cast iron piping in there. That might make things a little more complicated. Here's an example of a thread about that type of situation on a plumbing forum. If you run into trouble, you might post on this site for help.
http://www.terrylove.com/forums/showthread.php?7188-Replace-or-fix-cast-iron-toilet-flange

Thankfully, from what I have seen, home improvement and hardware stores are full of parts for situations like that if it arises. I'm hoping, for the sake of the OP, that it's a simple wax ring. It's not uncommon for someone playing DIY to not tighten the toilet down well enough - you hear such horror stories about breaking the porcelain - and the movement causing the seal to break. So I've got my fingers crossed it's a simple fix! And if it isn't, you've got them covered.

OP, don't let this scare you from taking things apart and seeing what's what. If it is the flange, maybe it's time to call in the professionals, but if not - it's probably a simple and cheap fix.

 

[AKL_Megs]

Thankfully, from what I have seen, home improvement and hardware stores are full of parts for situations like that if it arises. I'm hoping, for the sake of the OP, that it's a simple wax ring. It's not uncommon for someone playing DIY to not tighten the toilet down well enough - you hear such horror stories about breaking the porcelain - and the movement causing the seal to break. So I've got my fingers crossed it's a simple fix! And if it isn't, you've got them covered.

OP, don't let this scare you from taking things apart and seeing what's what. If it is the flange, maybe it's time to call in the professionals, but if not - it's probably a simple and cheap fix.

Just got back from Home Depot with TWO wax seals in hand. I removed the bolt covers, and as I thought, they are on by a thread. It's no wonder we could twist the toilet.

Hoping for an easy fix tomorrow!

 

[DISdreamin']

Just got back from Home Depot with TWO wax seals in hand. I removed the bolt covers, and as I thought, they are on by a thread. It's no wonder we could twist the toilet.

Hoping for an easy fix tomorrow!

Okay, not to be Debbie Downer here, but if someone put ceramic tile over the original subfloor/flooring and tried to use the original flange and bolts, the bolts may be too short. Before you put things back together, make sure you've got long enough bolts...they sell ones for retrofits that are longer than normal. Just a thought!

Good luck, and keep us posted!

 

[jbthi]

I haven't read all the posts so I don't know if someone else may have mentioned it, but most of the time it is best to use 1 1/2 wax rings to seat the toilet.