How To Repair Toilet Leaking At Base

Everything should be as reliable equally a toilet. It's non unusual for one to terminal more than xl years with merely a minimal amount of care. Just, occasionally, water volition brainstorm to leak out from under the toilet and spill onto the floor, which can lead to serious water damage. Just this type of leak is easy to diagnose and set up, fifty-fifty if yous've never attempted a plumbing repair.

Why is the toilet is leaking from the base?

The leak is ordinarily caused when the seal under the toilet fails. Below yous'll learn how to install a new wax gasket to create a watertight seal betwixt the toilet and the closet flange and install a new flexible water-supply tube.

Water pooling around the base of the toilet is a adept indication that the wax seal has failed. Merely in some cases the problem lies elsewhere. Soak upward the water from the flooring with a sponge and dry off the toilet with a towel. Wait until a new pool appears on the floor, and then check to make sure the h2o is seeping out from under the toilet and not coming from a loose supply tube, faulty shutoff valve, cracked tank or sweaty bowl.

How do you lot fix it?

If water is leaking from beneath the toilet, you might exist able to stop information technology by simply tightening the cupboard bolts that secure the toilet to the floor. Utilise a putty knife or slotted screwdriver to pry off the caps that are covering the bolts. So use a wrench to alternately tighten each bolt, a petty at a fourth dimension. Be careful not to apply too much force per unit area; you lot tin fissure the toilet's base.

If yous're lucky, the leak volition end. If tightening the bolts doesn't help, you'll have to remove the toilet and replace the wax gasket.

Removing The Toilet

The showtime footstep to replacing a wax gasket on a toilet is to plough off the water at the shutoff valve, which is normally located behind the toilet, or in the basement or crawl space direct beneath it. Turn the handle all the way in a clockwise direction.

Remove the tank hat, affluent the toilet and concord down the handle to drain as much water as possible from the tank. Use a sponge to go up the remaining water in the tank; a small paper cup will help you remove any water left in the basin.

Next, disconnect the water-supply tube by loosening the pinch nut on the shutoff valve (stride 1). Pry the caps from the closet bolts, and then use a wrench to remove the nuts (stride 2). If either bolt spins every bit you turn the nut, agree the meridian of the bolt with needlenose pliers.

Take hold of the rim of the bowl straight below the seat hinges, and gently rock the toilet back and forth to interruption the wax seal. Lift the toilet off the floor (pace 3) and lay it on a coating or slice of cardboard. Use a narrow putty knife to scrape off the old wax gasket from the bottom of the toilet and from the closet flange in the floor (step iv).

Check the condition of the flange to brand sure it isn't cracked or bent. Later we scraped off the wax, nosotros discovered that a large piece of the flange had broken off. If this happens, you tin replace the entire flange (no piece of cake task), install a full replacement flange or fill in the missing piece with a repair strap. We opted for the easiest, least expensive option and used the Gapper Flange Repair Strap (about $5) from Jones Stephens Corporation.

To install the curved metallic strap, first loosen the two screws that secure the flange to the floor. Insert a new closet bolt into the slot in the strap, so slide the strap nether the flange (step v). Tighten the flange screws to lock the strap in place. Install the remaining closet bolt in the flange. If the bolts won't stand upright, pack a little wax from the one-time gasket around the base of operations of each 1.

Take a new wax gasket and set it downward on the closet flange, making certain it's perfectly centered (stride half-dozen). Virtually wax gaskets are simply a ring of solid wax, but we used Harvey's Bol-Wax No. 5 (near $5). This one has wax surrounding a cadre of soft urethane foam, and it easily conforms to the flange and toilet to create a superior seal.

Replacing The Toilet

If the toilet is fitted with an quondam chrome-plated copper supply tube, consider replacing it with a new flexible one made of stainless steel-enmeshed polymer. It makes the installation a whole lot easier, and it will nearly concluding forever. We installed a 12-in.-long Fluidmaster supply tube (well-nigh $5); other lengths are available ranging from about viii to 24 in.

Use a light coating of pipe-joint compound to the fitting at each cease of the supply tube, then tighten one end onto the fill-valve shank protruding from the bottom of the toilet tank (pace 7).

Y'all're now ready to set the toilet dorsum in place. Grip the basin near the seat hinges, lift up the toilet and walk it over to the flange. Ready the toilet down onto the wax gasket, using the closet bolts as guides. Slip the washers over the bolts and thread on the nuts. Even so, earlier tightening them, printing downwardly on the rim of the bowl with all your weight to compress the gasket (stride eight).

Bank check to make sure the toilet tank is parallel with the back wall. Alternately tighten each closet commodities until both feel snug. Then, press downward on the bowl over again and tighten the nuts a little more. Continue in this manner until the basics no longer feel loose afterward you press downwards on the toilet. Once again, be careful not to exert too much pressure with the wrench or you lot'll crack the toilet. Use a hacksaw to cut the closet bolts about flush with the nuts (stride 9), then snap on the commodities caps.

Your final step is to tighten the loose end of the water-supply tube to the shutoff valve (step ten). Open up up the valve and flush the toilet several times. If a leak occurs, printing down on the bowl and tighten the nuts a little more. If information technology isn't leaking, use the toilet for a couple of weeks, then pry off the bolt caps and retighten the nuts. The toilet will often settle afterwards several uses.

The Caulk Question

There's a long-standing debate in the plumbing world over whether you should caulk around the base of operations of a toilet. Most plumbers don't considering they're concerned that the caulk would conceal any leaks. Nonetheless, in some municipalities, the local building code requires homeowners to caulk around the toilet to keep bacteria from growing in the joint.

Check with your building department for the code requirement in your town. If y'all do decide to caulk, exist sure to utilize a high-quality, mildewproof tub-and-tile caulk.

Step by Pace Instructions

1. Disconnect the supply tube from the shutoff valve using a wrench. Be sure the valve is closed and the toilet is tuckered.
2. Pry off the rounded caps that cover the closet bolts, and then use a wrench to remove the hex nuts.
3. Very carefully lift the toilet by the basin, not the tank, and ready it down on an old blanket or cardboard sheet.
4. Scrape off all of the old wax gasket from the closet flange. Annotation that a section of the flange is cleaved off.
5. Slide a repair strap nether the closet flange after loosening the screws that secure the flange to the floor.
6. Set the new wax gasket downwardly on the closet flange, making sure it's centered. Note: Both closet bolts are in place.
7. Connect the new water-supply tube to the threaded fill-valve shank on the lesser of the toilet tank.
8. Press down on the toilet bowl rim to compress the gasket. Tighten the closet bolts, then printing down once more.
9. Use a close-quarter hacksaw to trim off the tops of the cupboard bolts. Tighten the basics before replacing the caps.
10. Connect the supply tube to the shutoff valve. And then open the valve, affluent the toilet and check for leaks.

Where to find it:

Fluidmaster

30800 Rancho Viejo Rd.
Dept. TH400
San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675
www.fluidmaster.com
800/631-2011

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Source: https://www.thisoldhouse.com/plumbing/21015019/easy-fix-for-a-leaking-toilet

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