Question about Wax Gaskets - Page 2

**majakdragon** · 01-08-2010, 04:42 PM

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 · 01-08-2010, 05:17 PM

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** · 01-08-2010, 05:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BRad704

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.

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 · 01-08-2010, 06:07 PM

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 · 01-09-2010, 12:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BRad704

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 · 01-11-2010, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bradthebard

So, you paint behind the tank before you put it back?

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...

**SilverBack4Jack** · 01-17-2010, 03:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by majakdragon

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.

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.

**phishfood** · 01-19-2010, 12:39 AM

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.

**Otahyoni** · 01-19-2010, 12:07 PM

Oh that's nasty....

**Reedwalker** · 01-19-2010, 03:16 PM

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.