toilet flange is uneven, how much is too much

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mousejockey

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I've tried sanding a 3/8 plastic flange spacer to level it up, used a standard wax seal, a thick wax ring, a Danco Perfect seal wax ring both with the flange spacer and without. One side of the spacer is 1/8 below the flooring the other 1/4 above. I used caulk to seal the spacer to the flange and tried everything I can think of. The water seems to be on the laminate flooring not in the "trough" around the flange so I guessed that it was splashing back up around the top of the wax ring, which makes no sense I know, but I got the standard wax ring up to a decent room temp, melted some wax from a previous attempt and sealed the wax ring to the bottom of the toilet so there could be no chance of a leak but of course it did. The water is always in the area in front of the flange just in the front of the toilet opening. We have a concrete slab and the drain pipe isn't exactly vertical so I'm REALLY hesitant to attempt to fix it, also the floor isn't exactly level. The bathroom addition was done by a group of monkeys. I have to take it off again and will try to post pics.
 

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Here are some pics, I think I know what I have to do. Remove the vanity we just installed, the section of new flooring, the old tile squares and the flange. Then grind around the flange and then some to get the concrete flat and any high spots around it. Then check the height and add a spacer if needed then a new flange, believe me I don't want to do this. Perhaps you can see in the last image the metal ring is above the plastic cone and has a drop of water, I think this may be my problem. The bare side of the flange is the right side as you look at it so the part with water is the front.The flange is bent in a few places, I assumed the wax would take care of it, I'm so desperate now that I have the bowl upside down and filled with watero_Oo_O. I really don't think that the toilet has an issue but desperation causes unusual ideas.
 

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How far below the floor is the flange,have you tried doubling up the wax ring
If the flags is not level there are plastic toilet shims any hardware store
I think the biggest problem is the flange is bent in places but we have just now put on a Better than Wax seal, it came with a ~1/2 foam extender which was way too much but by itself didn't seem to be high enough so I bought another one and peeled the 1/4 inch foam gasket and added it to the original. First couple of flushes, so far so good.
 
Ok, start from jump with no wax and just set toilet on flange with the bolts. Is it rocking because the horn is into the flange or is it sitting flush because the horn hasn't hit the flange. If the horn is on the flange just add one wax ring and spacers to level. You have quite a bit of wax on that thing right now. I dont think you are getting good alignment with all that wax smashing around under there. I know plumbers that used to make that seal with just putty.
 
Ok, start from jump with no wax and just set toilet on flange with the bolts. Is it rocking because the horn is into the flange or is it sitting flush because the horn hasn't hit the flange. If the horn is on the flange just add one wax ring and spacers to level. You have quite a bit of wax on that thing right now. I dont think you are getting good alignment with all that wax smashing around under there. I know plumbers that used to make that seal with just putty.

We'll see in a bit but we set the toilet last night and just filled the tank, no flushing. The floor is uneven so I was able to slide srtips od paper towel under one side and it is soaked this morning. Shortly we will pull the toilet
 
Well I hope I'm not speaking too soon but I think we got it. Believe it or not it seems that the toilet had a leak under the bowl, we looked and looked and it had some irregularities but no definite holes but yesterday we put a new gasket and filled the tank, didn't flush. The strip of paper towel under the bowel was soaked. Water was always in front of the glange and was this time as well. Replaced the toilet around noon, waited several hours before flushing, it was dry. We've flushed several times now and no issues so far.
 

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