In today’s “ask the Contractor,” we are featuring a consumer question we found in a plumbing forum. The homeowner had already changed out the wax ring under the toilet itself, but was still noticing water leakage. Our Contractor noted that the toilet itself could be cracked or you may actually need to use 2 wax rings to get the best seal. He recommends using one with a rubber gasket and then another on top without the rubber gasket. The other problem may be that the flange is too high and the toilet is sitting too tight to the flange, so that it squeezes all the wax out of it, breaking the seal. If this is the case, the flange would need to be cut and a new, lower one would need to be installed. If the toilet rocks and needs to be “shimmed” it is also probably because the flange is too high. This may require a plumber because you have to cut the pipe from the inside and fit a new flange at the proper height which is flushor a little below the floor level. If the toilet is cracked, you will just need to outright replace it.
Content provided by: Randy Ritzenthaler