If you’re a homeowner, it is likely that you have had to remove and reset a toilet of two, OR hired someone to do it. It’s a fairly easy, but messy, inexpensive task. However, a common problem with toilet installations is that some people and plumbers and re-modelers like to caulk the toilet flange to the floor. It doesn’t matter if the floor is vinyl, tile or wood, this is not a good idea. If the wax seal is broken, you want to know immediately by evidence of water running out onto the floor. If your toilet is caulked down, you’ll never see the water, and it will be forced down through the rough plumbing hole in the floor, into the sub-floor, and into the crawl space if it’s on the first floor. If it’s on the second floor, into the floor cavity and first floor ceiling sheetrock. Not good…..
I just spent an hour under a small one bath house we recently sold to a client. I wanted to see for myself what our Buyer’s inspector spotted as "rotted subfloor area adjacent to plumbing at bath/laundry room areas". The inspector wrote that he thought the problem may have been caused by water leaking past the rubber boot on the plumbing vent at the roof, and following the exterior of the vent pipe all the way down to the rotted floor area. While this may have been a contributing cause, it was evident from close visual inspection that most of the leakage came from the toilet. While we were under the house, I offered a bet to the repair contractor that was with me that we would find a toilet that had been caulked to the floor above. (Neither of us had been inside the house yet.) Sure enough, the toilet was caulked down. The only evidence a water problem was some slight discoloring of the caulk.
To avoid an expensive and needless repair, check your toilets. If they are caulked to the floor, remove the caulk. It’s a tedious task, but it’s a lot better than what could happen in the event there is a leak, and you are not aware of it.
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