We are preparing to celebrate Thanksgiving this week, and we wanted to provide you with a great article for the holidays. Many will be surrounded around loved ones, enjoy good food, and create good times. As you gather with others in your home, please read this article to help keep your home in tip top shape when it comes to plumbing. We are a trusted Plumbers Tulsa company in the area.
What to do with a leaky toilet? Reasons & Solutions
So, how’d you feel stepping in water with bare feet when you enter your toilet in the morning? Obviously, it’s the worst feeling you could ever have as a homeowner. You deserve to have a reliable toilet just as anything else.
But you know what, toilet leaking at the base is more common than you think, and they can quickly become an expensive problem, especially if the leak occurs in the middle of the night or while you’re away from home.
Toilet leaks can be a pain, but don’t worry! You can fix a leaking toilet with simple tools and a little DIY know-how and if you’re unsure where to start you can obviously engage a plumber to help out. But the first thing to do when dealing with a leaky toilet is to shut off the water supply valve behind the toilet, usually found on the wall behind the toilet tank.
Here are three quick and easy ways to repair a leaky toilet – plus, one way to avoid all this extra work in the first place!
Knowing the reasons
The most common reason for a toilet leaking from the base is the failing seal. At this spot, you need to have a water-tight seal (probably with a wax seal) and a flexible water-supply tube. So, if you are finding water pooling around the base, the seal is the culprit.
But not all toilet leaks are because of the failing seal. Some other reasons for seeping water out from the toilet include loose supply tube, faulty shutoff valve, cracked tank or sweaty boil. Here’re some common reasons for a leaky toilet:
- Sometimes because of poor ventilation and temperature difference between the bathroom and the water in the tank, the moisture forms drop that run down the bowl and collect on the floor. So, we always recommend improving bathroom ventilation using exhaust fan or warming the bathroom. Also, if you have a problem of running toilet, make sure to fix that beforehand.
- If you notice any water on your floor coming from under your toilet, chances are that you have a leak somewhere around the seal. You can try tightening the bolts that attach the toilet with the floor but if the wax ring seal is loose or broken, you need to replace the seal.
- Wax toilet seals can become hard or loose overtime and so the water can seep through it. For such a problem, you need to remove the toilet, clean the flange and replace the wax-seal with a new piece or a silicone ring.
Tighten the floor toilet bolts
If you’re feeling that your toilet is wiggling side-to-side, you may have loose bolts on the base. So, find the bolts that secure the toilet to the floor. Using an adjustable wrench, tighten them until they feel tight and don’t move when you tug on them. If you can’t find any bolts, they may be covered under the plastic cap. You need to simply remove these dome-shaped caps from the base bolts by squeezing. You can use a screwdriver in case they won’t come off easily.
Simply use pliers to grip the nuts and turn clockwise to tighten it. Repeat the same process for the bolt on the other end. But be sure to tighten the nuts gently as over tightening can crack the porcelain base.
Once finished, try to wiggle the toilet from the rim and now it should not move from side to side. At the end, replace the toilet bolt caps to protect nuts from rusting.
Replacing failing toilet seal
First, we need to flush the toilet tank and be sure to turn off the water tab below. Now, unscrew the flexible water tube from the toilet. Now wear gloves and use a soaking towel to remove all the stagnant water in the flush. Remove the nuts from floor bolts using pliers or an adjustable wrench.
Now the toilet is free to remove. Just wiggle it a bit to loosen it from the floor, lift it off and set aside. Using a putty knife, scrape off the wax ring at the base of the toilet. Also remove the wax remnants from the floor.
Apply brand new wax ring and stick it to the bottom of the toilet. Make sure to center it on the drain hole. For silicon ring, we need to fix that on the top of the floor closet flange. Now reset the toilet but make sure to use new floor bolts incase they’re rusty. At the end, reattach the flexible water supply to fill the water tank up before flushing.
Tightening a loose toilet tank
Sometimes having a loose toilet tank can also be a reason for leaky toilet. So, you should check the tank for any loose connections and make sure that it is securely fastened at the bolts and tighten them if necessary.
You’ll find tank bolts that attach the tank to the bowl underneath the toilet tank. These are mostly of plastic, and you need to tighten both the nuts to see if it stops the leak. So, drain the toilet and see if the leak is stopped, if not you can proceed for replacing tank-to-bowl gasket.
If you still need Plumbers Tulsa services, please give us a call. Our team are happy to help!
Replacing tank-to-bowl gasket
For reaching the gasket, you need to remove the tank bolts and the tank itself. So, turn off the water supply the toilet tank and flush it to remove all the water. Now you can turn the plastic nuts at the bottom to remove the bolts and detach the tank.
Once the tank is removed, you can remove the old gasket. But make sure to clean the bottom of the toilet tank as well as the top of the bowl with a rag. Now install a new gasket at the center of the drain hole. You can now replace the toilet tank and tighten tank bolts. Turn on the water supply and flush the tank to see and there should be no leak this time.
The bottom line
Toilet leaks are one of the most common causes of water damage, and they’re also among the easiest to prevent if you know how to find them before they become costly problems. If you’re still finding hard identify a leak and fixing them yourself, you may hire a professional plumber to avoid costly water damage to your property.
One of the many companies we’ve had the pleasure of serving faithfully over the years is Paul Davis Corporate – Restoration and Emergency Service Provider. Learn more about them today! Explore more about Plumbers Tulsa services by checking out our website.
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When it comes to finding a great company that can fix problems, visit Acts Plumbers Tulsa of Service Plumbing page: About Us | Plumbing Tulsa | Acts of Service Plumbing and then give us a call!
One of the many companies we’ve had the pleasure of serving faithfully over the years is Paul Davis Corporate – Restoration and Emergency Service Provider. Learn more about them today! Still need Plumbers Tulsa services? Call our great team today!