Calling all plumbers!

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

I had a toilet seal failure. I pulled all the LVP, there was no rot or mold, and disinfected everything and reinstalled the flooring. The flange is approximately 1/4" above the LVP on one side and flush or a little under the LVP on the other side.

What is the best wax seal size (standard, thick, extra thick) to apply in this slightly un-level scenario? The seal that failed had the integrated plastic "funnel". There are multiple different videos out there that seem to provide a different answer. I'm leaning towards just going with a standard seal without the funnel.

I appreciate your thoughts in advance!

 

[Geewhiz]

Not a plumber but wouldn't it be proper to reinstall the flange correctly to resolve any future issues?



Or just caulk it...

 

[Jstumbaugh]

Hercules jumbo wax ring with horn and figure out why its not level to the floor??? Flange should be screwed to the floor tight and even.

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

The house is over 100 years old. This bathroom was added on upstairs long before we bought the place 25 years ago. There is a linoleum floor underneath the LVP (this actually saved me from any water damage). As far as I know, the flange has never been level, or if it was at one time, its askew now because the house has settled.

 

[onlybrowning]

I dealt with this several months ago, but with a flange in a tiled basement floor. I found that there had been some grout underneath where the flange mounted, so I chiseled that out, ground it all smooth, then reinstalled the flange so that it was level. I say all this to say that I think you should prioritize leveling the flange. Until you do that, you are really just buying time until the seal fails again. Disclaimer, I am not a plumber.

 

[Jstumbaugh]

Flange pvc, brass or cast iron/lead?

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

Flange pvc, brass or cast iron/lead?

Flange is pvc/plastic, and the drain pipe looks to be plastic.

Edit: I will see if I can remove the existing flange and see why it's not level.

 

[grfox92]

Yea, that flange should be sitting flush with the floor. I wasnt as lucky with you and had mold. Had to pull the whole subfloor and prime everything with kilz.

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

Yea, that flange should be sitting flush with the floor. I wasnt as lucky with you and had mold. Had to pull the whole subfloor and prime everything with kilz.

Ugh... Sorry man, I was very lucky, our kitchen sits directly below this bathroom on the main level, and the stink pipe literally runs through the center of the house between the kitchen and dining room.

 

[timberland]

fought with this on a wood floor that had swelled because of the leak. a couple different tries with wax rings failed, so I ended up buying the flange that has a red rubber gasket and slips inside the drain pipe.

I cut the floor flange off, glued the new flange right to the stool with Flexseal, then set the stool and caulked it to the floor. Solid, and no leaks.

 

[survivalistd]

Not a plumber but wouldn't it be proper to reinstall the flange correctly to resolve any future issues?



Or just caulk it...
View attachment 1081479

I see nothing wrong there

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

Took another look at current flange. It wasn't installed correctly from the get, with the sliding closet bolt spaces mounted at 12 and 6 and not used at all. Instead, whoever installed it put bolts up through regular holes. It is also canted from 9 to 3. At this point, I think I'm going to try and remove it and start over with a new flange.

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

It looks like a guy cuts off the old flange top with a sawzall and then relief cuts and chisels out the neck of the old one. Is this the way or is there a better approach?

 

[Weldor]

Try out the Danco silicone seal instead of a conventional wax ring, far better. they work really well on uneven surfaces.

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

Try out the Danco silicone seal instead of a conventional wax ring, far better. they work really well on uneven surfaces.

Thank you for the tip, and my local hardware store had one of those. I watched a video on it, and the guy used a wax ring first (according to directions) and then secured the Danco through the wax ring and squished it down before screwing to the floor. Is that how you've installed them?

 

[Weldor]

There are some quick YouTube's on installation. the other good seal is the silicone fluid master, it does not have any wax. The Danco wax part goes against the flange the rest is a seal. That's how we installed them.

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

I like the idea of the Danco flange fixer. With the wax ring down first, I should be able to naturally solve the slightly out of level problem simply by the nature of screwing it down to the floor. I should get more "squish" on the high side and less on the low side. The floor is level, so once the steel ears are screwed down, the flange fixer should be level and the wax underneath "regulated".