Toilet leveling

[jch]

A friend asked me for advice but not really having any experience leveling

toilets I thought I'd ask someone here. Seems he has a basement bathroom

with a wobbly toilet. He wondered if he could put shims in place to stop the

movement. It sounded like this could work but I wasn't sure about long term

stability. Any suggestions? Thx.

[DanG]

Yes, it is normal to shim toilets. If it has been rocking, there

is a chance it has affected the wax ring seal. Plumbing supply

houses have some small white plastic shims, just made for the

circumstance. You can grout or caulk the resultant gap. Do not

grout or caulk the back so that if there is a failure, you can see

the leak.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Keep the whole world singing. . . .

DanG

experience leveling

about long term

[Amuzed2death]

I've done it before...not ideal, but on some concrete floors

especially, you have no choice.

You can use shims. Make sure you use something waterproof. I used to

use asphalt shingles, when I could. I once used galvanized metal

shims as well. Gotta be a bit careful with those. The can "bleed"

onto Linoleum sometimes. Also, check your Home Depot. They are

making some plastic shims, these days. Just like regular wood shims,

but plastic. At leat they are available in my area. Remember the wax

ring, is what keeps it from leaking. As long as that is in good

contact with both the closet flange (the flange on the floor) and the

stool...you should be good to go. And don't overtighten the closet

bolts (the bolts that bolt the stool, to the flange). You can crack

that stool base in a hurty, by overtightening.

After you shim, you could put a bead of caulk around the toilet, just

for a nice looking job, unless of course, it's carpet. Then you don't

have to worry about it.

[Chet Hayes]

Wobbling and leveling are really two different things. Even if it

were at a slight angle, with the bolts tight, it shouldn't be

wobbling. And if it's been wobbling, then the wax seal should be

replaced. Remove it, make sure the floor surface is sound and level,

if you need to, at that point you can add a shim. Get a new seal and

re-install, tightening the bolts snug, but not too tight or you'll

crack it.

[Terry]

Someone said ..........."

I've got a slight toilet wobble; thanks for the tip about using something

impervious as a shim. I had been using a piece of thin wood panelling! Also

..........

For the last 30+ years and with only one toilet in the house I have usually

kept a spare wax ring in the bathroom vanity.

But last couple of times, rebuilding the single bathroom, I've used one of

those spongy rubber rings instead of a wax ring, and so far (about 10

months), and I've had it 'up' once or more during that time to install new

tub, retile the floor etc. It's working fine. I can check for leakage too

because I can see the plumbing through the floor, from below from the

unfinished basement area.

So the rubbery ones also seem to work OK!

Terry.

PS. We used stainless steel bolts all the way through the floor because the

plastic flange fitting on end of the sewage pipe was in poor condition. We

can do that cos. the basement area below bathroom will 'never' have a

finished ceiling. Yup; don't over tighten!