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.
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
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.
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.
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!
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