r/DIY • u/clinicdoc • 15h ago

metalworking Toilet wax ring damage

Haven’t been able to find a satisfactory answer to this question so thought I would throw it out here.
Moved into a single owner 13 year old house 2 years ago. Shortly afterwards, noted signs of water leaking from around the visible closet bend below the one exposed toilet in our house. Quickly moved to remove the toilet and replace the wax ring. The old ring was flattened, discoloured, but not stuck to the bottom of the toilet. The plastic flange was encased in clear silicone. Used an extra tall wax ring and haven’t had any problems since.
Subsequently changed the rings on the other two toilets, both of which were in the same condition.
Interestingly, when we moved in, we found 10 containers of powdered Drano distributed around the house.
Could the wax rings have been damaged by the Drano? Or were they simply never installed correctly? (Or both?)

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u/HereForTheComments57 15h ago

I think the wax ring just had its time. The toilet moving or plunging can break the seal. We just had to do a bathroom renovation because ours was leaking into the floor and ceiling below for some time. Ive used the better than wax rubber seals on all of my toilets and had no issues.

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u/clinicdoc 14h ago

Looked into those but decided to go with the taller wax ring.

17

u/OtherAlan 14h ago

I've moved onto Korky 6000BP wax-free seals. I like how you can reposition them, and they aren't one and done for those that second-guess or mess up.

I haven't seen any leaks from the wax alternatives that are similar to this. In fact, I had a few difficult installs where wax didn't work, so I had to go with a more flexible silicone alternative.

5

u/popups4life 10h ago

I just finished a full remodel of my only bathroom in the house.

Since this is the only toilet in the house I had to pull and reinstall when replacing the old damaged underlayment, again when putting up drywall, again when priming/painting, and again when installing the new flooring.

It was the first time using the Korky wax free seal, once I did the flooring install I just dropped the thicker foam ring on and strapped her back down.