my toilet clogged. It overflowed but not out the bowl, rather the bowl filled and then was leaking out thru the connection on the bottom in the basement.

Why did it overflow from the bottom spilling water onto basement floor?

fwiw, the toilet base is caulked to floor.

improper installation

the wax gasket lost the seal

the back of the flange should be ON TOP OF the finished floor




time for a licensed bonded insured plumber

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"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638

Thats what i feared.

I cleared obstruction with plunger. Flush is ok for now. I dont see any leakage from below when flushing now. Is it crucial i open the can of worms and replace the wax?



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the toilet is connected to the drain piping sealed with a wax ring or a gasket. If the seal is broken, water will leak out. Sometimes the seal is broken because there is a clog downstream of that connection and a plunger is used aggressively and the weak point is that seal. Caulking the toilet base to the floor is nice but the caulking does not provide any benefit to the draining function, it only helps to prevent dirty water from entering the toilet base (a kid urinated on the bathroom floor). A good trick is to caulk around the toilet base but leave two small holes on the back side so if the seal is broken there will be a visual warning sign before water runs down the pipe for a long time.

Should i pull the toilet or leave it alone until i see it clog or leak again?

I am not a pro, but in my opinion, if you have water running down the pipe, then the seal is broken and it needs to be addressed.

Even though the clog is now cleared with no leak, the wastewater is shooting past this broken seal, perhaps helped by the old wax ring's "horn" directing the flow down the drain, but there it is no longer air tight, so sewer gas is entering the base of your toilet. Even your toilet base is caulked, it will seep out through the two holes where the toilet bolts tightens, not to mention your wall cavities. Also you don't know that there is no leak, may be there is still a leak but very slow.

If it's my toilet I would pull the toilet and reset it.

Agreed new wax seal is inexpensive as well as a new toilet supply flex line easy to do YouTube has lots of videos on this task

just make sure that the flange back is ON TOP OF the finished floor and not RECESSED else you will NEVER attain a code compliant seal from the wax


if top of flange is NOT 1/8" - 3/8" above level of finished floor there will be too large for the wax to seal properly


you can remove the bowl yourself for inspection

then, if necessary


just get a licensed bonded insured plumber and be done with it

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"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638

Thank you, i already knew the answer i just needed to hear it from someone else.

I pulled the toilet this afternoon and have replaced the ring with a harveys #1. The soil pipe is cast iron and there was a newish metal flange sitting on top the tile. Snugged it up enough so it didnt rock, had to use shims. I used box wrench instead of socket and I could go tighter but i am afraid. I will wait to caulk.

Thanks for reading.

Mike



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use plaster of paris if the shims have raised the bowl above the finished tile/concrete

when the plaster sets (20 minutes) pull the shims and plaster their holes


ROCK SOLID - pun intended




we used to use strips of cardboard as shims to level bowls set on tile

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"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638



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