i spoke too soon.

my son took a shower in the other bathroom and the water level in the open
toilet rose and we didn't notice it for 5 minutes, so the water leaked and
flooded the kitchen. major damage to ceiling. now i'm stumped. i figured
the pipe was clear. any ideas/help???


"hoops" wrote in message
...
okay...

i pulled the toilet and removed all the loose tile/grout. the subfloor is
ok, but (and i don't think this is unusual) the area around the pipe
(which attaches to the flange) has a void all around it. thus if/when
water seeps around the seal (as i guess it did yesterday), it goes
straight downstairs.

anyway, while the toilet was off, i started to relay the tile. it had
been drying for several hours and all was well until...

someone used the toilet in the adjacent bathroom and it clogged and when
it was being plunged, the water level in the open toilet flange started to
rise and it poured onto the floor. i wet-vacced the water and the pipe
(several times and thru several flushes of the other toilet) and out came
all sort of crap and several wipes (i know you shouldn't use them, but we
do). the wetvac got everything out (confirmed when i snaked the pipe) and
the system seems ok now.

i'm guessing that there is a "T" (the 2 toilets are on the horizontal line
and share a downspout and there was a clog in the downspout. this gave
the water nowhere to go and when it backed up into the (open) toilet, the
seal couldn't hold it back.

make sense?

if so, with the pipes all clear, i'm waiting for everything to dry and
then i can continue the tile & grout job; fill the voids with bondo;
replace the toilet. thanks for all recs and help. i am going to use one
of the waxless rings.


"Joey" wrote in message
...
You definitely want to replace any damaged wood, don't just try to patch
it up. I personally would never use a wax ring again, they make new
products that won't leak should the toilet rock side to side again.
Check out plumb-bob.com and look at their ultraseal product. It's by far
the best I've ever used. Also, someone mentioned sealing all around the
bottom of the toilet. That is a big no-no. Leave the back unsealed so
if it ever leaks you know right away. If you catch a water leak soon
there won't be much water damage but unseen water will gradually cause
major damage. Also, when you repair the toilet closet flange, it should
be at the same level or slightly lower than the floor level. Using the
ultraseal, lower is fine. And a properly installed toilet should never
rock back and forth...never. If the job is done right you should not
have to use plastic shims. Good luck.

J




hoops wrote:
my upstairs toilet started to leak (water was leaking out of lights on
ground floor), so i pulled it up and it looks like i need to re-install
some octagonal tile; put on a new wax ring an then re-seat the toilet.
the toilet had been rocking side to side, but i'm not sure exactly where
the water was coming out of, but it looks like it just needs a
reinstall.

but...

when the toilet was installed whomever installed it cracked up some old
tile to fill in the voids around the octagonal tile and the round
flange. it looks like he just adhered those pieces in a bed of tile
adhesive or grout ontop of some substrate.. the top of the flange is
about 1/4 inch higher than the floor.

rather than try to piece together what was there, i thought i'd relay
the tile and then fill in the void with something like Bondo (fiberglass
resin autobody filler). the stuff hardens quickly and can be made level
with just a putty knife. i'd say there are areas of up to 1" between
the edge of the tile and the flange.

good idea or is there something else i should consider? thanks in
advance