notbob wrote:
On 2014-01-17, DerbyDad03 wrote:

travel - assuming it's just the seal. ;-)

Well now, that's the kicker, isn't it. I know what dry rot can do to
a bathroom floor.

nb --keeping fingers crossed

Many years ago I had a toilet that leaked around the base. When I pulled
the toilet, I found that the concrete base that used to support the tile
had disintegrated, the wooden sub floor was rotted out and the cast iron
flange was cracked. Obviously I had no clue in what order any of those
things occurred, but I knew that I could only fix 2 of the 3. I called an
old time plumber, one who knew how to deal with leaded-in cast iron
flanges. He told me that if I wanted to save some money, I could chisel out
the old solder and oakum, remove the flange, repair the floor and then have
him come in and lead a new flange onto the pipe.

I did as he suggested, then used some pressure treated wood to build up the
floor under the toilet and around the flange so that there was a nice solid
base for the flange to sit on. He came in with his torch, his ladle, his
pack of oakum and put a new flange on in just a few minutes. It was a long
time ago so I don't remember the actual cost, but since I did all of the
upfront work and then reset the toilet myself, the cost was minimal.

Watch this video to get an idea of what I did and then what the plumber
did. After that, you can decide how much of the work you want to do
yourself. You might not even have a leaded-in flange, but at least you'll
get somewhat of an idea of what it looks like under a toilet.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WIa1sTM...DWIa 1sTMenXc

My suggestion would be to at least pull the toilet, clean up the area
around the flange and clean the bottom of the toilet. Then have the plumber
come and fix whatever needs to be fixed and replace the toilet if you don't
want to do it yourself. You can't hurt anything by removing the toilet and
cleaning the area, so why pay a plumber to do that?

If you have any other questions, just ask.