OK, further proof (if any were needed) that I Am Not A Plumber (but I
play one sometimes on daytime TV).

I tell my customers that, but sometimes I take on what seems like a
small, simple, foolproof job involving water, pipes, etc. (Yeah, right!).

I actually ended up setting 2 toilets for one client, one an existing
toilet sitting on rotted floor, the other one a new replacement for a
basement toilet that had been removed.

The problem I had in both cases was setting the damned wax ring. The
instructions say you're supposed to put it on the bottom of the toilet,
then lower the toilet down onto the floor. Well, this just plain didn't
work, for several reasons: either the damn wax ring fell off and just
would not stay put on the smooth ceramic "horn" of the toilet, or I
couldn't maneuver the damn thing onto the bolts without knocking them
out of line, or in one attempt, the damn bolt actually made a hole in
the ring. Aaaaargh!

I ended up putting the ring on the floor fixture, then setting the
toilet over it. Not the way to book told me to do it, but it worked in
both cases. (Yes, I have been back to check for leaks or seepage, and
there is none.)

So how do real plumbers deal with this? I think I'm going to leave this
to the "professionals" in the future, just to avoid aggravation ...


--
Made From Pears: Pretty good chance that the product is at least
mostly pears.
Made With Pears: Pretty good chance that pears will be detectable in
the product.
Contains Pears: One pear seed per multiple tons of product.

(with apologies to Dorothy L. Sayers)