Tile floor/toilet interface

We had large tiles laid on the floor a couple years ago. When the toilet was installed it didn't seem to sit correctly, rocked a little bit. Called the contractor and he sent a guy out who put in a thicker wax ring and shimmed the toilet and caulked around the toilet. That lasted a little while until it started seeping again. This time they sent another guy and supposedly he put in a new flange and reset toilet and caulked again. Now a couple years later it is seeping again through the caulking. So we are about 2.5 years into this bathroom and the toilet is leaking again. My thought is the tiles that are under the toilet need to come up, the slab smoothed with a skim coat maybe of concrete and tiles relaid and ensured they are flat. Any one know someone who would be good at this? I am thinking a plumber who also lays tile.

Good luck with that, if a plumber can’t keep it from leaking then he dang sure can’t lay the tiles flat.

Any chance you've got a crack in the toilet? They have some rubber rings you can use now instead of the wax. They are supposed to be able to bounce back and seal even if the toilet rocks.

is the plumbing putting in the wax ring that has the rubber flange to help flow down the drain. I really would question if they put the proper flange on.

With the thick tile, remove toilet, make sure floor flange is secure, install thick wax ring with rubber boot and regular thin wax ring, install toilet shimming as needed, caulk toilet.

You may Need a longer sleeve / flange , also you can add shims , these items and more can be purchased
at a plumbing supply store .

i had to double ring one once, in other words stacked 2 wax rings. it worked well but its double the cleanup if you have to pull the toilet later.

Ive never seen a toilet caulked, i assume this is around the base to floor? Not sure thats necessary.

Certainly look at the wax ring with the flange that mates with the toilet outlet

The reason for caulking around base is to prevent fluid from collecting under toilet base. [censored] [censored] and such.

My personal friend professional plumber said caulking the edge of the toilet base is only for cosmetic reasons, and should not be required for function. In fact, he warned against caulking 100%. He said leave it open in the back if you do caulk. This is so that when a seal problem develops, you find out because the leaking fluids will come out to be discovered via the part not caulked.

There's an excellent refit/repair product I used recently (but for a different reason). This product is a new flange with a discharge pipe designed on as one piece to fit inside the waste pipe. It is a solid piece that extends 5+ inches into the vertical waste pipe and even has a silicone seal that fits in the gap between the two pipes. Think of this as a super-sealed system. It is even superior to the wax rings reinforced with a built in funnel, though one of those can still be used also.

Toilet Flange for 3 inch waste pipe

I've had numerous toilets over tile with no issue. I really suspect that the post questioning if you might have a cracked toilet might be onto something. You've probably been fixing the wrong "problem". Remember that to do the bathroom job, the toilet got removed and handled. There could be a hairline crack near the horn of the toilet (the part meeting the wax). With enough wax, the hairline crack may have gotten sealed, but only for a while before reappearing. I'm going to vote you have a cracked toilet.....

Sorry I haven't replied sooner. The toilet is new, put in when the bathroom was remodeled a couple years ago. I haven't messed with it since it is in the guest bathroom and doesn't get used that much. Flange was also replaced a couple years ago as the original flange was broken. Had the contractor back out a couple months after he finished for a rocking toilet. They set it again and caulked it this time. Made me think that something was up when they caulked it. I will check for a cracked toilet, but I am thinking I may have to go the double wax ring route. My only concern is something in the tile laying or flange installation isn't copacetic. Not going to caulk it again and hope the double wax ring works. Cautiously optimistic.

Hubby just went through his with the ceramic tile repair he did in our main bathroom. He thinks your biggest problem is you have a plastic flange and those flanges are breaking which causes the leak. Plastic flanges are about $27.00 and brass one are probably over $200.00 and that is probably the main reason why you have plastic flanges that are breaking. Do you have some extra tile like was laid in the bathroom? Make sure the ceramic tile around where the commode sits is level. If it is not level, it will continue to break the plastic flanges.

A double wax ring will not cure your problem very long. The area around the toilet has to be level prior to tile being laid.

Do check to make sure the new commode is not cracked as new ones can be cracked when you buy them.

I do tile and the tile would have to be completely messed up cause the ring is what makes the seal. I use to be a plumber years ago. There’s good and bad about caulking the toilet good is the [censored] will not get under it. Ever seen a bathroom you’d clean over and over and always smell [censored]. That’s cause it’s under the toilet. But if you caulk you can’t see leaks as fast. Sometimes you still don’t see the leak. If the tile was thick an the flange not flush with the top of tile it will take 2’wax rings. And even if the toilets new. The plumber can over tighten and make you a crack.

[quote=TexDawg]Ive never seen a toilet caulked, i assume this is around the base to floor? Not sure thats necessary.

Certainly look at the wax ring with the flange that mates with the toilet outlet [/quote

A professional finish plumber always caulks a solid bead around the base of a toilet, a toilet should always be flushed a few times without caulk to confirm there is no leak.

They also sell flange extension rings to build it up to the floor level. I like to set them maybe an 1/8" above the floor level. Simply set how ever many rings you need on top of the existing flange and use some type of concrete anchor to hold them in place. I caulk the front and sides but leave the back open.

Whenever you caulk around a toilet, you should leave the back open so that if you ever have a leak, it doesn’t leak everywhere. You might need one of those new plastic wax rings. They come with an extra gasket so you can raise or lower the toilet height, this might eliminate the need for the shim.

The crack if there is one might have occurred when the toilet was installed with the incorrect flang (if I am reading this right there was a plumbing redo after the original install?) The larger tile may not be thicker but properly done the installer would have used a larger trowel resulting in a thicker bed of thinset thus raising the toilet. Cranking down on the ceramic is not a good thing especially if it is rocking after the installation.