Why Is My Toilet Leaking at the Base?

Do you notice water pooling near the toilet? Don’t put your head in the sand. Left unaddressed, your toilet will continue leaking slowly with each flush, allowing dirty water to pool on the bathroom floor and potentially causing expensive mold damage and rot in the subfloor.

A toilet oozing water at the base often signifies a bad wax ring. This component should form a tight seal between the toilet base and the drainpipe. When it breaks, water may escape every time you flush. Fortunately, it’s easy to find the source of the leak and find the problem. If you conclude the wax ring needs to be replaced, we advise hiring a plumber for professional toilet repair.

Test Your Leaky Toilet

Occasionally, a nearby leak can make the toilet look like it is leaking at the base. Follow these steps to find out precisely where the water is escaping from.

Check for Condensation

The “leak” around your toilet might not be a leak at all. Instead, water vapor may be condensing on the bowl or tank and puddling onto the floor. To check for this, clean up any standing water with a rag and flush the toilet. Look closely —if no additional water pools around the base, condensation is the likely culprit. Turning on the exhaust fan when you shower is an easy solution.

Examine the Toilet Tank

Look closely around the outside of the tank for any wetness. To rule out condensation, clean up any droplets with a dry washcloth. Then, check again, looking for loose bolts or cracked porcelain leaking water onto the floor. Tighten any loose bolts you see. If the tank is damaged, you’ll need to replace your toilet.

Inspect the Water Hose

Examine the cold-water supply line located on the back of the toilet. A loose connection, defective hose or malfunctioning shut-off valve sometimes can cause a leak. If tightening the fittings doesn’t resolve the issue, you may need a plumber to replace the water supply hose.

Tighten the Tee Bolts

If these troubleshooting tips don’t help, your toilet is probably leaking at the base like you thought. Before contacting a plumber, try tightening the tee bolts that attach the toilet to the floor. You may need to take off the decorative plastic caps with a putty knife or flathead screwdriver to reach the bolt underneath. Be careful not to over-tighten, as this could break the porcelain. If the bolts spin freely, you may need to buy new ones.

Look for Signs of a Worn-Out Wax Ring

If bolting the toilet tighter to the floor doesn’t help, a failing wax ring could be the problem after all. Besides water soaking the floor around the toilet, you may smell a sewage stink, indicating a broken sewer line seal. And if the toilet rocks back and forth, this might mean it’s sitting on a broken flange, the part that connects the flush system to the plumbing line. A rocking toilet might also indicate a soft subfloor resulting from the leak, which demands immediate attention to prevent the problem from getting worse.

Hire a Plumber to Replace the Wax Ring

If you determine that a faulty wax ring is indeed the problem, resolving it involves removing the toilet, replacing the ring and reinstalling the toilet. While it’s possible to do the repair without a plumbing license, DIY toilet removal is not recommended. Here’s why you should leave the job to a experienced plumber:

• • Porcelain is a sometimes brittle material. If you bang the toilet on the floor or hit it too hard with a plumbing tool, it could crack, forcing you to pay for a toilet replacement along with everything else.

• • Lifting and lowering the cumbersome plumbing fixture is a two-person job. Even then, poor lifting techniques could leave you with an injured back.

• • Checking for water-damaged subflooring requires a trained eye. And if any damage has occurred, it should be fixed/repaired before reinstalling the toilet, something a plumber can help coordinate.

• • If you discover the entire flange at the bottom of the toilet is damaged, it will need to be replaced. This is even more challenging than swapping out the wax ring.

• • Removing the toilet, making the required change and reinstalling it can take a few hours, if not longer. You most likely have better things you’d rather be doing, giving you yet another reason to leave the job to a plumber.

Schedule Toilet Repair with an Expert Plumber

At Service Experts Heating, Air Conditioning & Plumbing, resolving toilet leaks is one of our fortes. Whether you complete the troubleshooting tips outlined above before calling, or you want us to handle everything from start to finish, we’ve got you covered. Every job is backed by our 100% satisfaction guarantee,* so sit back, take it easy, and let us take care of it. To schedule dependable toilet repair in your community, please contact Service Experts Heating, Air Conditioning & Plumbing today!

*Not applicable to the Advantage Program. See your signed Advantage Program Agreement for full details and exclusions. 100% Satisfaction Guarantee is subject to certain restrictions and limitations as set forth in the applicable Terms and Conditions.