Replacing Toilet Seals is an Easy Home Project
As a homeowner, it is nice to do the projects around the house that don’t take too much skill to do, like replacing toilet seals.
If you try to tackle a project that is beyond your scope of understanding or experience, you might break something or fix it incorrectly. Some projects that you might try to tackle that are beyond your skill level can become giant headaches if you don’t know what you are doing. You can end up costing yourself tons more money than might have been necessary if you’d only have called a professional in to do the work for you.
We happen to be a Plumber in Salt Lake City and might be the professional you need to call in for your bigger jobs.
Nothing is more frustrating than having your home worked on and being displaced and not able to use your own utilities. But if you do feel like you have the knowledge to handle the small tasks, by all means give it a try. When you are able to do the small repairs for yourself, you will save money and get a sense of satisfaction from being able to do the repairs by yourself. That is, unless you really just don’t like plumbing work, and who could blame you.
When it comes to replacing toilet seals, the beauty of this job is the ease with which you can replace it if you are having a toilet seal emergency. The faster you can replace the seal the quicker you will mitigate the damage that is being done.
If you don’t want to wait for a Plumber around Salt Lake City to show up, and your toilet is leaking from the seal, your basic knowledge and know-how will head off any damage that would have otherwise taken place had you decided to wait.
This can be especially true if you are rural and it is hard for a plumber to get to you in a reasonable amount of time or if it is late at night and you would like to avoid any fees associated with a representative making a late night call.
The steps to replacing your toilet seal are fairly easy and you can accomplish them in only a few easy steps. The seal is a very inexpensive piece of hardware that you can get from your local hardware store. Most toilet rings are made of wax. The wax creates the seal between the toilet and the flooring and subflooring to prevent leaks and damage to your flooring area. Because of the qualities of wax, make sure the temperature is warm enough so the wax is pliable enough to form a seal. If it is too cold the wax won’t move.
- If your current seal on the toilet is leaking, and even if it isn’t, you should wear rubber gloves so you don’t get anything nasty on your hands. You want to maintain cleanliness so things don’t get out of control.
2. Any decent plumber around Salt Lake will tell you that the first thing you must do when you are changing a toilet seal is to make sure you shut off the water to the toilet. This should be able to be accomplished at the toilet fittings to your wall, but if not you will have to get into your basement or crawlspace to shut the main water off.
3. After you’ve shut the water off, you will flush the toilet a few times to make sure both the tank and the bowl are empty of water. You can use a towel or a sponge to soak up the remaining water from the tank and the bowl.
4. Next you will need to remove all the hardware from the base of the toilet. This means removing the caps that are over the nuts and removing the nuts so you can pull the toilet up off the floor. You will need tools like a socket wrench to get the nuts off of the toilet base that attaches the toilet to the floor.
5. Next you will remove the water supply line from the toilet. If there is caulking around the base of the toilet, you may want to cut it off before gently rocking the toilet from side to side to loosen the current seal and to lift it from the floor.
6. Next remove all the old seal and parts. After you’ve taken all of the old wax seal off, it’s time to put the new wax seal on. If you have problems with this, you should call us or a Salt Lake City Plumber. If you want to proceed, take the new seal out of its packaging. Put the new seal on the floor so the toilet will fit right on top. Place the toilet back on the seal and maintain that the toilet bowl is level. Press down on the toilet to make it seal. Replace all the nuts and tighten the toilet back to the floor.
7. Reconnect the water line and flush the toilet and check for leaks. Reapply caulk to the toilet and then wash everything down.