Rocking toilet and loose toilet seat fix
Sitting down to do your business in the bathroom, you don’t
usually expect your toilet to be loose and rock back and forth. In fact,
nothing feels less secure in this room in terms of sustaining an embarrassing
injury. Fortunately, a rocking toilet isn’t going to cause you much personal
harm, but a loose, wobbly toilet is still something you should fix since it can
eventually lead to a water leak and damage your home. Most of us haven’t ever
removed a loose toilet before or even have a clue how it’s done. So, fixing a
rocking toilet by say, replacing or repairing a broken toilet flange may
seem daunting. Don’t despair, if you tackle this problem with a mindset that
all you are doing is fixing your wobbly toilet, then you can focus on that task
and accomplish something you never thought imaginable in a do it yourself
project. So without further ado, let’s see what may be causing your toilet to
be loose and how to fix it.
Broken toilet flange causes rocking toilet Your wobbly
toilet may be moving because the mounting bolts that hold it down have nothing
to grab onto anymore. You might think your loose toilet bowl is held down to
the floor by a couple bolts. While this is true, you should know that the bolts
don’t go directly to the floor. Instead, they secure to a toilet flange. Think
of this flange as a strong metal or plastic ring. It’s this piece that is
bolted to the floor, and also sometimes secured to the drain pipe called a
“bend”, which is made of sturdy iron.. Now, you might get lucky and just be
able to tighten down these bolts, but if the bowl is rocking or as been for a
while, it’s time to take a look at the flange underneath. In this how-to
article, you’ll need to start with lifting up your loose toilet from the floor.
This isn’t so bad, just be sure to turn off the water supply valve first.
Second, give it a flush to drain the bowl water. And third, undo the bolts
holding down the toilet. After lifting up you’ll be able to see the broken
toilet flange that caused the unsturdy toilet.. You have two choices here: Fix
the broken or cracked toilet flange or replace the broken flange altogether.
Fix broken toilet flange – this is usually the more
popular choice mainly because it is easier and can really do the trick if your
broken toilet flange is iron or metal. The part you’ll need is an adapter
called a super flange or spanner flange (see here). This is a semi-circle piece that fits over or
underneath your broken toilet bowl flange. It’s job is to provide a new hole
for the mounting bolts to hug onto. Pick one of these up (or two if you
discover that both sides of your toilet flange are broken), using the previous
link or visit your local hardware store. Follow the directions, and your
rocking toilet will be solid again.
Replace broken toilet flange – you may be one of the
lucky ones who finds that their broken toilet flange is beyond repair (e.g. is
cracked or split into several pieces), or that it is old and corroded. Again,
this isn’t a terribly difficult task. A new toilet flange will give you years
of solid toilet mounting. Assuming again that you’re now looking at your broken
toilet flange, you can remove it by unscrewing the bolts (should be three or
four depending on the model) that hold it to the floor. In older, vintage
homes, you may not have any bolts holding it down as it was secured with lead
(molten when poured in around the bend pipe). If this is the case, you’ll need
to use a chisel and hammer to break the iron flange out of position. Be very
careful not to damage the main pipe, called a “bend”. After removing the broken
iron flange, simply place in your new toilet flange. Models with rubber gaskets
(seals) and brass rings will be the best here. Just make sure the flange is
flush tight with the top of the floor, otherwise your toilet will wobble.
Follow the easy instructions that come with your product, being sure to tighten
each of the four bolts a little at a time so the rubber gasket goes down evenly
around the bend pipe.
Don’t forget that whenever you lift up your toilet, you’ll
be breaking the wax seal that keeps water from leaking. Simply clean off the
old one and insert a new one. Or better yet, replace with a a wax free seal for cleaner, better installation.
Loose or broken closet bolt making toilet wobble As
probably the easiest fix, your loose toilet may simply be due to your loose
toilet mounting bolts needing to be tightened. Simply remove the small plastic
bolt caps at the base of your toilet (they will be on each side, and can be
pried off with a small screwdriver). You’ll see a nut, and it should be
unmovable with your fingers. If either of these nuts is moving, tighten them
down with a socket wrench. No need to be as tight as your muscles can muster,
since the material your toilet is made from can crack under too much strain.
If these bolts are actually broken, however, you’ll need to
replace them. The bolts can be purchased by themselves, so don’t feel like you
need to buy a whole toilet flange repair kit. Just remove the old bolts and
insert the new ones. The best kind will be made from brass.To do this
correctly, you will need to lift the toilet from the floor, so you will need to
purchase a new wax seal to replace the one you’re breaking apart by removing
the toilet. This will be a good time to inspect your toilet flange too.
Poor install can cause a toilet to wiggle Your loose
toilet troubles could be related to the way your toilet was last installed.
This can happen if you have your bathroom floor redone, and the level or height
of the floor changed. If so, check that they didn’t shim the toilet to raise it
up. This is not a solid install and can easily lead to a toilet that moves when
you sit down over a short time. Follow the instructions for replacing a broken
toilet flange. You may have to carve out some of the tile or other flooring
around the edge of the drain hole so that you can place a new flange down into
the hole since the old flange may have been positioned higher for the old
floor.
As with any do it yourself project, if fixing a loose toilet
seems complicated and you wish to hire a plumber, at least review this article
so that when the plumber explains the problem you’ll understand more what he’s
doing. You can even inspect that it’s done right and ask educated questions so
that your rocking toilet doesn’t return any time soon!
source: http://homerepairgeek.com/toilet-repair/loose-toilet-fix.html
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