Last Updated on August 6, 2022 by acechapman
There absolutely are few things that can be worse than a toilet clog. It can be a huge inconvenience for sure. But, one must be almost as concerned if their toilet is leaking. A leaking toilet can cause hundreds of dollars a year in water loss or start to rot a floor so bad that it can cause a major repair expense also. Luckily, there are things that you can do yourself to fix a leaking toilet before the additional expenses from it get out of control. Here is how to stop a leaky toilet.
Main Areas That Cause Leak And How To Fix It
Leaking Toilet tank
Believe it or not, a toilet can leak without losing any water on the floor outside of it. This happens when the toilet tank that supplies the flushing action releases too much water into the toilet basin. It simply is wasted water that goes down the drain. This is actually the most common toilet leak.
Replacing the mechanical guts inside the tank is the only way to fix this. It has to be done from time to time no matter how well toilet maintenance is kept up. It is very easy to change the inner workings of a toilet tank. The parts are normally readily available at any store that carries plumbing supplies.
Leaking Toilet Supplies Connections
This is a little bit of a tricky area to diagnose and fix. There are a lot of things that can happen here in a small amount of exposed tubing because this area consists of pipes, valves, and various types of connections. This is a potential for leaking on any one of them. Leaks can be caused by such things as pressure build-up over time, loose connections, and even corrosion.
You will have to do a close inspection to determine what is leaking on these connections. The good thing about this area is the leaking parts are easily diagnosed. It’s easy to find because they are fairly generic parts too. Once you find the part that needs to be replaced, go to your plumbing supply store and purchase that part and do the repair.
Leaking Toilet Base
Here is another spot that many people will often not even realize is leaking. That is bad because a leak here can silently ruin an entire bathroom floor and more. This can be a huge expense to repair if the leak goes unnoticed for a long period of time.
How does a toilet attach to a drain? There is actually a hole in the floor that the drain pipe comes up through and there is a base there for the toilet to rest on. The seal between the toilet and the base is actually a very thick piece of wax. The seal is made by the weight of the toilet pressing down on the wax and then there are two bolts that tighten the toilet down even further.
If the toilet is leaking here it will have to be detached from its base and have a new wax seal put in place to stop it from leaking.
So Stop That Toilet Leak Before It Gets Worse!
If you can’t stop your toilet from leaking on your own don’t fret. This is a very routine job for most professional plumbers. With a simple phone call, you can have your problem to be scheduled be taken care of in no time. Many times they will have everything they need to fix a leaking toilet right on their work truck or van. A professional plumber service bill to fix a toilet leak is also usually much less expensive than the amount of water loss over time or to redo the rotted floor in your bathroom.
Chances are with a little know-how you can fix your leaking toilet. This is especially true if the leak is just water loss from the tank. A leak around the toilet base or the plumbing supply lines is much tougher to fix yourself but it certainly can be done. There is a lot of information out there both online and elsewhere that will help you accomplish this task so don’t be afraid to look for it and use it because it is always a good idea for you or a professional plumber to fix your leaky toilet as quickly as possible.
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I’m glad you mention that a leaking toilet is a very routine job, and it should be left to professionals. My brother’s toilet has been liking, and he plans on repairing it himself. I will suh¿ggest he hires an expert instead.
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