By the way, more info relevant to my case: My bath floor is pre-existing concrete foundation (first level of the house). When it was ripped, the drain opening was flush with the floor. We installed a 1/2" Wedi followed by thinset followed by 3/8" marble tile. Therefore, all in all, our drain opening was more than 3/8" below the tile surface, which per my memory, requires special installation. Spoke to Toto Technician and got the following recommendation: - Get a spacer ring (as I understand, an extension to the drain pipe) - Caulk it to drain pipe with silicone based caulk for 12 hrs - place wax ring over it - place toilet (I guess beyond wax ring, process is standard). Any comments/tips/suggestions? I do not mean to challenge Toto Support; just want to make sure that I understood it correctly. Thanks again! I will post follow up when done.

Sounds like the wax seal at the base of the toilet, where it bolts to the floor, is leaking! If you are handy with tools, here's what to do: go to Home Depot or Lowes. or the local neighborhood hardware store, and buy the wax ring for the seal to the floor! On the base of the toilet tank should be a water shut-off valve! If not, go down cellar to where the main water supply line is, and shut it off! Go back up to bathroom, flush the toilet. pry off the bolt caps, remove the nuts, lift up the toilet from the bolts, pry off the old wax seal, clean the area well, lay in the new wax seal, reinstall the toilet, install the nuts, don't tighten them so much that you crack the toilet base, install the nut covers, connect everything up, turn on the water, and you should be good to GO! and, you'll really impress the MIL by your prowess! Some applications of Drain cleaner should fix the water drain back-ups! Drano, or some other hi-test cleaner, like Liquid Plumber should do it! The only other reason for drain back-ups is: you are overloading yer septic tank and system, what with the dish-washer, and many loads of wash! The drain fields are probably plugged up, which can cause many problems, especially if your septic tank and system isn't big enough to handle all of the water you are putting into it! Try this: do the dishes by hand for a while, and take some or all of the laundry to a laundry place where they have the machines, or cut down on the number of days you do the laundry, so you can see if that helps the situation! Another thing--don't flush the toilet every time somebody tinkles in it! (That is what some of the rural folks have or had to do with being on a septic system! I know, its not how you were brought up, but its necessary at times when on septic systems!) Do this, until you decide if that might be helping the problem, too! You might need a bigger system installed, like larger tank-s! Get the plumber to do a dye test on the tank-s and fields and laterals. Good luck: rustyj

Hi again. The leaking toilet is from the late 50's by Richmond. The two closet bolts that are missing are located at the rear of the toilet. Are there replacement bolts for a toilet this old? The other two bolts look original. I cannot understand why that plumber I hired six months ago didn't replace the missing bolts and didn't fix the movement in the toilet. Shouldn't he have addressed these issues when he was here, since I told him about them? When a plumber comes to fix the currently leaking wax seal, what if he finds that the wood structure underneath is wet or rotted? There could have been a small leak that I didn't know about. Is it the plumber's job to replace rotted wood, or does that require hiring a builder/carpenter? If the wood is only damp, then can the plumber go ahead and replace the wax seal and set the toilet that same day without waiting for the wood to dry? If there is damage/rot to the wood, how long does a repair like this usually take to fix? I only have one toilet in this house. Thank you for any help.

In a standard toilet, what you are describing wouldn't happen. Assuming the drain is not clogged and backing up, the only time there is water at the wax ring is when the toilet is flushed. It will sometimes happen that water that seeps past the ring when it's flushed will take some time to appear on the floor - but there isn't water at the wax ring unless it's being flushed. Water pressure has nothing to do with the wax ring - the water is not under any pressure at that point other than gravity. It's possible that the bidet function is leaking somehow. The over-pressurization issue still doesn't sound right - I don't know how that happens. If the static pressure at the street is more than 80 psi you need a PRV installed (and an expansion tank for the water heater). If that's the case and you don't have a PRV then it won't be a temporary situation. If it's less than 80 psi then you aren't going to over-pressurize anyway. Here's where I am with this: Water leaking from the base of a toilet - assuming you have ruled out leaks running down from other places -- is the wax seal. Just replace it. The seal is $5 and is often a DIY job. It's much cheaper than dealing with the damage caused by a leak.