How To Replace A Toilet Wax Seal OR Rubber Toilet Seal On A Toilet Flange To STOP Toilet Leaks! 

Yes, you so right. You can read my comment above. I had to reseat it a few times, and it sure messes up the wax. And, now, it is not flushing as well, so I think the wax ring squished into the sewer drain part. Anyway, I'm glad this guy made a video. I can't wait to move to the plastic one.

Thank you so much for the amazing feedback! 🙏🏽😊

Ditto. I'm 67 and a computer engineer by trade. But, I fix everything in my house and only call "professionals" when 3 things are met: 1. I can afford to have someone else do the work 2. I know that professional can be trusted, and I'll pay more to get that person. 3. I think I could get in over my head. I had a professional cut 7 85+ foot trees down for me. The crew chief was a climber. That means they dropped what he cut straight down, missing my outbuildings and fruit trees. I cut down trees that tall myself if there is enough room for them to fall without damaging anything. I am good at that. I can fell a tree to within 15 inches of my target every time. Usually I'm ~6 inches from my target. To the point. I only use wax. I've Never had one leak, and contrary to what we were told in the video, they last many years. The last time I replaced one in a home about which I could keep track, the wax ring hadn't leaked or failed. That repair is ~55 years old. I'm closer to 70 than 65 now. And amazingly, I can remember stuff, unlike Brandon.

@@KLP99 let’s wait until you get to 80, you won’t remember anything, like brandon

@Victim Hood you are telling me that your floor temperature gets above 130° ?I don't think so.

@Victim Hood just stop already. Multifloor has nothing to do with the floor temperature. Go ahead and prove it if you are so confident in your answer. Even with radiant heat and hydronic systems. You won't be stepping on a floor that can reach over 130° its not going to happen. Go ahead and use the rubber ring nothing will replace the wax ring.

@Victim Hood that's the reason code says to stay 6inches away or more and to be insulated. Think about it plastic/rubber will warp so if the install is done incorrectly it won't matter what you use. Good try though

Yeah, Fluidmaster was very deceptive in their product box design. The outside of the box said it would fit any flange, any height. Nowhere does it say that you might need to purchase a second seal until you get home, open it up and read the instructions.

Thank you 🙏🏽 for this tip! 😊👍🏽

Yes always press the toilet tight to the floor then tighten. Those bolts aren't technically for bolting the toilet down rather then holding the flange tight. I put blobs of drywall spackle all around under the toilet so when it dries it supports the toilet equally. If it rocks use thin lead strips folded to size thickness then gently tap it under the hollow area if it rocks. After that then caulk the toilet in with a strong caulk like pheonoseal. An elephant can sit of it and it'll never rock once that spackle dries. Then hope you never have to change it because its a b*tch to slowly cut it loose with a spackle knife hammered under it until the spackle lets go. If you spray silicone or WD-40 on the toilet it'll form the shape of the bowl and not get stuck to hard to the spackle. I would not recommend using plaster or it'll be hard to remove. But unless you get a clog you'll never need to change or have to tighten it EVER.

@@stevenallen9592: Steven this is complete and utter nonsense, lol. I don’t mean to be rude but everything you’ve said is untrue. Drywall spackle has no structural integrity whatsoever and certainly wouldn’t prevent or support any sort of rocking motion of a porcelain toilet. It also dissolves in water so any time you wash the bathroom floor or the toilet backs up due to a big ol’ cow pie it will crumble, plus caulking around a toilet is an extremely bad idea. Also, a toilet clog seldom requires anything more than a plunger or a snake and almost never requires removal and re-installation of the toilet. Your style of amateur plumbing is the reason real plumbers never get a day off.

@@FixThisHouse: I apologize for not being quite so polite as you but Richard’s comment is not advice, it’s nonsense. Nobody uses rubber washers with toilet bowl hold down bolts because there’s no point. The bolts come with brass or brass-plated elongated washers and usually round plastic clip devices to hold the bolt caps in place. They do not come with any sort of rubber washer nor is any washer ever recommended. The internet is rife with amateur plumbers and it does the public a disservice to encourage them.

@@rayray8687 You have no idea what you're talking about. Just because you can't understand how somebody does some thing its a sign of ignorance to try to "imagine" in your head some way it fails or makes no sense. I've been reinstalling toilets over new floors we've installed since 1985 installing marble floors. Back in the '90's Hillsboro County in Florida passed a law requiring low flow toilets in new construction due to water shortages and the county offered free change out toilets with installation on older homes to anyone wishing to exchange them. My brother in law was one of several plumbers who were permitted to install them. Plumbers who installed more toilets per week got pick of customers as opposed to being given an address and paperwork for each home owner which was huge because everyone wanted the homes with 2 or more toilets instead of running out 20 miles to install 1 toilet before taking off to the next booked job. One summer he paid me to fly down and help him for a few weeks to lock up the multi exchange homes. Some days we were knocking off 12 to 16 toilets in a day with our system of one of us tearing out and prepping and the other was you,g behind and installing them. If there were no issues we got in and out within an hour swapping out 2 toilets then going 2 or 3 houses down the same street doing it again at $75 per toilet then most customers paid us "tipped" us to haul off the old ones and we left them at the township warehouse in Tampa Fla where we picked up the new toilets for the next day. So before you troll make sure you know what your talking about. As to the strength of plaster, not gypsum because there's a difference or even gypsum absolutely has compression strength when it dries. Air can compress and lift a car lol. Now here's where it shows you're clueless to plumbing. When "your" dump clogs a toilet it does not back water through the flange. Toilets work using the "J" or an "S" trap design to keep methane gas from backing up. Your dump is clogging inside that tight bend which is up above the flange and ZERO amount of water is at the flange. Only a clog in the main line can back up to where the toilet will leak from back flow pressure and when this is the case the fixture with the lowest point is the tub so if a toilet is backing from a main drain clog at the very least the tub will gurgle if not fill. You can Google to learn only so much but you can't Google about things you learn from actual hands on experience. Another give away is picking on someone who said he uses rubber washers. He never said it came in with the jonnybolt kit he said he used a rubber washer. If you knew about or had hands on experience you would know it doesn't hurt and if it makes him feel secure its his business. If you understood how the cap and the snap lock works you should've caught it that a rubber gasket will throw off the height of the nut holding the snap lock cap making it harder to snap on the cap, but not in possible. You don't owe the Mr fix it guy an apology you owe apologies to people you critized thinking you figured something out by your logic that was wrong and insulted somebody who is correct. If not then your nothing more then a troll with no class insulting people who weren't talking to you in the first place. Sheeze find something to do with yourself

👍🏻 Wax is the way to go...tried & true 💯

What’s 1171? 80’s era 3521 here, diesel mechanic

nice to be able to take care of things oneself

How did everything work out for you?

I always thought it made far more sense to put the ring on the floor flange first. Why do all the instructions always say the opposite?

@@boojiecentoobie4272 so they can sell more wax rings I guess... Lol

I was going to ask why he took the tank off. I have heard people do both ways. The reasons why people take it off are: - If it's a one person job, it makes the job easier, especially in reseating. - There is no chance in cracking the tank while the toilet is on its side when cleaning the old wax. Not sure how I will attempt mine.

"Lastly, caulking is not necessary." Unless of course you want to be code compliant.

@@notahotshot it's not a universal code, the code is state by state.

One big con to using a rubber seal. With a little aggressive plungering you can spray nasty water out from around the base of the toilet. I use them and I respect the fact that they don't seal well against the plunger

One con is that they leak. You ever go to a plumbing company and look in trucks you'll never see guys using foam or rubber rings. They all use wax.

@@IHateHandleNames It's probably cynical of me to say this, but if I was a plumber, I might not have the financial incentive to do a fix that might last a lot longer... just sayin'...

@Tyler - the reason you'll never see plumbing companies using rubber or foam toilet seals is because they cost 2 or 3 times as much as a wax seal. It has nothing to do with quality. If their trucks and vans were full of the best products on the market, they'd go out of business.

​@@IHateHandleNames I replaced all three of my toilets in my house and used the Oatey rubber seal on them all. No issues and it's been 7 years now.

Absolutely, Tile setter for 45 years, removed and replaced more toilets than any plumber. Wax is the way to go, after tile floor is installed the flange can be lower than floor and you can take a flanged wax ring and a non flanged and stack them, never had a toilet leak. I have come across 1 rubber one and it was leaking.

​@@thomaskoehler9992thanks for the advice. That was the information i have been searching for. I have put a layer of plywood over the existing floor in a mobile home for stability and couldn't quite get the flang up enough. 👍

I’ve switched to rubber seals. Toilets have a tendency to rock. They can be fine at first but start rocking over time. Then the wax seal is screwed and it can leak despitetightening the closet bolts. I think the rubber is more forgiving. I’m not sure about doubling them up though, I’ve luckily never had to do that. I’m not a plumber tho, just have to do it occasionally.

Wax ftw 💯

Thank you so much James for the love and support! 🙏🏽😊

but some toilets shims just in case. if the floor isnt level. The toilet will rock no matter how much you tighten it down.

I think you and I had the same person install our toilets. I had the same exact issues.

U didn't tighten it down good enough thts all

@@larrytheplumber9851 I doubt it

I install flooring I've probably put in 1,000 toilets and never taking the tank off

I'm a licensed plumber and I wouldn't take the tank off to swap a wax seal.

Im a DYIer who has only replaced a wax ring once in my 30 year life. And I didn't remove the tank. True story.

I don't plan on doing this until next week and I didn't take the tank off.

@@MrChris4251 🤣

Thx I agree

Strongly disagree. Replaced all three toilets in my house and used the Oatey rubber seal on all of them. 7 years later and still no issues.

I agree wax is the way to go. If you shim the toilet where it's low and get rid of the rocking. The wax seal last forever.

Replaced all three toilets in my house and used the Oatey rubber seal on all of them. 7 years later and still no issues.

Thank you 🙏🏽!

Spot on comment.

Plush some I seen toilet set over 40 yrs old never been undone until I get the call .shit wax is the Best jumbo with the horn

These video was for instructional purpose only 🙏🏽

@@frank9733 I’ve got a 350 pound mother in law. I’m not kidding, I’m afraid to figure out why our toilet is leaking

The two comments above should change your mind on how long they last. The toilet only has two flimsy bolts and that wax will only take the shape to seal the first time any shifting and the seal is broken.

@@luemn7691 that's what threadlock is for

@@noahdecoteau6381 how is threadlock gonna solve the issues mentioned above?

Thank you so much! 🙏🏽😊

Thank you for the advice! 🙏🏽😊

Correct, all you need is hand tight like a hose!

Never ever use tools to tighten bolts or supply line on a toilet. I have never seen a plumber use a non wax ring to install a toilet. I really question if this guy knows what he is talking about

I used to be a plumber and I was taught to tighten it down by hand, then take the channel locks and turn it another 1/4 of a turn.

Thank you Jackson for watching! 🙏🏽😊

I’m glad I could be of help! Love the rubber seal, easy install and no mess! 👍🏽😊

@@FixThisHouse , Thanks a lot for your videos , they are to the points and very useful to my DIY projects ,..

Yes. Wax doesn't expand to be recompressed. Once you break the wax seal, it must be replaced. You are almost guaranteed to generate a leak otherwise. (That's one benefit of the Better Than Wax product; it doesn't suffer from that problem.

Using a fine point Sharpie marker, i draw a line on the end of the Closet Bolt or Flange Bolt that is parallel to the elongation of the bolt head. Then I always know it's orientation in the slot. I do like the idea of the extra nut holding everything in place as long as it doesn't interfere with any parts on the bottom of the toilet base.

Kind of agree, no real reason to remove the tank.

The reason for removing the tank is to make the assembly lighter, and easier to handle, and to replace the tank to bowl gasket, because why not since you're working on it already.

Better to use a motorized valve vs a solenoid. Solenoids tend to get really hot when magnetized, so better only to use them for situations when they’ll be on for a short amount of time, like a sprinkler zone.

@@artificiallyunintelligent4537 True, that way it only has to be energized for a short time to turn off...

Great idea, that has been around for ages. They just put the "switch" on the main water shutoff. No need to isolate a leak. You don't even need to plumb many of them in. They attach straight to the pipe and main valve.

@@ouisi7 Sweet, what are they called so I can go and buy said system?

​@@thetruthserum2816 Google whole house leak detection system

5:40

Thank you so much for the feedback! 👍🏽😊🙏🏽

OK GRANDPA! STOP YELLING AT ME!

@@supersabrosinho 😄👍🏼🇺🇲

"STAY WITH PRODUCTS THAT HAVE BEEN AROUND FOR A HUNDRED YEARS." Yeah, progress in materials sciences be damned.

Depends on use.....but rubber ring will last longer than wax ring

It’s wax so it automatically sticks to the porcelain like glue almost

Stop using it for a cocking chair.

Their fine i use them and contractors i know turned me on to them. Fucking wax is a disgusting mess and promotes hesitation of picking up to adjust, or clean, or inspect. They make it such a mess and have become entirely anachronistic

👍🏽😊🙏🏽

Or women...

Did the leak was solve? I have the same

@@dechimbote Yep i got it figured out! Turns out my toilet had a hairline crack in it. I ended up having to replace the entire toilet.

Should stuff a wad of TP instead of a rag... Then you don't have to remove it before you set the throne...... Or forget it and have go pull the throne off to retrieve it.