Any plumbers? Toilet problems

[stealthee]

Make your jokes now. I know I am full of sh!t.

Anyway

At one point last year my toilet would not flush & acted as it were plugged, even though it shouldn't be. Even so, I plunged it many times & eventually it flushed fully.

A few months later it did the same thing. I attempted many times to plunge it, even bought and tried a toilet snake to no avail. This time I noticed that when I was plunging that there was a suction noise coming from near the side. The cap on the mount bolt is missing & when I looked I could actually see some water past the nut. When I plunged I could see the water react to the suction. There was no water leaking outside of the toilet, though where the linoleum isn't cut perfect I did notice the subfloor appeared wet.

At that point I called my landlord to inform him of the situation. He wasn't able to make it out that evening, but said he would investigate the following day. Well, wouldn't you know it the toilet flushed on it's own the next time I flushed it before he could even get there to see what it was doing. I had to work the following day, but I left him a note telling him of everything. Unfortunately, he did not see the note. He dug up and checked the septic tank, which was fine, and since the toilet was flushing fine he considered the issue fixed, even though the subfloor was wet.

Anyway, that was almost a year ago & the toilet started doing it again. It started last week and would sometimes flush, and sometimes not. Landlord was called, but hasn't made it out yet. I even started looking at possible fixes online and found nothing that describes my issue. I even put some dish soap down the overflow pipe, as instructed in one video and when I flushed bubbles actually came out of the bolt hole.

I stopped trying at that point and intend on waiting on the landlord. Only thing I can figure at this point is internal crack or an issue with the wax ring. The only thing with that, though, is you would think the issue wouldn't have "fixed itself" twice before.

So if anyone has any tips or advice that I might be able to help my landlord with I would greatly appreciate it.

[rlacasse1]

I would go with an issue with the wax ring. I would just pick up a new one and replace it. They can cause intermittent shitter issues.

[stealthee]

I posted this question on another forum and was told the same thing. I have a feeling some of the subfloor will need replacing though.

[rlacasse1]

If you were seeing water around the toilet, and this has been an ongoing issue, they I wouldn't doubt having to replace some flooring.

[stealthee]

Well there actually isn't water outside of the toilet, the water is contained within the porcelain, but visible through the mount hole. But, that being said the subfloor does appear to be water damaged outside of the toilet.

Oddly though, when the toilet flushes properly there is no water visible in the mount hole.

[rlacasse1]

If by mount hole, you mean the two nuts on the base that secure it to the floor. Then yes, that means water is definitely outside the toilet. You don't see water when it flushes properly because the wax is actually sealing, stopping the water leak and letting the toilet flush properly.

[dbest671]

Time to go to the basement/crawl space to check the damage.

Wax rings are pretty cheap, and semi easy to do. My advice is to buy two, so you have a spare in case the first installation fails (ask me how I know).

[stealthee]

If by mount hole, you mean the two nuts on the base that secure it to the floor. Then yes, that means water is definitely outside the toilet. You don't see water when it flushes properly because the wax is actually sealing, stopping the water leak and letting the toilet flush properly.

At least my uneducated guess seems to be correct. Thanks

Time to go to the basement/crawl space to check the damage.

Wax rings are pretty cheap, and semi easy to do. My advice is to buy two, so you have a spare in case the first installation fails (ask me how I know).

Thanks April. I will probably throw some clothes on and climb under there so at least I have some knowledge to lend to the landlord on the issue.

[Beef6]

Time to go to the basement/crawl space to check the damage.

Wax rings are pretty cheap, and semi easy to do. My advice is to buy two, so you have a spare in case the first installation fails (ask me how I know).

Could always use one of these. I was going to use one for a wax ring I just replaced but decided against it while standing in the store. I did some research on them once I got home and I will definitely be using them moving forward. No more worries about a perfect install the first time.

Toilet Gasket Flexible Waxless Seal - Universal Fit-BL01 - The Home Depot

[j2k4]

Wax rings can get blown out by over-energetic plunging - this gives the water an easy escape, leaching into the subfloor as it drips into the basement/crawlspace.

Chances are you've got some subfloor repair-work to do, Brian.

I haven't any experience with Beef6's solution, but I think I'd give that a go.