The upstairs bathroom toilet began to leak last eek. So being a do it yourself type, I bought a new rubber seal, and kit containing the two bolts that hold the flush tank down to the base. I emoved the old parts, and costed all the mating surfaces with high grade silicone rubeer sealer-then waited an hour for the silicone to cure. I then replaced the tank, and tightened he nuts on the two hold down bolts-as tight as I dared! All was well for a week-now the damn thing is leaking at the seal again!
Short of buying a one-piece toilet, what can I do? If I tighten the bolts any more, I’m fafraid the base will simply crack!
Incidentally,this is really a dumb design-those hold down bolts are bound to corrode, and cause leakage around the sealing gaskets.
Maybe I ought to invent a new design!
I’ve only done a few of these over the years so I certainly haven’t seen every design, but I’m not aware of any that require applying silicone and waiting for it to cure. They’ve all been a fairly simple rubber or silocon gasket.
In either case, get a new gasket and try it once more.
Installation instructions here.
The gasket should look something like this
ETA: You’ll probably need some sort of razor to remove the silicone you used the first time.
It seems to me that you either shoulnd’t use any kind of sealent (the gasket should just sort of compress to fit the space) or if you really feel the need to do it, I would think that you would want to put the tank on while the sealent is still wet. My thinking is that by putting the sealent on and then waiting an hour you created a non smooth surface. Porcilan is pretty damn smooth to begin with, and so is the rubber gasket, they should have no problem making a water tight seal. Take projammer’s advice, get a new gasket, do a REALLY good job cleaning the mating surfaces and give it another go.
Did you notice if your floor was rotted or warped at all around the leak?
My floor was rotted out pretty bad due to a leaky toilet. The wax ring just could not get a good seal. I actually lasted 3 years before finally giving up and having the whole floor replaced.
During this time, the thing that helped the most was having the biggest person in the house sit on the toilet while someone else tightened the bolts. The seal got to be as tight as possible and the floor was sagged as much as it was going to be at any one time, since the largest person (me, ok?!) was sitting on it.
ZipperJJ The OP isn’t talking about the wax ring, but rather the rubber gasket (actually looks more like a giant washer or a conicalish doughnut) between the toilet and tank.
Are you sure it’s leaking from where you think, and not leaking from somewhere higher and dribbling down? I had a similar problem recently. One problem with fixing it was that it wasn’t actually leaking from where I thought it was (it was higher up) and the other was that when you disturb the cistern, other washers etc of similar vintage are disturbed and start to leak. My solution now is that when one thing goes, replace every damn washer at once. One trip to the hardware store and problem solved first time.
What is the brand and model of toilet?
I had a big problem with a leak at the bottom of the tank, but one that emptied the toilet and caused random flushing, not a leak to the floor. The toilet was some weird factory second that the former owners had installed. I finally fixed it by getting some marine caulking (which works under water) from TAP Plastics and applying it around the ring.
I’ve never used silicone anything in my toilets, and I’ve had all of them apart at various times.
Applying silicone to a gasket would mess up a gasket seal. Use a gasket only and don’t over compress it. Gaskets should be snug not pinched out of shape or they fail.
Bolt head, metal washer (optional depending on the size of the bold head), rubber washer, toilet tank, rubber washer, metal washer, nut. A short length of bolt shank. Toilet base, rubber washer, metal washer, nut.
Use brass hardware. No additional sealants should be necessary.
Yes, NO GOOP!
Unless of course you CANT make it work goop free.
You can also overtighten to the point you make a working gasket not work. Start loose, tighten till it quits leaking, then a bit more, then see if you can get it to leak by woobling things at a reasonable manor.
Another thing is MOST toilets use the same style gasket, but NOT ALL. We had an old toilet that required something that was a bit different. The standard gasket did NOT work, even though it looked like it should. Once the RIGHT one was found, no more problem!
IIR that gaskets interior top side looked in the inside of a six sided socket. The normal round ones fit but DID NOT work.
Look carefully on the tank, the lid, the bowl, or the inside of the tank for the manufacters name. Use that name when you go hunting at the hardware store.
Have you considered that it may not be a leak but condensation forming on the outside of the tank and dripping down.
I think PROJAMMER is correct-I need this type of gasket (with the support frame). Unfortunately-my hardware store doesn’t carry this type. It is in my brothers house-it looks like the builder bought all of the fixtures from some hardware store in China-nothing is standard!