Okay, I’ve been living here for five years and it’s a decent looking apartment, but everything leaks or works kind of funky–the building manager cannot be trusted to fix things correctly (this is the guy who was going to repair an outlet without turning off the electricity first), so I need to know what might be causing this.
About six months ago, the toilet started to smell like a urinal. I clean it every day, scrubbing inside the bowl and outside and washing the floor at least once a week, but it still smells. I tried putting those 2000 Flush things in the tank–and that’s when I discovered the water in there is black and everything that I can see looks very rusted and not in such great condition. And I sure as hell am not putting my hand in that! So, what could be causing the smell? Could there be a broken seal or something? I mean, it’s very clean–I’m still cleaning it every day–but that smell just won’t go away. I figure if I can find out what’s causing it and tell the building manager “X” needs to be replaced, I stand a better chance of getting it fixed then if I leave it to him to figure out. So, any handy Dopers out there know what might be causing this?
That sounds like a big fix. I don’t know if I even trust the b.m. to do this kind of thing. Last time he moved a toilet in my apartment, he neglected to empty it all out first so I had to mop up quite a bit of toilet water behind him. We’re hoping to move in the next several months–maybe this can wait. Will it get any worse? Start to leak, maybe?
IANAP (plumber), but I bet you can do this. It’s not as hard as it sounds. I installed a toilet all by myself in my friend’s renovation project. OK, mostly because the guys had no particular sense of urgency, but I needed that toilet!
These instructions look helpful You need a wrench or pliers and something to scrape the old wax seal off the floor with. Oh, and a new wax seal. Oh, and lots of rags to wipe the floor with. Messy job.
I think I’ll have to do mine too, and also replace the bolts that hold the toilet to the floor, since they’re rusting through. That’s what happens when it gets worse. You might jsut live with the smell for a couple of months if that’s all you’ve got there. Whatever you do, if you do it, don’t drop the toilet! Porcelain explodes, bad things happen.
Thanks for the info, everyone! I’ll talk to the b.m. (yeah, that’s kind of how I think of him–as a b.m.) and see if I can get him to do this. Considering the mess he’s sure to make though, waiting it out is looking like a good idea
I don’t know how thoroughly you clean your toilet or how many men, if any, use it while standing. Consider this, though. Calcium deposits (lime) can form under or near the rim. These will absorb urine smells. If men are standing up to pee, urine will splatter on the floor and nearby walls, with a lingering smell.
To find out if you have a leaking wax seal, surround the base with dry paper towels, and flush a few times. You’ll soon know if all your base are leaking.
While WET towels definitely mean all your base are belong to crap, dry towels don’t necessarily mean the seal is good. Sewer gasses can leak without there being liquid to show for it.
I replaced my own wax toilet base seal once. It’s pretty simple. The hardest part was handling the heavy porcelain toilet by myself in a tiny bathroom – I ended up having to put it in the bathtub to get it out of the way. If you think you might have to do that, be smarter than I was, and put down some old towels to protectthe bathtub finish before you drop the toilet in.
Oh, and just so’s you know – I don’t think they put this info in the directions for replacing the seal – new wax is usually already a nasty brownish yellow, even before it’s used. So if you get your toilet off the base and think “Oh my freakin’ GOD how disgusting, that wax is stained with YEARS OF CRAP ESSENCE! I’m gonna need an isolation suit to touch that stuff!” – relax.
Question, does the black water in the tank have the same smell? A wax seal problem will cause smell to come from the drainpipe, not the water in the tank.
The water smells a bit, but just of general nastiness, not the distinctly urine smell I get from the area around the toilet. And since I’m the only woman in a household of three men (some with better aim than others), I’ve gotten pretty good about scrubbing that sucker really well! I’ll try the paper towel test, though, to see if there’s any water leaking–that would be sure to get the building manager to do something.
I’m having the same problem with mine and I think it’s because the moron that put in the new toilet didn’t know what he was doing (pretty bad considering he’s the maintainence man for the complex) It’s so bad that we have to keep the windows open because the smell makes me sick.
If you have a “distinctly urine smell” I think that makes it less likely to be the toilet seal… 'cause with that you get a distinctly farty-poo smell, in my experience. Or farty-poo-garlic smell. YMMV.
What’s the floor around your toilet covered with, lauramarlane? Old tile grout is sometimes porous…
pencilpusher, if YOU have a farty-poo smell makin’ you sick, it is indeed likely your moronic maintenace man is the culprit. Once you set the toilet down onto the wax, you can’t move it much without breaking the seal. the good news in you can probably fix it, and wax seals are very cheap - under $2 when I bought one in 1995.
Although replacing a wax seal is pretty easy I wouldn’t do it. If anything goes wrong (like the toilet flange breaking dues to rust or the water supply leaking) then I suppose they can hold you liable. If you’re going to mess around with anything that has to do with plumbing expect the worst. If the outside of the toilet is in bad shape then underneath won’t be any better.
If they don’t fix it then I would just buy a tube of caulk and put a bead of it all the way around the base. That should hold you over until you move.
I think I’ve romoved and replaced enough toilets to be an expert.
Yup THATS the smell!! I’m not fixing it. THATS what I’m paying rent for! We actually have a new maintainence man and I think HE will fix it right. I’ve just got to finish the work order he gave me this morning.
It’s definitely a urine smell, but I’ve cleaned every crevice on that thing on a daily basis so I can’t imagine where it could be coming from. The floor around the toilet looks okay–it’s that vinyl sheet floor covering. But just because it looks okay doesn’t mean anything. The vinyl looked okay in the other bathroom but the floor in there had a squishy spot that seemed to spread over time–even though we stopped using that bathroom because of it. A few months ago they had to gut the entire bathroom because they discovered the floor and joists were pretty rotten. But when they hooked up the new toilet, they hooked it up to the hot water :rolleyes: On the bright side, your ass got a nice, steam clean sauna with every flush and the seat was always warm.
Thanks for the caulk tip–I think I’ll give that a try this weekend and see if it makes a difference.
I’m not fixing it. THATS what I’m paying rent for! We actually have a new maintainence man and I think HE will fix it right. I’ve just got to finish the work order he gave me this morning. 
