The other day we received a call from a very frustrated homeowner.  She had a toilet on the main floor that was leaking down into the family room in her basement.  Normally this wouldn’t be too big of a cause for concern.  Unfortunately, she had already paid to have it fixed 3 times by other plumbers.  While this was a little intimidating accepting a job that three other plumbers had failed to correct, it was tugging at my curiosity.  After inspecting it from below (removable ceiling tiles are great!), we determined it to be a bad seal at the wax ring.  Once the toilet was pulled, there were three red flags that stood out.   

The first was that the flange was too low.  The correct position for a closet flange is to be on top of the finished floor.  Sometimes this is not the case due to a new floor having been installed.  If the flange does end up being too low, the correct fix is too raise it up with flange extenders.  These are thin Frisbee like piece that stack on top of the flange and each other to bring the flange up to the proper height.  If the flange is flush with the finish floor or just barely above, it is acceptable to use a thicker wax ring.  The problem in this house was the flange was below the finish floor and they attempted to use a thicker wax ring.  This resulted in almost no squish of the wax, and a weak seal.  

The next problem we saw had to do with the flange itself.  At some point the cast iron flange and elbow in this house was replaced with pvc.  This is usually a good thing, except the plumber did not use an acceptable flange.  The new pvc flange that had been installed was designed to fit INSIDE of the 3″ pvc, instead of the outside like it should have been.  This gave it sort of a “shelf” right where it accepts the discharge of the toilet.  The problem is that that when the water was hitting the “shelf”, it was most likely causing a lot of unnecessary splashing and eroding of the wax seal.  

The third problem, and the most common problem we see, has to do with the wax seal itself.  While the wax rings with the plastic “horn” seem to make a lot of sense and appear safer, they actually cause more problems than they solve.  The plastic horn disrupts the water in exactly the same way that the shelf was with the bad toilet flange.  When the toilet is flushed and the water goes rushing through the wax seal and flange, it hits the plastic horn and causing a lot of excessive splashing around the wax.  In due time, it will eventually cause a leak.  There is no need for the plastic horn, ever.  A basic wax ring is all you will ever need (if you have a good flange).  

Since the homeowner in this did not have an ideal flange, we used neoprene toilet rings instead of wax.  This will ensure that the wax is not washed away and caused to leak by the excessive splashing.  Yes, it is true, time will have to tell on this one, but in the meantime, I will sleep very well.      

Have you ever wondered why the toilets in commercial buildings are taller than your toilet at home? Have you ever wished you could have one of those high rise commodes in your own bathroom.  The answer is YES!  Yes you can!  The reason they are in commercial buildings is simply because they are required to be there by the Americans with Disabilities Act.  These toilets are not exclusive to commercial settings, they are just mandatory there.  If you would like the convenience and comfort of a throne fit for a king right in your own home, there is nothing stopping you from doing so.  These taller toilets are very appealing to people that struggle to sit down and stand up on a conventional height water closet.  The elderly, people with hip or knee problems, or active athletes who frequently have sore legs are prime candidates for a taller upgrade.  Although these comfort height toilets are very appealing to most adults, they are not small child friendly.  Remember, this will be an extra 2″ for small children to try and climb aboard, or for small boys to have to rise above.  As any parent of a small boy can attest to, you may not want to give these sharp shooters any added degree of difficulty. 

Best Wishes!

Over the past two days, I have been told of two separate stories of creatures finding their way into toilets.  Obviously, this sounds very alarming, but fear not, this is anything but ordinary.  The most common trespassers of the sacred throne are frogs and squirrels.  There have been isolated incidents of other creatures (sorry, but this does include snakes) finding their way up (or down) your plumbing system. Luckily those are about as likely to happen to you as a lightening strike, on Tuesday, in May.  As far as the frogs and squirrels go, unfortunately, those are not nearly as rare.  To determine a plan of attack, or better yet, a plan of defense, you need to identify what it is exactly that you found.  Fortunately, most of us can distinguish between a frog, squirrel, and snake.  Not so obvious, would be the classification of tree frog or ordinary frog.  Your roof, or more specifically, your plumbing roof vent will be the entry point of choice for the tree frogs and squirrels.  They will either fall in, investigate out of curiosity, or will go in search of a cooler place to hang out during a hot summer day.  Invading from the other side of your home will be the regular frogs and snakes.  Their M.O. is your sewer system.  The two main entry points for these pests would be a break in your sewer line, from deterioration or from roots, or from a clean-out that you have outside your home that may be missing a cap.  If you are on a septic system, there is a good chance you have a clean-out outside of your home.  The clean-out is the entry point to your plumbing system to put the snake(not alive kind) or rooter in case of a blockage.  If you have ever seen a frog, or you regularly see them, simply pour some rock salt into your toilet and flush.  Do this a couple of times to get a nice layer in the pipe.  This will make for an undesirable environment for the frogs and will be safe for your plumbing system.  You may also want to have a plumber put a camera down your drain line to see if you do in fact have a broken pipe that should be repaired.  This will be a double benefit, since a break point WILL be an entry point for roots, it is only a matter of time.   If it is tree frogs or squirrels, you will want to stop them from entering with some screen or mesh over your roof vents.  If you are in a cold weather climate, you may need a special fitting to put on your vent after you put the mesh on to prevent snow from accumulating and closing off the airflow.  Remember, none of this is very common, but……………….it does happen.

Happy thoughts on your next trip to the zoo, I mean bathroom. 

  I recently got a phone call from a home owner asking me if a could increase the water level in the bowl of her 1.6 gallon toilet.  If you are a owner of a toilet with a low water level in the bowl, you know why she took the time to call me for a remedy. 
  Unfortunately, there isn’t a full bowl of water solution.  The level in the bowl is determined by the level of the trap in the toilet.  This is built in and can not be changed, any additional water will flow through the trap and the water level in the bowl will remain the same.  To keep flushes at the 1.6 gallons per flush, the manufacturers designed the toilets to have so much water in the tank and so much water in the bowl.  To find the maximum amount of water your toilet bowl can hold, take a bucket of water and slowly pour it into the bowl.  If the water level does not increase, there is nothing you can do, the laws of physics are stacked against you.  If the water level in the bowl increases to a maximum point, then you do have a couple of options.  One, you can adjust the flapper to stay open longer during the flushing process to the point of having a near “double” flush.  Doing this will increase the amount of water left in the bowl after a flush, and this gives the  bowl more water initially when the tank and bowl are being refilled.   This should cause the bowl to be filled to its maximum level.  2nd option, you could add on to the overflow tube.  Increasing  the height of the overflow tube (may only be an inch or two) will allow you to put more water in the tank.  This will add to the amount of time to fill the tank and increase the amount of water being put back into the bowl.  Once again, getting to that max water level for the bowl.  Thats all I have……….good luck.   

Outhouse

Boy, have we come a looooong way from “back in the day”.  Since all of us take our modern conveniences for granted, I think we should take a moment to reflect on how things used to be. Believe it or not, many moons ago, there was a time when the height or color of a toilet, or the gallons used per flush, was not a concern.  Actually, our ancestors were much “greener” than we are today.  Until very recently, our unfortunate relatives from long ago used ZERO gallons with each flush.   There was also not much else falling down those fabulous holes, until the Sears catalogs started being published.  Ask your grandparents, toilet paper was expensive. 

Toilet with elevated cistern

During the Roman Empire, apparantly people were not embarrassed or ashamed of anything.  They liked to sit on their stone thrones, and then they liked to bathe together.  The medievel times were a little better with respect to privacy, but far worse with respect to hygiene.  During the dark ages, they would enjoy a nice private stall, but unfortunately this was done from an elevated position and a “free fall” was part of the process.  This may have served a purpose.  The “pile” eventually must be moved, and this setup would make that easier.  The Romans solved this by placing thier toilet camps over rivers.  This was a brilliant idea, but it was not such a great thing for the people living downstream.  The term “downriver” was around much earlier than Detroit. 

Chamber Pot

Now, if you thought all of that was bad, I have not yet mentioned quite possibly the worst period of time to have to relieve yourself.  The chamber pot was the receptical of choice once we moved out of castles and away from rivers.  Actually, the chamber pot probably wasn’t too bad for the user, it was the poor unsuspecting fellows outside that suffered.  The chamber pot was kept under the bed, primaraly used at night.  It was typical to just throw the contents out of the windows either that night or the next morning.  This is where the custom came to be that the man should always walk closest to the street, and the woman walk close to the building.  In those days, most windows hung out away from the building slightly.  The woman would be safer from a dousing close to the building.  Think about that guys, next time you don’t want to open the car door for a woman.  At least you don’t have to walk street side to protect her from the unthinkable.

Thomas Crapper is credited with improving the design of the modern toilet.  Among his patents, is the floating ballcock.  This is the device in your tank that stops the water from filling once the water gets to a certain level.  Pictured at left is a Japanese “ultra modern toilet”.  I am not sure how it works, where you sit or what you do.  One can only wonder if Crapper would be impressed or disappointed with such a design.  Also, if you are thinking that this may interest you, I will need your car as a down payment, and then we will talk.

If you havn’t used a public restroom toilet in more than 10 years, this is for you. 

Best Wishes!

Today we will try to shed some light on why your toilet won’t flush, or flushes poorly.  There are a few causes of this, and most can be remedied.  Most of us have seen the toilet that fills up to the top, swirls around for awhile, and then eventually goes down.  The first thing you will want to determine is, whether or not it CAN flush but is having trouble, or it simply WON’T flush.  A simple test for this is to get a bucket of water, and then flush the toilet and pour the bucket into the toilet at the same time.  If it goes down fine, it is a problem with the water coming from the holding tank through the ports.  If it does not go down ok, then you have a blockage in the toilet itself, or in the drain line serving it. 

If it flushed ok with the bucket test, it most likely has clogged ports.  The ports are located under the rim.  You can use a small mirror and clean these out with a wire coat hanger, screwdriver, or a nail.  You should also clean the main port or “jet” at the bottom of the bowl as well.  After these have been cleaned, pour some vinegar into the tank slowly while holding down the handle.  Vinegar breaks down calcium and lime deposits that have accumulated in your bowls ports.  If you are on well water and have hard water stains in your bowl, this is almost a guarantee that your ports are slowly closing off.  Also, if you have ever used any sort of blue tank tablet, the remains of it may be clogging one or more of your ports.  This can be a little bit of a problem, since it will just move every time you attempt to poke at it.  Don’t worry, it will dissolve in a few MONTHS.

If it did not flush when a pail of water was dumped down it, you will have to address the blockage.  The easiest thing to do will be to try and plunge it a few times.  Be careful about excessive plunging though, as this could actually cause the wax seal to leak.  If the plunger is unable to clear the problem, then you will have to use a toilet auger.  If the closet auger is still unsuccessful, it most likely means that you have a blockage further down your drain system.  This will require the toilet to be pulled and the drain to be snaked.  This is best left to a professional. 

One more possibility could simply be that you have a very poor quality toilet.  Before the ’50’s, toilets used as much as 7 gallons of water per flush! By the end of the ’60’s they were using about 5.5 gallons per flush.  In the ’80’s, toilets were now using only 3.5 gallons per flush.  In 1995 The National Energy Policy Act (H.R. 776) went into effect and mandated toilets to use no more than 1.6 gallons per flush.  Unfortunately, almost all of the early 1.6 toilets were terrible flushing units, especially compared to all of their earlier counterparts.  You may have one of these. 

A few more thoughts and suggestions: 1. NEVER use drain cleaning chemicals.  These are only band-aid solutions that will only clear minor scum, but will not remove the actually blockage.  You should always just hire a professional drain cleaner (we DO NOT clean drains by the way) to clear your line properly.  Ancient mummies are still found with hair on their heads, do you really think  chemicals will dissolve it in your drains?  If it did, it would also be eating away at your drain lines, which would be even worse I would imagine.  2. NEVER use a tank tablet.  That pretty looking blue stuff has bleach in it, which eats away at all of the plastic in your tank and can clog your ports. 3. There are some very nice 1.6 gpf toilets available now days.  Most of them will flush better than the 3.5 gpf.  There are also dual flush types, that will flush 1.6 or 1, and there is also a 1.28 gpf.  4. DO NOT put chemicals in your drains.  Did I say that already?