 You
notice that over the weeks your toilet has been continually
leaking onto your
nice tiled floors. Everyday gradually more and more
water escapes. You have to call your plumber but as usual
it
keeps slipping your mind. And let’s not forget
that there’s a pretty hefty price you have to pay
just to get your toilet repaired.
Usually it costs about
fifty
dollars for the plumber to make a house call, and then
an extra eighty dollars for every hour that they're there.
That’s pretty expensive huh? There’s a way
you can have your problem fixed without leaving a hole
in your pockets. It’s simple...
Do it yourself!
Now
with a leaky toilet it isn’t hard
to tell what exactly needs to be fixed. You need a new
toilet seal. Before you go objecting, making this repair
isn’t as complicated as you might think. Yes it can
get a little messy, but here is all you have to do.
First there are a few things you are going to need:
- A good pair of gloves to protect your hands
- Boots
- Wrench
- Plunger
- Rag or Old Wash Cloth
- Large Plastic Bag
- Sponge
- Toilet seal
- Putty Knife
The very first thing you should do before
anything else, is shut off the water supply that supports
the toilet.
This can be done by just merely turning the valve located
inside the tank or the valve located on the wall behind
the toilet.
Once the water is off, hold down the toilet
handle and keep flushing
it until
all
of
the water
is out.
If there still is little water left then you can take
your sponge and wipe it out. You can also use
your plunger to get out as much water a possible.
After this is done
you must
disengage the supply line at the tank.
Now
your wrench becomes very, very handy. Using your wrench
to take out all the nuts and bolts
connecting the toilet to the floor. When you finishing
unfastening the nuts and bolts from the toilet then you
will be able to yank it free from the floor and set it
down out of your way.
After the toilet is free you
will see your old toilet seal. Most likely to
be dirty and rusted out. Now all you need to do is scrape
off the old toilet seal. Do this with your putty
knife. The putty knife
will make it easy for you.
When you’re buying
a new toilet seal make sure you purchase the one with a
flange. If you have two toilet seals
on your toilet you can purchase a seal with a flange and
one with beeswax. If you have only one seal then it’s
advisable that you buy the seal with a flange that way
your toilet won’t have any leaks for a long time.
Now that y ou
have your new seal, and the old one is removed, you can
begin the process of replacing the seal. Take
the
seal from the plastic wrapping it comes in and place
it on the metal flange. Make sure the seal sticks to
it and
is secure.
Then picking up the toilet place it back over the seal
hole, like it was
before. The toilet should sit right over or on top of
the seal. The toilet has to be lined up according to where
each bolts are, that way nothing is out of place
that can cause another leak.
Now that the toilet is properly placed back to its former
position you can begin putting the nuts, bolts and washers
back. Double check to
make sure everything is in its lines up.
After the
toilet is placed in the right position pressure will
need to be applied to the toilet, just sit on it,
to make sure it goes all the way to the floor. The only
thing left to do is to tighten all the bolts and reconnect
the water supply.
After the toilet bowl has water in
it again
flush
the
toilet
just to see if it still leaks. If it doesn’t then
you have successfully repaired the old leak in your toilet.
What’s even better is that you did it without spending
more than fifteen dollars.
Now that’s a deal
you can’t beat! You’re
beaming with satisfaction and now you know that next
time something goes wrong with your toilet that with
a little help you can do it yourself!
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