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I bought a house that had been sitting for some time. One of the the issues that I've discovered is that the flapper valve leaks. I've come to this conclusion by turning off the water to the tank and combing back later to see that the water level is lower. I have already replaced the flapper valve itself, and the leak remains. |
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Over time the surface of the plastic part that joins the tank to the bowl can get tiny defects in it that prevent the flapper from making a good seal. As Jeff suggests, you could try cleaning that part, or just replace it. |
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Sometimes when a flapper gets old and begins to fail (disintegrate) it can leave a piece behind stuck to the outflow pipe that it covers. This piece/remnant then prevents the new flapper from getting a good seal. You might want to clean out the tank and make sure there are no remnants of the old flapper stuck in there. |
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I recently had two toilets begin to leak and had a hard time figuring out exactly where. I hate plumbing but decided to do full replacement of the various parts. I purchased two toilet repair kits for about $18-20 each. Instructions on the package explained what to do. When you are done all parts and gaskets that wear or deteriorate over time are replaced and you essentially have a new toilet. It's fairly easy but it does take some patience and careful work so you don't crack the toilet or tank during disassembly or reassembly. It's also a little messy since you have to get all the water out of the tank. I also replaced the line from the shut-off to the tank so everything is new. It took about an hour for each toilet but now I don't have to deal with something else needing to be replaced next year. Well worth the investment of time and money. And I felt good about doing something successful with plumbing. But I still hate plumbing. |
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You might consider replacing most of the insides of your toilet. A nice kit is Fluidmaster's S2DBL ($56 on Amazon or about $42 at Home Depot). I used this to replace a low-flow retrofit that a previous owner installed -- the flow was often insufficient. The S2DBL kit includes a replacement ballcock, flush valve, task gasket, and bolts. Because it's a dual-flush kit you can configure it to use less water, without sacrificing the ability to do a full flush when you need it. If you haven't installed a kit like this before it will probably take 1.5-2 hours, but this kit has good visual instructions and Fluidmaster has excellent phone support if you need it. |
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Home Depot sells a toilet flapper that comes with a new piece that the flapper rests on. The new piece isn't a replacement, but actually comes with a tube of silicone and seals on top of the old piece. I can't remember the name of the product, but you'll find it with the other toilet flappers for about $3 to $5. I had this same problem and this particular flapper worked for me. |
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