5

The bathroom in my house was redone right before I moved in. After moving in, I noticed the toilet is loose. It seems to only stay in place due to it's sheer weight, and it has quite a lot of jostle whenever it's sat on. The floor in the bathroom is ceramic tile.

How can I safely secure the toilet to the floor without risking ruining the title? Also, are there any plumbing issues to be corncerned about?

Improve this question
5

On each side of the toilet base you should find a rounded cover. Pry these off and that should expose the bolts that hold the toilet to the base plate. Start by gently tightening these bolts. You should use a wrench, but don't over-do it.

Improve this answer
2
6

If tightening the bolts on the toilet doesn't work, you may have a cracked flange underneath the toilet. You don't mention how much it moves but if it's a lot, I would recommend pulling up the toilet (make sure to plug the sewer hole with a towel!) and making sure everything still looks okay underneath, including the flange and wax seal. A badly rocking toilet can lead to a leaky wax seal. If nothing is broken try to determine if the floor is just sloped or something that can be fixed with a shim or something to level out the floor.

If the toilet isn't moving that much, you can slide a metal or plastic shim underneath from the outside.

Just be aware that a lot of plumbers consider a rocking toilet to be a precursor to a leaking toilet so if it's been rocking for awhile you might want to take a look underneath just to be safe.

Improve this answer
2
  • Thanks for the advice. Turns out the other answer was right. +1 anyway. – Mike Sherov Jul 23 '10 at 0:31
  • 2
    If the toilet has been rocking, the wax seal may be uneven, and not actually forming a tight seal anymore. It's worth pulling up the toilet to check this. The general rule of thumb is whenever you remove a toilet, to replace the wax seal. They're not expensive, the biggest pain is just removing and replacing the toilet, but it's certainly less painful than dealing with the mess/damage caused by a leaking toilet (which often just damages the subfloor and/or shows up as a stain on the ceiling below). – gregmac Oct 3 '10 at 18:14

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.