Newly installed bathroom floor is not level with the toilet
+8
Help, our floor is level, we redid the plumbing and re-positioned the toilet. Everything reads level. However, the toilet is not sitting level in pipe. It is off by 1/2 up all the way around the toilet. It appears to be sitting up too high on the pipe. We did not put the spacer in.
10 answers
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My husband solved our same problem with a few plastic shims purchased at the hardware store. Push them between the floor and toilet wherever you see space. Perfect now.
![Cheryl Kraley]()
Cheryl Kraley
on Apr 13, 2016
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If I read this correct . The toilet is already too high for the pipe ? Then shimmes will make it worse . You need to put the spacer in and the wax seal it will bring the toilet to sit properly with the height of the tiles. Maybe a picture would show the problem better . Did you use a wax seal ? We did with ours and sealed and meets the pipes better .
![Terrie Neudorf]()
Terrie Neudorf
on Apr 13, 2016
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Often, we will use two wax rings, one with the rubber gasket that sticks down into the flange, and a second plain wax ring on top. . .hope this helps.
![Christy Hicks]()
Christy Hicks
on Apr 13, 2016
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Could you post a picture of what you mean?
![Christopher Stephenson]()
Christopher Stephenson
on Apr 13, 2016
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The toilet flange should be even or 1/4" above the finished floor. Is the toilet flange too high? Did you check the bottom of the toilet so that all of the old wax ring is off? Did use use a new STANDARD wax ring? (There are taller wax rings that take up the space when a floor is finished). Some photos would help.
![William]()
William
on Apr 13, 2016
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There are 2 typical situations I've run into. New tile flooring lowers the pipe relative to the toilet so a regular wax seal won't reach and seal correctly. I typically fix that by using an extra thick reinforced wax gasket, sometimes with an extra plain wax gasket on top, to fill in the space between the pipe flange and the toilet outflow. If more than 1/4", I use the non-wax extender shown in the attached photo. The other issue is that the toilet is sitting on the pipe flange but the bottom of the toilet is not touching the floor. The pipe (and the toilet) is not designed to take the weight of the toilet (and a person) at that small opening. The only practical solution is to use a spacer between the floor and the bottom of the toilet bowl. See the picture. Both items are available at Home Depot. Let us know what you figure out. BTW... I NEVER use silicone sealant between the floor an the bottom of toilet bowl. If fully sealed, any leaks between the toilet and the floor would be held inside the seal and not seen. This could cause substantial floor damage to the floor.
![Phil a]()
Phil a
on Apr 13, 2016
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They do sell different depth wax rings specificallyfor us do it yourself people how unknowing change the level. Google this old house (channel 2 program) and the toilet issueand you may be able to bring it up, I just saw this a few days ago.
![Cheryl]()
Cheryl
on Apr 13, 2016
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We just did this to our bathroom, the toilet was sitting too high for one wax ring so we added a plain one on top of a flanged one.. (you could use 2 flanged, just make sure they are sitting in the same position, both pointed down!) then, we also put a "rope of plumbers putty" around the bottom of the toilet very close to the edge! this keeps it from rocking and it is now fixed! After sitting on the toilet with normal use you may need a couple of extra times tightening the bolts.. be very, very careful when doing this as you can very easily crack the toilet base porcelain!!
![Candy Shields]()
Candy Shields
on Apr 13, 2016
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we had this problem, my hubby put kitchen and bath adhesive sealant all around between the toilet and the floor , that stopped the toilet from rocking.
![Nita]()
Nita
on Apr 13, 2016
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First, the obvious. Make sure that you removed the old wax ring before attempting to reinstall the toilet. The next step may take an assistant. There are some flanges that do not work with all toilets. Sometimes the horn on the bottom of the toilet hits the flange and can not seat within the pipe properly. Do not just shim and caulk, you will have more problems down the road (leaks, rotted floor, fumes leaking, etc... Pull the toilet and remove the wax ring. Install the toilet without the wax ring and examine how it seats by looking at it. If the floor and the flange are level then the toilet should sit level.
![Bob Ridings]()
Bob Ridings
on Apr 14, 2016
Cheryl Kraley
on Apr 13, 2016
Terrie Neudorf
on Apr 13, 2016
Christy Hicks
on Apr 13, 2016
Christopher Stephenson
on Apr 13, 2016
William
on Apr 13, 2016
Phil a
on Apr 13, 2016
Cheryl
on Apr 13, 2016
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