I have a persistent leak that appears to be coming from the base of my toilet. If I go under the house there is a dripping leak that runs down the large collection pipe and the subfloor surrounding it gets saturated.

3 different plumbers have replaced the wax rings and reconnected the toilet but the leak continues. I just took the toilet off and took off the old wax ring, cleaned all around the drain hole, toilet horne and toilet flange. I have inspected for cracks, height of flange etc and see no issues there.

I bought a couple of new wax rings and am prepared to give it a go myself but wondered if there could be another source for the leak. In looking under the house at the water feed lines I see no leaks to the water lines going to the adjacent sink and tub. The one line I cannot see from under the house is the one that feeds the water to the toilet, i.e. connects to the water supply shutoff valve for the toilet. Could that water line be feeding off the one going to the tub or sink through the wall above the floor?

All the saturation seems to be around the drain pipes but since there have been 3 attempts already without success with the wax ring I did not want to overlook another possible leak source. By the way the water supply line that feeds from the bathroom wall to the toilet that is exposed has no leak, nor do I see in evidence of water saturation in the wall or the floor near that area.

Regarding the wax ring, the service person I purchased the wax rings from at Home Depot suggested using 2 wax rings.

Thank you for any suggestions,
Mike

Have u inspected the waste line coming from the toilet?

Does the wax seal have a rubber flange inside it?

What is material of waste pipe?

Let us know.

Chuck

Hi Mike

Curious as to why you didn't call any of these plumbers back to fix the issue... and why 3 plumbers, why not stick with one plumber until the issue is resolved? Seems to me that should have been the first thing to do instead of paying 3 different people to attempt the same job... ;)

With that being said, I am also curious as to why the home depot salesperson would tell you to use two wax gaskets... is there a specific reason that you didn't mention why this would be recommended? Since you stated that "I have inspected for cracks, height of flange etc and see no issues there", then I can see absolutley no reason why you would use two wax gaskets, OK?

Now, you asked, "Could that water line be feeding off the one going to the tub or sink through the wall above the floor"? Indeed, the water line could come off the pipes above the floor, but a leak from a water pipe would probably end up easily seen from underneath and you said you see no, "evidence of water saturation in the wall or the floor near that area".

With what you are presenting I got to tell you that my first thought would be to look for a leak inbetween the toilet tank and the toilet bowl connection. Here, when there is a small leak it can sometimes roll down the backside of the toilet bowl and saturate the area under the toilet making it look like the issue is at the wax ring. This is something that a lot of plumbers miss and can usually only find by taking some toilet paper and holding it to the back side (inbetween tank and bowl connection) of the toilet during multiple flushes.

I'd reinstall the toilet and then check for leaks above the floor using toilet paper. If you are lucky and the issue really was the wax gasket then you can pat yourself on the back (and never call any of those plumbers back). If the issue is above the floor, the toilet paper trick should find it, OK?

Finally, next time you need a plumber find a local one via recommendations from friends or from a local plumbing inspector or something like that and STICK WITH HIM, especially if you have issues/callbacks as most plumbers value their customers enough to pop back, fix the issue once and for all, and try to keep them for years to come!

Good luck!

Mark