We had a bit of an overenthusiastic time with the plunger, and it resulted in a leak in the wax ring of the toilet. We fixed the leak, but now there's a smell coming from the floor. I was wondering if there's a good way to take care of this without ripping everything out and apart to get rid of the smell?

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Originally Posted by janar

We had a bit of an overenthusiastic time with the plunger, and it resulted in a leak in the wax ring of the toilet. We fixed the leak, but now there's a smell coming from the floor. I was wondering if there's a good way to take care of this without ripping everything out and apart to get rid of the smell?

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Slosh full strength bleach around the base on the bowl and let it set overnight and see if that doesn't solve your stinky problem. Good luck, Tom

So I'm guessing you put a new wax ring on the toilet? That would be the way to go. After that make sure it does not leak by observing for a while... a month or so. Then you can run a bead of caulk around the toilet base. This should seal it all up... no more smell.

What is the floor you toilet sits on... concrete slab?

I did replace the wax ring, my main concern wasn't what got on the floor but figuring out why it was leaking and stop it. It seems OK now... but the smell certainly isn't. I was wondering about that, if you seal the smell in like that, it doesn't cause any other issues? What happens when someone pulls the thing up 5 years from now?

OK,
What type of floor is the toilet on? Concrete, plywood??

The reason I ask is my house has a slab foundation and when the bath exhaust fan is on air can be drawn up from around the 4 inch waste pipe that the toilet drains to. They never sealed between the waste line and the slab. This made for makeup air that smelled like dirt/mud. I made sure the toilet was sealed well (waited 8 months to be sure) then caulked the base of the toilet. No more problem.

If you are going to caulk the base of your toilet be sure it is not leaking. If you seal in a leak this way it could cause a lot of problems.

It's on the second floor, so it's plywood. We went overboard with our wax ring, so I think there's pretty much no chance it can be leaking now. (there has been no sign of it like there was before when it was leaking)