Aloha everyone - hopefully I can find some help here.
While I'm no pro in terms of plumbing, I do my way around a p-trap, street elbow and copper pipes. However, I just don't like to deal with toilet stuff so when it comes to working in that "area" I call a plumber.
My husband and I remodeled our bathroom and moved the toilet about 5" away and rotated from the old cast iron line. The plumber we hired (recommended by our G. Contractor neighbor) cut the cast iron and ran a PVC connection for a vent and sewer. He actually forgot about the vent, but I caught him on that and I don't think he was too happy about it.
Regardless. He set everything up and then we put in the tile, etc. He came back with the flange once we were ready and decided that it was at the right height (although it was about 1/4" off the tile), drilled holes into our tile and forced the toilet on. I was not home when this was done and my husband informs me that he did not use any rubber under the toilet nor did he use any shims. He was in and out in about 30 min.
Well, I check things out and find that
a: I can tilt the toilet every so slightly by bumping into it or sitting down pretty quick. So the thing needs to be taken off and shimed. (I have not caulked yet as I had my doubts on his work.)
b: After sitting on the toilet for a min or two I can hear a drip, drip, drip. I checked under the house and the drip is internal.
c: The T fitting is leaking externally, probably from him forcing the toilet on the flange that was too high.
So...I know the T-fitting needs to be fixed. If it was me, I'd cut it out and use couplings to connect everything. If he uses Fernco couplings, is that ok? What if he tries to just putty the joint and not replace it at all? Basically - what are some things that he may do here that tell me it's sloppy and not a good fix?
Also, my main concern is the interior dripping. The toilet is a Toto Carlyle that is about 5 years old. It's never had problems with interior leaking that we know of and the plumber says it's not his fault. But how can a toilet go from being fine to dripping water into the sewer line once you sit on it? Isn't that a problem with the leveling of the toilet? Or should I look for some other issue like a bad gasket? Cracked toilet? Cracked Unifit outlet connection, bad rubber seal on the outlet connection, Etc. I guess I figured if the outlet connection was bad that I'd see water on the floor and not hear an internal dripping into the PVC pipe.
I have rubber to cut and put under the toilet as well as shims to do this right. I'm making him come back and fix the t-fitting that is leaking and then my husband and I will work to set the toilet right with shims and rubber.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Denise
While I'm no pro in terms of plumbing, I do my way around a p-trap, street elbow and copper pipes. However, I just don't like to deal with toilet stuff so when it comes to working in that "area" I call a plumber.
My husband and I remodeled our bathroom and moved the toilet about 5" away and rotated from the old cast iron line. The plumber we hired (recommended by our G. Contractor neighbor) cut the cast iron and ran a PVC connection for a vent and sewer. He actually forgot about the vent, but I caught him on that and I don't think he was too happy about it.
Regardless. He set everything up and then we put in the tile, etc. He came back with the flange once we were ready and decided that it was at the right height (although it was about 1/4" off the tile), drilled holes into our tile and forced the toilet on. I was not home when this was done and my husband informs me that he did not use any rubber under the toilet nor did he use any shims. He was in and out in about 30 min.
Well, I check things out and find that
a: I can tilt the toilet every so slightly by bumping into it or sitting down pretty quick. So the thing needs to be taken off and shimed. (I have not caulked yet as I had my doubts on his work.)
b: After sitting on the toilet for a min or two I can hear a drip, drip, drip. I checked under the house and the drip is internal.
c: The T fitting is leaking externally, probably from him forcing the toilet on the flange that was too high.
So...I know the T-fitting needs to be fixed. If it was me, I'd cut it out and use couplings to connect everything. If he uses Fernco couplings, is that ok? What if he tries to just putty the joint and not replace it at all? Basically - what are some things that he may do here that tell me it's sloppy and not a good fix?
Also, my main concern is the interior dripping. The toilet is a Toto Carlyle that is about 5 years old. It's never had problems with interior leaking that we know of and the plumber says it's not his fault. But how can a toilet go from being fine to dripping water into the sewer line once you sit on it? Isn't that a problem with the leveling of the toilet? Or should I look for some other issue like a bad gasket? Cracked toilet? Cracked Unifit outlet connection, bad rubber seal on the outlet connection, Etc. I guess I figured if the outlet connection was bad that I'd see water on the floor and not hear an internal dripping into the PVC pipe.
I have rubber to cut and put under the toilet as well as shims to do this right. I'm making him come back and fix the t-fitting that is leaking and then my husband and I will work to set the toilet right with shims and rubber.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Denise