I'm so glad to find this forum. I hope someone here can help me understand what happened and make a decision.
We just had our bathroom remodeled. We had decided to keep the old toilet because we were running up the $$ and wanted to save a little there. We were planning on replacing it a bit later after we'd built our savings cushion back up a little from the rest of the remodel.
We have lived in this house for about 5 years and this toilet has always flushed slow. It required a lot of plunging, but plunging always worked and never caused any leaking or overflows.
When they started the remodel they took the toilet out and it sat empty for about 3-4 weeks.
It was just reinstalled over the new tile floor uh... about 3 days ago. I had used it maybe twice and the same for my husband. Then day before yesterday my husband used it in the morning getting ready for work and it got stopped up. He had to plunge it, and when he plunged it it started leaking around the base.
We called the contractors and they came out to take a look. They took the toilet off and determined that the wax seal had blown probably as a result of the plunging. When they looked inside the bottom of the toilet they found something in there (possibly a baby wipe) that appeared to have been in there for a while. This may be the reason the toilet had always flushed slow.
At any rate we decided to get a new toilet and have them install it. However, the contractors wanted to charge us for installing the new toilet and they don't seem to be willing to fix the water damage that occurred to our ceiling downstairs when the toilet leaked.
I'm not sure whether they should be responsible or not, which is why I'm asking here. What they told us was that we probably shouldn't have plunged the toilet so soon after installation, because the seal needed time to 'set up' (although they didn't tell us that until after it leaked). But this confuses me, because it's a wax seal, and wax doesn't really 'set up' does it? Then also they claim that the baby wipe (or whatever the object was) being stuck in the toilet was probably the cause of the stoppage, therefore the plunging and leaking. This also confuses me, because obviously the object was there for a long time, possibly contributing to the leaking problems and necessitating lots of plunging, yet the toilet never leaked before. I mean, we should be able to plunge a toilet right? We don't aggressively plunge; it's never really needed that, just a little help to get the stuff out of the bowl.
So, after complaining a little they've agreed to install the new toilet without extra charge, and we are going to fix the ceiling problems (just priming and painting, I hope).
I feel kind of conflicted, because I don't want to be chintzy and not pay them for work that they do, but at the same time I'm not convinced that the toilet was properly installed after the remodel.
What I'm asking here is, is it reasonable of us to take the free installation or should we pay them because it's our fault in asking them to re-install a toilet that was partially clogged to begin with.
Thanks for any help!
We just had our bathroom remodeled. We had decided to keep the old toilet because we were running up the $$ and wanted to save a little there. We were planning on replacing it a bit later after we'd built our savings cushion back up a little from the rest of the remodel.
We have lived in this house for about 5 years and this toilet has always flushed slow. It required a lot of plunging, but plunging always worked and never caused any leaking or overflows.
When they started the remodel they took the toilet out and it sat empty for about 3-4 weeks.
It was just reinstalled over the new tile floor uh... about 3 days ago. I had used it maybe twice and the same for my husband. Then day before yesterday my husband used it in the morning getting ready for work and it got stopped up. He had to plunge it, and when he plunged it it started leaking around the base.
We called the contractors and they came out to take a look. They took the toilet off and determined that the wax seal had blown probably as a result of the plunging. When they looked inside the bottom of the toilet they found something in there (possibly a baby wipe) that appeared to have been in there for a while. This may be the reason the toilet had always flushed slow.
At any rate we decided to get a new toilet and have them install it. However, the contractors wanted to charge us for installing the new toilet and they don't seem to be willing to fix the water damage that occurred to our ceiling downstairs when the toilet leaked.
I'm not sure whether they should be responsible or not, which is why I'm asking here. What they told us was that we probably shouldn't have plunged the toilet so soon after installation, because the seal needed time to 'set up' (although they didn't tell us that until after it leaked). But this confuses me, because it's a wax seal, and wax doesn't really 'set up' does it? Then also they claim that the baby wipe (or whatever the object was) being stuck in the toilet was probably the cause of the stoppage, therefore the plunging and leaking. This also confuses me, because obviously the object was there for a long time, possibly contributing to the leaking problems and necessitating lots of plunging, yet the toilet never leaked before. I mean, we should be able to plunge a toilet right? We don't aggressively plunge; it's never really needed that, just a little help to get the stuff out of the bowl.
So, after complaining a little they've agreed to install the new toilet without extra charge, and we are going to fix the ceiling problems (just priming and painting, I hope).
I feel kind of conflicted, because I don't want to be chintzy and not pay them for work that they do, but at the same time I'm not convinced that the toilet was properly installed after the remodel.
What I'm asking here is, is it reasonable of us to take the free installation or should we pay them because it's our fault in asking them to re-install a toilet that was partially clogged to begin with.
Thanks for any help!