black ooze

[judyb42]

my toilet creates a black ring around the base. i cleaned well and (attempted to) put caulk around. but after reading some of the posts here i have confirmed that leaking is not ok.

no odor around toillet. no small boys in the house. toilet seems to be unevenly installed, but only noticed when i was removing old caulk. the front of it seems to be a little high from the floor. toilet does not rock. when i bought the house my inspector told the old owners to tighten toilet to floor. i asked a plumber and was told it was installed ok. was reinstalled after floor was replaced. it is a house new to me, so i don't know if it was always leaking. house is about 10 years old.

question:
should i just caulk and pretend it is ok.
should i call a plumber and see if it is a crack as you mentioned in a previous post.

thanks for having such a forum.

Jsh

[Falcon67]

Without knowing what the pot was sealed up with, I'd suggest getting a plumber to re-seat the toilet for you. With a wax ring and a new hold down kit, it doesn't take very much time at all - provided the flange is in good shape. If it does not sit flat to the floor, it needs to be shimmed some to make sure it stays put. If they used a rubber seal, it may take little movement to break the seal.

[jadnashua]

Setting a toilet isn't all that hard, but it is a little heavy and awkward. Cost to do it yourself is a few dollars for a new wax ring. A plumber could probably do it for their minimum charge, since it shouldn't take long. Now, if there are problems, all bets are off. How much that is depends on where you live.