Kohler Memoirs toilet tank not level

[brian911]

Hi, I just had two of my bathrooms renovated and I noticed the Memoirs toilet tanks the contractor installed on the bowl doesn't go on level. I inquired him about it but he said it's part of the toilet design and he couldn't do anything about it. He also said a lot of people ask him the same thing. Personally, I have a hard time believing that. After looking at the area between the toilet and bowl, I have a feeling it's installed incorrectly but I am uncertain... The toilet itself works perfectly though without any leaks... Am I just paranoid??

[jadnashua]

I'm not familiar with that model. I'm guessing that it is a two-piece? (tank comes separate from the bottom). If so, then there are two (usually) bolts that hold the tank to the bottom. They have a rubber washer/sleeve as part of it that keeps the thing from leaking once the toilet is assembled. If he tightened one side up as tight as it should be, then tightened the other side up, rather than following the instructions that say to tighten them up evenly, it would tilt to the side that he tightened up first. It takes maybe a minute or two longer to do it the right way.

When you say tilted, is the tank tilting to one side, or is the whole thing tilted? That makes a difference. If it is the whole thing, does it rock back and forth? Did he use any shims to make it sit without rocking? Is your floor level?

My guess is he was sloppy putting the tank on, but it could be other things as well. If that is the case, (he should fix it) you can fix it yourself. Course, if you break it, you have no recourse. See if there is a bigger gap on one side of the tank vs the other.

[brian911]

Yes, it's two pieces. The tank is tilted maybe 5 degrees towards the bowl. It seems pretty solid (no rocking). The installation instructions did mention to tighten the bolts until the tank is level however I recall the contractor mentioning he doesn't believe the tank can be level because he already tightened the bolts as far as he dared... My floor is level, yes. I also know this Kohler toilet has a weird all in one gasket thing.... could that be the reason?? I don't want to take it apart myself although I don't want to call him back either since we already discussed this and he said it wasn't his problem.......

No shims as far as I can see. The bottom of the tank is not level with the bowl but it's impossible to say if it was meant to be like that because this particular model has the tank sit on top of what seems to be thick grommets where the connection points are.

[jadnashua]

Somebody that deals with these things on a regular basis may have some ideas. You might just want to check out the Kohler web site and see if there is anything there in the troubleshooting section. They may also have an 800 number you can call to ask. As long as it is level left to right, there may not be anything to do. It is possible that the rubber gasket is tapered, and if it were installed 180 degrees it may straighten things out. I just do not know (someone else probably does though, wait a bit for some other answers).

[uvadad]

I have a Kohler Memoirs toilet, and I carefully installed it. I thought that I had tightened the tank bolts evenly, but the tank was badly tilted in a forward direction. I thought the tank was defective and I was really upset, because I knew the floor and bowl were perfectly level.

The solution was simple. I completely loosened all three bolts. I then tightened the rear center bolt as much as I possibly dared. With a level on the tank, I alternately tightened the left and right bolts. When the left and right bolts were snug, the tank was perfectly level from side to side and from back to front. It took less than 10 minutes. I wish Kohler included leveling instructions in the installation manual.

[hj]

Kohler uses three bolts to secure the tank. If the two front ones are tightened first, then the rear one may not be able to be tightened far enough to pull the tank level without over tightening it. Loosen the two front bolts while tightening the rear one, until it is straight. I assume the contractor is not a plumber if he does not know how to do this.