cracking toilets???

I have recently experienced an incident where an older toilet cracked at the wall attachment and flooded three floors of and apartment building. Within weeks the same thing happened to the apartment next door.

Neither of the apartments are occupied full time, they are mainly vacation spots for families that use them seasonally. The toilets in question were working fine for over 20 years. The incidents did not occur during exteme weather/temp conditions.

Is this a common occurance?

Any information/experience would be helpful..

cracked

Where does it look like the tank cracked?
When you say the wall (attachment), do you mean that these are wall hung toilets?
Or do you mean where the water comes to the supply valve that brings water to the toilet tank?
I have seen toilets crack when someone sits and leans back too hard.
I've seen toilets crack at the trip lever because the white metal in the lock nut, which is pot metal , grows when it corrodes. Have seen the tank crack from the bottom because the 2" pot metal nut that holds the flush valve assembly does the same thing.

man, that makes a serious and costly mess... if no one is there, the water just endlessly keeps dumping everywhere. If the suites aren't occupied full time, and you've had it happen to two others, I would definitely close all the shutoff valves on the toilets until the suites are occupied. At least when the others go (which it seems quite likely they will), then they'll only dump their storage water. Time for new Toto's all around!!!

My last cracked tank I dealt with had broken around the entire side/underside/side so that the tank was in two complete halves... a shocking sound and surprise for the poor homeowner in the middle of the night...

night

Kristi, my best guess is the swelling of the white metal at the spud........

tanks

American Standard tanks were notorious for cracking through the bolt holes. It would happen spontaneously. You would be walking down the hallway and hear a "click" and the water would come out of the doorway.