How To Fix A Wobbly Toilet | Permanent Solution

how's it going you guys it's Scott with the everyday home repairs I have this toilet that I installed the other day and it's not completely flush with the floor I have a little bit of a gap around the outside and it also has a little wobble to it so I want to make sure that this toilet is one secure but I also am going to seal off this toilet as it is in a rental unit very close to the tub and I want to make sure no water or other things get up underneath that toilet during the years and years of its use so I'm going to start off by using a torpedo level and placing that right on top here of the toilet bowl base you can see the bubble is all the way to the left hand side that means that my right hand side is a bit low with respect to the left hand side now your toilet is going to work just fine if it's a little out of level so that's not my main concern here my main concern is really securing everything up to eliminate that wobble side to side but if I do have a choice and I can raise one side with respect to the other I'm going to raise the right hand side to get that a little closer to overall and level setting now I do want to note that I just installed this toilet the other day so I know it has a really good seal there's no leaks no issues if it's been years and years since you've done anything with this toilet and you're just trying to fix it from being wobbly be a little bit careful or least cautious on making those adjustments without confirming that you have a good wax ring and you're going to have a solid seal now once you're confident with that now let's jump into securing our toilet so we're going to start things off by loosening up the two mounting bolts that hold the toilet to the flange the nice thing is I used a Danko all-in-one kit so I just take off the cap and this kit really doesn't need any tools so it has this little spacer slash tightener that I can just use to loosen the mounting bolts without getting a wrench out I'm not going to loosen those a lot I just want to loosen them a little bit so I'll be able to shim on this side where I don't have as much gap on this right hand side of the toilet as I do on the left hand side so once you have both sides loosened up here are the actual shims that we're going to use so these are one of the two products we're going to use even though these say Mighty wedge there's wobble wedges there's a few different names but basically you're looking for the soft shim design that has those teeth the teeth do two things one with that soft design and the teeth they do grip on the floor a little bit better and then two if you have a larger Gap that you need to fill up where you're using two shims they're gonna stack and lock together a whole lot better now shimming is easy enough and remember because I use my bubble level I have a little bit of a plan of attack and I know I want my right hand side to go up foreign which hopefully will level things out and I'll put about four shims per side so once we have the right hand side done then we'll move on to the left hand side you're not going to be hammering in these shims you're just pushing them in place until you get some friction and then you can make small adjustments later on and then just go back through making sure everything is still secured sometimes when you press one side in you might press a little bit too much and that would loosen another one of your shims now with those shims in place maybe you checked your level to see if the toilet is where you want it now I Mark each of these shims with a sharpie I try not to mark up the toilet itself but I just want to Mark where each shim is and instead of using a utility knife and cutting it off which is common in shims I just use side Cutters it takes two Snips you'll cut each shim to length press it up actually under recess the shim slightly and sometimes you need to use that excess piece of the shim to push that securely under the toilet so go along doing one at a time remember only one at a time because you want the toilet to stay in position where it was so you'll just remove one which isn't going to affect the overall position then once you're completed with that you'll go ahead and tighten down your mounting bolts on each side and remember do not over tighten but you do want to make sure the toilet is securely set so at this point in the project we're actually at a really good State the bottom looks great you can't even really see the shims it is much closer to level and most importantly it's much more secure and the wobble is now gone but we're not quite finished because we have that Gap still along the bottom that I want to seal up so what I'm going to use is 100 silicone I like to use 100 silicone because it's flexible to Interior projects and exterior projects and I usually carry a clear and a white with me in this case I'm going to use white and also if you want a reference for these shims that we're using for your own projects check down in the description of this video right below the video you see a link to our Amazon store you'll jump over there go to the plumbing section and you'll find these along with all my other recommendations for your DIY projects so placing the silicone I go a little light in terms of the amount of silicone or the bead that I lay down because I'm going to come back through with my finger and actually press that up underneath the toilet itself so I'll lay down my bead having to maneuver around the wall and then once I have the all the way around I will go ahead and smooth that out and clean things up with my finger have a few paper towels handy and having a wet paper towel is also a big plus so take your time and try to minimize the mess overall my finished product although not perfect I think it looks pretty good now remember I leave an opening on the back I do not seal it all the way around just in case I had a leak in the future I would rather that leak show on the bathroom floor opposed to going down through the ceiling of your first floor or your basement or whatever is underneath your bathroom and then last tip is again I use what are called airtight canisters they unscrew because it's a diyer I'm always only using like a third maybe a quarter of a tube of silicone so I'd be wasting it if I didn't have one of these where I can actually store the silicone whether it's at home or in my truck and then this seals the top seals the bottom and actually puts a small plastic rod down through the neck here so you are able to use that same tube in the future and save yourself some money now again this is over on our Amazon store in the General Supply sections they are sold out currently but if you subscribe and hit the Bell notification to our Channel I do put out Community posts in your news feed which will let you know when things like this come back into stock now if you want to check out that other video where we're using clear silicone to seal up exterior holes in my area where in Fall now this is a great time to seal everything up and prep for winter check out this video right here I'll walk you through both spray foam and silicone and how I use them so thanks for joining me on this video and we'll catch you on the next one take care

Channel: Everyday Home Repairs

Views: 294,052

Keywords: toilet rocking side to side, toilet not secured to floor, everyday home repairs

Id: 6gHLJlLjdNs

Length: 7min 44sec (464 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 04 2022