How To Remove Wax Ring From Toilet- The Mess-Free Steps

A wax ring is basically a thick ring of wax. That prevents water from leaking out from beneath your toilet. Now it either malfunctions or gets loose. This is why your toilet starts leaking—resulting in an unpleasant odor as well as a wobbly toilet.

Due to a bad wax ring, your toilet might even stop flushing. That’d be gross! In this article, we are gonna share how to remove wax ring from toilet. We will be breaking down each step for you so that you can fix this all by yourself.

A plumber might not always be available in your area. In this case, DIYing would be the only option!

So, let’s start!

How To Remove Wax Ring From Toilet

In this part, we will break down each step to make it easy for you to fix a wax ring toilet. Let’s start:

  • First things first! Shut the toilet off and lay a sponge down to prevent the leaking toilet base. Wear gloves and rubber boots, like duh!
  • Remove the supply line. Go ahead and use the flush. Remove the top of it and spin the ballcock valve off—sponge out the residual water, including the toilet bowl’s water.
  • Now grab the toilet in the middle. You have to lift it up with a slight force. You can sit on the cardboard for exerting force. When you finish, take a paper towel and clean the flange.
  • Check the sizes of the bolt. They might be smaller than the actual flange. They even get loose and you cannot tighten them. Thereby leading to leaks. Replace them with new ones if necessary.

Why Not Have a Look at the Steps to Install Wax Ring

Time to install wax rings one by one. We recommend using one with a plastic flange and the other without it. Before installing, ensure that the base of the toilet flange is clean.

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We personally prefer using wax instead of slime products or other such seals available in the market. Being an old-school fellow, we feel that the wax lasts for long.

Oh, if you want to be sure about the reasons behind your flush not working is a bad wax ring or not, read this guide packed with the symptoms to ensure will bad wax ring cause not to flush.

To begin with –

  • Check if there is a divot in the older wax ring. Take the new wax ring and press it down in the older one. Must check that the new wax ring is tightly sealed. Keep molding and bending until you get it down around that whole piece of copper.
  • Just get some wax behind and beneath the ring to avoid any kind of leakage. Obviously, you wouldn’t want that!
  • Make sure you seal it strong and smooth. Then comes the time to install the second wax ring.  Pop it out of its cover. And place it on top of the previous ring. Push it gently down where it sets flush on the flange.
  • You can give it a twist to lock them together, ensuring a stronger bond. Now mold them together to prevent any gap or leaks.
  • Another thing that you must ensure is that there is no lip on the flange. Cover it by filling the whole cavity with wax. Then install a wax ring on top of that. This way, it is going to seal perfectly.
  • Now take your time and reinstall the entire toilet carefully, right in the middle. Please be careful in this step. There are caps and washers with directions written over. Place them accordingly and screw the bolts.

Also Read: How To Raise Toilet Flange 2 Inches With 5-Easy Steps

  • Next, tighten the metal washer with a channel tool. After you finish, check the bolt and see if it fits. If it turns out to be long, cut the residual with a mini hacksaw.
  • Clean all the metal shavings as you never want them scattered all over your bathroom. Now grab your channel locks and tighten the metal washer again. Because the saw cutting makes the nut lose again, so, don’t skip this.
  • Time to check by popping the cap. If you are able to pop it, that means it fits perfectly. Do the same process on the other side.
  • Take the supply line hook and re-connect it.
  • Place the ballcock valve on the top of the toilet accordingly. Apply some siliconized caulk at the bottom of the toilet. This will make a nice grey grout line. Apply it, leaving about a two-inch gap. Don’t worry, as it will never be a mess. Siliconized caulk lets water escape keeping the floor secure.
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When you finish reseating the toilet and replacing all the bolts, turn on the water. Check if the entire toilet system is working smoothly or not.

Following these steps accordingly would fix your malfunctioning wax ring in most cases. However, if you follow these steps yet your wax ring remains the same, please contact a plumber and seek professional help.

A Helpful Tutorial You May Need!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Now people usually face this kinda problem and end up with a number of frequently solved questions. So, we thought of sharing these with you. While you face this issue, you might be wondering about these FAQs in your mind!

What dissolves toilet ring wax?

Mineral spirits work great to dissolve toilet ring wax! They are quite popular as they can cut through any type of slime product including wax. Use a rag or a sponge and pour some mineral spirit over it. Drag and scrub the wax ring to remove the wax residual.

Do you need to remove old wax ring?

Not really if your toilet is working fine! Wax rings work longer. So once in a blue moon, you may face issues with it and so on. But if you notice water leaking from beneath the toilet floor or you are unable to flush. In this case, your wax ring is bad and you got to remove it asap.

Conclusion

You are afraid as you are not a plumber but no issue you can still remove and fix your toilet’s bad wax ring. Just some proper technique and you can do it yourself!

So, we hope this article on how to remove wax ring from toilet would be a useful guide for you.

Needless to say, these steps might not work out for you. In that case, contact a professional plumber to figure it out and solve it.

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