I’m currently thinking no caulk is best because it allows you to notice if the wax ring is leaking. In fact, this is exactly what happened to me recently. I flushed and noticed water coming out from the sides of the toilet.
What do the fedinauts think?
From the article:
However, leaks are usually noticed from the floor below the toilet when looking up. Leaks under the tub are often found in the same way. In apartments, it is common for the tenant below to be the one who first notices a problem. So this argument for not caulking is somewhat flawed.
This seems like a terrible reason to caulk. The first obvious major flaw with this thinking is that it assumes you have a lower floor??? I only have 1 floor and then it’s concrete below. I can’t notice it from the bottom. Also, if you’re in an apartment, wouldn’t it still be better for the owner to notice the leak from the toilet, instead of waiting for it to get so bad the the person from the bottom notices??
Caulk prevents water from seeping under the toilet.
OK. This I guess makes sense, for certain people, I guess. If your shower or sink is right next to your toilet, I could see water from the outside going in. But in my case, my toilet is not near sinks or showers. So I’m a lot more worried about water from the inside going out.
Caulking around the toilet is good for pest prevention
I guess I can understand this point. Small bugs could hide under the toilet.
Caulk looks better
Disagree.
and helps prevent unpleasant odors
Why would there be odors? The wax ring and the toilet should be making a good seal, no? If there are odors, doesn’t that mean the seal is failing? Wouldn’t that be a sign you should investigate further? Not hide the issue?
Plumbing codes require caulking a toilet to the floor
Because I said so isn’t a good reason…
Pro caulk:
- could prevent bugs from hiding under the toilet
- could prevent water from going under the toilet
Con caulk:
- hides wax ring failures
- hides poor installation
Seems like the cons carry waaaayyy more weight than the pros.
If you have floating flooring in your bathroom don’t caulk, it will move and separate. Ask me how I know. 🙃
What’s floating flooring?
Floating floor planks. Generally wood laminate / artificial planks that sit on top of existing flooring or subfloor, and generally click together at the sides and ends. They’re pretty common for newer homes and for cheaper floor replacements.
They’re not a bad option. They’re cheap and benefit from individual planks being relatively easy to replace if damaged, but the drawback is they tend to shrink and expand a bit and can shift with temperature and humidity fluctuations.
I have floating floor in my home and every few months as the temp and humidity changes occur with the seasons have to use a suction gripper and mallet to knock closed gaps in a few places where they can shift anywhere from 1/16 to up to 1/4 inch if/where the ends have separated in places. But it means caulking under the toilet was a bad move because they’re designed to be able to shift slightly, and sealing them down that way can cause issues and eventually the seal will break from the pressure of the planks shifting. And doing it caused a few gaps to form where there were none previously.
I’m not a big fan of this flooring application, and am considering going with glue down engineered wood in the future when it needs replacing.
TIL, thanks! I do have flooring I have to install soonish… It seems DIY-friendly so that’s interesting. Although, hm. Not sure about the drawbacks. Good to know about.
Take the drawbacks with a grain of salt, I’ve seen good professional installations, a lot of buildings in my area (both residential and commercial) use this kind of flooring. The good stuff is durable, can look really nice and hold up well with lots of foot traffic and doesn’t need the extra maintenance when done right. But you gotta pay more for the better stuff, like anything else.
My house was custom built on a reasonable budget during the pandemic, “builder’s special” kinda thing. We made it work, but there were definitely corners cut in places. Some things are quality, some things are cheap but work, and I guarantee the flooring was one of the things they cheaped out on. 😅