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.
A toilet that is installed improperly and is on unlevell ground and wobbles or if the screws get even a little loose and the toilet wobbles every time you sit down, then it will end up with the leaky wax seal.
I agree this is not really “willy nilly”, There is a clear sign of something wrong with the wobble. But a lot of people just aren’t taught this stuff throughout their lives so they don’t know that that’s a problem. So then you end up with people sitting on a wobbly toilet for years and then the wax seal moves and starts to leak.
Uncaulked is the way to go. If you do maintenance and keep everything around it clean. At least where I’m currently living in the U.S. that seems to be the standard. I have seen other countries where the toilet and shower are all together and they just shower and spray down next to the toilet. I don’t know about caulking there.
I have also seen the caulk around that leave the back open as well. That probably also works. Check code is most important, but I personally prefer no caulk look