How to Tell if Your Cracked Toilet Needs Repair or Replacement

Spotting a crack in your toilet could prove to be difficult, particularly when a crack is quite tiny it’s virtually undetectable. However, one clear indicator that you have got a cracked toilet is if you notice water on your otherwise dry bathroom floor. The moment you notice this puddle of water, you know that you have a leak, and you have to do your best to find where the leak is coming from. Find that crack in your toilet, and you will be able to assess if all your cracked toilet needs is repair work, or if it already needs to be replaced entirely.

How to tell if your Cracked Toilet Needs Repair or Replacement

The size of the crack should help you decide if your toilet can be repaired or not. When you do find the crack either on the tank or the bowl, measure it. If it’s more than a sixteenth of an inch wide, then it actually has to be replaced, no ifs, no buts. No amount of epoxy or similar band-aid remedies can effectively return your toilet to a normal functioning state, so replace it the soonest possible time if your toilet has a crack that big.

However, if your toilet only has a hairline crack, it can still be replaced, that is, if the hairline crack is located outside of the tank or the bowl. A hairline crack outside of the tank or bowl may only be cosmetic and quite easy to repair, but a hairline crack inside the bowl or tank usually indicates that it has to be replaced. It’s even more imperative to replace the toilet if there are multiple hairline cracks.

Go DIY or Call a Professional Plumber

If you are considering repairing the cracked toilet on your own, make sure you have minimal plumbing skills and the right tools to do the job properly. Even with minimal skills you can easily repair tiny and cosmetic cracks on your toilet using plumbing epoxy. Just make sure you cut the water supply off and drain the toilet completely before starting your repair work. When you’re done applying epoxy to the crack, let it stay for 24 hours before refilling the toilet. Keep an eye on your repairs to see if you have stopped the leak completely or not.

Now if the leak persists despite your best efforts, it’s time to call in a professional plumber to plug that leak up for you. You wouldn’t want to risk costly water damage by stubbornly fixing the leak on your own. Your failure to stop a supposedly repairable leak means the leak is already beyond your skill level.

If you need the help of a professional plumber to repair a cracked toilet, just call us at Beez Neez Plumbing. It’s a task that could be efficiently and quickly performed by the professional plumbers on our team. The moment you call us, we’ll send them to your home as soon as we can.