Why You Should Not Repair or Replace Your Toilet By Yourself

There are a number of plumbing problems at home that you can actually fix yourself. A leaking faucet, for instance, is easy enough to replace provided you have the necessary tools. There are, however, several plumbing tasks that you should never do yourself, because you might do more harm than good. Replacing a toilet is one of them.

Toilet replacement seems simple but it’s not

On the surface, replacing a toilet may seem simple. After, it all seems just a matter of measuring the distance from the wall to the bolts in the floor, buying a new toilet at your neighbourhood hardware store, and removing and replacing the toilet’s seal and bolt.

The truth, however, is a little more complicated than that. If you are going to go the DIY route when replacing a toilet, you might be facing serious issues in the future if you didn’t do the job perfectly, which is more likely to happen considering your lack of skills and experience in toilet replacement.

Replacing a toilet requires utmost precision

Here’s why you should not repair or replace your toilet by yourself: toilet replacement requires utmost precision. When installed, it has to be perfectly flush and sealed. Do anything less, and you’re likely to have a leaking toilet, which could present a host of inconvenient and ultimately costly problems in the future.

What makes a leaking toilet such a problem is that spotting them straight way can prove to be hard even for the trained eye, particularly when the toilet that was replaced is on the second floor. When a leak happens because of imperfectly done toilet replacement, water will slowly begin to drip into the floor every single time you flush it. Water, of course, will always seek the lowest point, and that lowest point is more likely the part of the first-floor ceiling directly beneath the toilet.

If the toilet is frequently flushed, it won’t take long to notice dark stains appearing on that part of the ceiling, and when they appear, you would know there’s a leak. On the other hand, it could take a long time for stains to form if that toilet is not always in use, and therefore isn’t flushed frequently. Aside from not immediately realizing that your toilet is leaking, the absence of stains will also allow the leak to continue for some time without being noticed.

Mould growth

This would then breed another problem: mould. The fact that the toilet is leaking makes the space between the second-floor toilet and the ceiling pretty damp, which makes mould thrive. Mould, in case you didn’t know, is an entirely different problem that you need to deal with immediately. Mould doesn’t just cause structural damage. Mould also happens to pose a serious health risk to you and every member of your household. It aggravates allergies and causes respiratory problems, among other things.

Of course, a leaking second-floor toilet that isn’t dealt with immediately could saturate the floor and the ceiling, and that will eventually lead to the toilet crashing down on anyone on the first floor of your house.

So if you want to get your toilet repaired or replaced, the best thing for you to do is get the services of a professional plumber. With a professional plumber like the ones we have on the Beez Neez Plumbing team replacing your toilet, you can be sure that everything will be done perfectly.