# Help me level a toilet, please



## KyMama (Jun 15, 2011)

Several years we added a bathroom in the basement. The floor slopes down towards a floor drain so the toilet has never sat level. I haven't actually measured it, but I'd say it's right at 1" between the toilet and the floor at the front. I need to get this fixed since my oldest has his bedroom down there now. We also have a few guests coming over this weekend for a cookout and it's easier to get to this bathroom. Please help me. It needs to be something that an amateur can do, but with good instructions I can do whatever needs to be done.

Thank you


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## KMA1 (Dec 9, 2006)

Assuming everthing works and has no links now. I would cut some wooden wedge shaped shims similar to door shims, or ypou could just buy some door shims and place around the toilet where it doesn't meet the floor. Just till they are sung, not really forcing them in, then I would caulk that baby up and say good enough. Or they have L shaped plastic roll caulk that is self-adhesive on the back side you could use.


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## ihuntgsps (Mar 10, 2008)

I would suggest some bags of fine concrete mix (make sure no large pieces of rock in it). Also called a topping mix in some parts of the country.

1. remove drain cover and toilet.
2. take drain to home depot/plumbing store and find right size pipe to fit bottom of drain (usually 2"). . 
3. Thread into bottom of drain then cut off where level with floor and cap if not needed or install new drain grate
4. clean floor
5. mix batches of concrete mix and spread on floor starting at floor drain area and feathering to a nice smooth finish where floor is level.
6. reinstall toilet onto your now level floor.


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## Jumper82afar (Jun 6, 2011)

You could lift the toilet and use the floor leveling concrete to level just under the toilet itself. Then if you still have a small wobble in the toilet then use a coin under the edge push it far enough so that its not seen but still under the outer edge. That way you don't have some untreated wood laying on concrete in a high moisture area.


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## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

I managed an old building in Boston for a few years. It had been built on wooden pilings and the floors all sloped to the center of the building, a lot! I would use pices of vinyl tile to level sink bases and toilets, then calk. It worked well without having to go to all the trouble of changing the flange and all.


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## Qhorseman (Jul 9, 2010)

They make door and window shims in plastic now. I would use those. Level it up, tighten down firmly then caulk it well with 100% silicon.


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## KyMama (Jun 15, 2011)

Thanks y'all. I did a temporary fix for this weekend, and my DH can do a better job with concrete or leveler when he gets vacation in a couple months. I bought some of the plastic shims a couple months ago, and it takes 4 of them to get the front level with the back. I used them and slid some extra pieces of ceramic tile under there to have something for the caulk to stick to in the big gaps. (The toilet isn't resting on the tiles.)

When we go to use the concrete, do we need to build a temporary frame to contain the concrete or are you recommending we level the whole floor. I don't want to level the whole floor because of the drain, our basement floods occasionally and that drain has come in handy.


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## wy_white_wolf (Oct 14, 2004)

I wouldn't attempt to level it without first replacing the wax seal. Any raising with shims may cause the seal to leak and allow sewer gases into the bathroom making it unusable until fixed.

WWW


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I would definitely make sure it still seals. Use 2 wax rings if you aren't positive it it sealed.

Whoever built my house put the pipe in crooked and I could never keep it sealed. It rotted out two bathroom floors AND would spray water into the basement when flushed if I didn't keep an eye on it before I replaced all the plumbing.


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## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

Oh yes, do use a new seal. Sometimes two.


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## francismilker (Jan 12, 2006)

I've seen this problem when someone has framed in a porch on an older home that was built without modern plumbing and made themselves a bathroom. Problem is: most porches are poured with a slope to get water off. 

What I have done is remove the toilet first. Then, put a double wax seal in place. Next, build a small depth form for concrete out of anything you can imagine like cardboard, floor tiles, or thin lumber around the drain flange that is rectangle in shape a little bigger than the toilet. 

Last: mix up a bag of floor leveling concrete compound and pour it inside your shallow forms. Wallah! It sets up like concrete, self levels for the most part, and when it drys you can reset your toilet on top of it without a rock. (The reason for putting on the wax seal first is to keep any floor leveling compound from pooling up and going down the drain; hence, causing more probs in the future.)


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## farminghandyman (Mar 4, 2005)

use some plastic shims and level it and then I would push mortar under for it to set on, and to seal under the toilet to the floor,


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## Big Dave (Feb 5, 2006)

If you read this here is what was done in the old ranch house. The toilet got elevated. There was a platform built to set the toilet on. The floor was not level so a 6 inch raised platform was framed up. Yep there is a step up. It makes for quite the sitting on the throne experience.


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## mwillardson (Jul 26, 2012)

you can use the plastic door shims than make a dry pack mortar ( mix portland cement with sand add only enough water to make it wold in a ball when gripped in your hand) pack this in under your toilet and let dry for a few hours and your done.


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