I had a new toilet that the contractor moved so he could tile over existing tiles in bathroom. When he put toilet back, after flushing it was leaking into basement. He thought he fixed it but I noticed again there is a bit of water leaking down the outside of the pipe in the basement. Also the toilet keeps running now until I flick the handle. Any idea what is causing these problems that weren't there before.
Toilet leaking after moving
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Ideally, the toilet flange on the sewer line should be flush to 1/4" higher than the finished floor. After tiling over existing tile, the toilet was raised by 1/4-1/2", so it needs a thicker(or double) wax seal. As for it running on after use........check that the chain/linkage to the flapper is not hanging up inside the tank.
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Wonder if the contractor forgot a rag or dropped something into the toilet's drain pipe while he/she was doing the work? Or he/she installed a drain that is too small or does not have correct slope. If so, the waste water would be draining too slowly causing backup and the wax ring is not sealing sufficiently. Test your toilet's drain when you remove the toilet by pouring buckets of water into it and see if it can keep up with the flow.
You could also do a quick test now by quickly pouring in a 5 gallon bucket of water into the bowl and then quickly flushing the toilet. See if the final flush drains quickly.
Assuming that the drain is clear and flows properly, I would use an extra thick wax ring with a built-in funnel to correct your leaking problem. (I think extra thick wax rings only come with a funnel.) The plastic funnel only becomes a problem if there is insufficient space between the drain flange and bottom of the toilet and the top of the funnel hits the bottom of the bowl and squishes the wax out. In your case, there is too much space between the top of your flange and the bottom of the bowl so that will not be a problem. I like the funnel since it guides the waste water down into the drain pipe.
Note that with a toilet drain that is installed to code, the water should never backup enough to even test the wax ring for leakage unless the drain is clogged or partially clogged.
HRG
You could also do a quick test now by quickly pouring in a 5 gallon bucket of water into the bowl and then quickly flushing the toilet. See if the final flush drains quickly.
Assuming that the drain is clear and flows properly, I would use an extra thick wax ring with a built-in funnel to correct your leaking problem. (I think extra thick wax rings only come with a funnel.) The plastic funnel only becomes a problem if there is insufficient space between the drain flange and bottom of the toilet and the top of the funnel hits the bottom of the bowl and squishes the wax out. In your case, there is too much space between the top of your flange and the bottom of the bowl so that will not be a problem. I like the funnel since it guides the waste water down into the drain pipe.
Note that with a toilet drain that is installed to code, the water should never backup enough to even test the wax ring for leakage unless the drain is clogged or partially clogged.
HRG
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