Water at base of toilet?

[Wade Lippman]

I am renting a house in Hawaii this week. The bathroom has a funky smell; kind of like a poorly ventilated locker room. I assumed it was because of poor ventilation (no A/C, no exhaust fan..), but then noticed water on the floor around the toilet. Not very much, but some. I cleaned it up with toilet paper and it doesn't seem to have any smell. What could it be? The picture is terrible, but you can see the glint of water and the discolored grout (the rest of the bathroom is light sand).328567
It comes right back after being cleaned up.

As long as I am posting pictures, this it the view from our (extremely decrepit) deck. Some are big enough to rattle the doors.
328568

[Jeff Monson]

Sounds like you need a new wax ring. I'd also make sure the seal between the tank and the stool is good, hard to see water running down on white porcelain. I use a paper towel a dry below the tank and see if there is continuous moisture.

[Mike Wilkins]

Nice view.

That water you are seeing at the base of the toilet is due to the wax ring that has deteriorated. I had the same thing happen with one of the toilets in my home. Employee at the big box store verified same after I gave him the symptoms. Get a wax ring and some new toilet bolts and do the replacement. Or call a plumber. It's just deterioration after many years use, and is normal. Get it done before the water causes much more damage. Like a rotted floor.

[Charles Wiggins]

Top guesses:
1) Sweat from the tank. If the tank is cold an the air is warm and humid you get condensation forming on the tank dripping down, but this is usually easy to spot.
2) Leaky tank. This most often occurs where the feed line connects to the tank or where the tank connects to the bowl. Sometimes if the leak is slow the water will migrate along the tank and run down the side of the bowl so that its hard to see until its on the floor.
3) Leaky bowl. This is most likely a cracked or ill-fitting floor seal (wax ring). If the bowl rocks this is more likely.
4) Old mop water that migrated under the bowl and is working its way back out now that there are vibrations occurring in the room.

[Dan Hintz]

I am renting a house in Hawaii this week.

Let the landlords/owners know before you leave so they can have it fixed before the next tenants move in...

[Mel Fulks]

Beautiful view, Wade, ....once I enlarged it and realized it was not the toilet getting worse!. We have a lot of inquiries about plumbing here and I just completed some traumatic back breaking work on our upstairs toilet. Had leaked and ruined the plywood under vinyl floor. Flange was wrong height and like so many not attached to floor. I used the spongy Sani Seal gasket and many of the plumbers around here have switched over to those. fWIW I asked the company how long they would last and he said they estimate 50 years . I made a plastic catch basin to go under that has a drain going to to a pail with a "water alarm" in the closet beneath it. With Gone With The Wind theme playing in my head I declared I
would never go through that again!

[Barry McFadden]

I would get a tall, cool drink... sit out on the decrepit deck and let the owner take care of it....if he doesn't live nearby then let him know you can do it for around $200.00

[Matt Meiser]

I would get a tall, cool drink... sit out on the decrepit deck and let the owner take care of it....if he doesn't live nearby then let him know you can do it for around $200.00

You work too cheap. :D

[Brian Henderson]

It's almost certainly a bad wax ring, although you might want to make sure that there is nothing running down the back of the bowl from the water connection, after all, you said there was no smell. Check to see that the toilet bolts are tight. Does the toilet rock at all?

[Wade Lippman]

No leaks and no condensation(water supply is very warm). Can't rule out mop water, but the discolored grout suggests it is coming from the toilet. Toilet does not rock.

My first thought was the wax ring, but I expected the water to smell, so I was looking for another explanation.
The bathroom was remodeled less than 10 years ago. Would the wax ring be deteriorated or was it just not installed properly?

[Brian Henderson]

Seriously, at that point, I'd just replace the wax ring, it takes a few minutes and costs a few dollars. Better safe than sorry.

[George Bokros]

He is renting the house, this is the landlords responsibility not his. Why bother with all the speculation and call the landlord.

[Barry McFadden]

He is renting the house, this is the landlords responsibility not his. Why bother with all the speculation and call the landlord.

Exactly the point I was trying to make!!

[Brian Henderson]

He is renting the house, this is the landlords responsibility not his. Why bother with all the speculation and call the landlord.

But for something like that, it's often faster and easier to just do it yourself and take it off your rent than it is to argue with the landlord, wait for them to schedule a plumber, deal with the hassle of the plumber, etc.

[Wade Lippman]

He is renting the house, this is the landlords responsibility not his. Why bother with all the speculation and call the landlord.

Because I wanted to know what to tell him. I thought it was a bad wax ring, but if it was something else (such as, perhaps, condensation) I didn't want to make him drive an hour to tell me there was nothing wrong.

[Mike Ontko]

One additional thing to mention to the owner is that a regular sized wax ring might not be sufficient to close the gap between the closet flange and the toilet connection. Closet flanges (the opening connection to the drain pipe) are typically installed to sit flush with the subfloor. If multiple layers of flooring have been added after that or if tall tiles are used and the toilet sits on top, then it increases the distance between the toilet connection and the flange. There are taller wax rings that can be used for these situations.

[Chris Padilla]

http://saniseal.com/

Suggest to your landlord to pick one of these up at the local HD. They are about 5x the cost of a wax ring but seal better, make replacing the toilet easier, and are resusable.

[Mike Ontko]

http://saniseal.com/

Suggest to your landlord to pick one of these up at the local HD. They are about 5x the cost of a wax ring but seal better, make replacing the toilet easier, and are resusable.

...and they're probably a lot more pleasant to replace than an old broken down wax ring :)

[al heitz]

But if you fix it, then you become liable for any further complications, even if you did it right. Let the owner assume his rightful responsibility.

[Peter Luch]

Leave it alone and tell the owner then sit on the "Lanai" not deck!

[Scott Underwood]

Only a bunch of woodworkers would be worried about do home repairs while they are on vacation in a place they do not own.