Browse Forums Bathrooms and Laundry 1 Jul 05, 2017 1:38 pm I found this in the front bathroom today.
There is no odour. I have put food colouring in the bowl and flushed the toilet but as yet can't see anything on the floor. Has anybody else experienced this and know the likely cause? If the house is five years old I am presuming it is still covered under the plumbing insurance. Would that be right? Sorry I have had to edit the photos out as photobucket now requires payment for 3rd party hosting. Re: Brown water leaking from toilet base 2Jul 05, 2017 2:26 pm Looks like the colour is leeching from the material used to stick the toilet on the floor. Do you know what that is? Also, if the water is not coming from the bowl, check around the bottom of the cistern where it connects to the toilet base to see if the seal between the two is still sound. Re: Brown water leaking from toilet base 3Jul 05, 2017 2:31 pm Builder's work including plumbing work is warranted for 10 years under DBCA1995, so your problem is your builder's problem. Looking at your photos it looks there is some slab movement because pan has separated from silicone seal, that may have cracked the pipe. You need to get builder to send his plumber out and remove the pan to have a look where water is coming from. Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Re: Brown water leaking from toilet base 4Jul 05, 2017 2:47 pm Hi arcadelt, When you say the material used to stick the toilet to the floor, are you referring to the silicone sealer? Now, an hour after I flushed, I am starting to see water seeping from under the silicone sealer at the front left side of the toilet bowl. I don't think any of this is coming from the cistern as there is no water on the sides of the toilet, only on the floor. Re: Brown water leaking from toilet base 5Jul 05, 2017 2:56 pm Thanks BE. I shall contact the builder. Our plumber is no longer working as a plumber or so I was told when the VBA contacted him to replace the degraded multilayer pipe on our gas meter with compliant copper pipe. The silicone sealer has always been slightly "off" on one side as you can see in the picture. I remember when the house was being built there was a note in the site meetings to the effect that the toilet waste in the front bathroom was supposed to be moved. When I asked if the problem had been resolved the designer responded that it had "as far as she was aware" but the builder never responded. Ho hum, here we go again. Re: Brown water leaking from toilet base 6Jul 05, 2017 3:16 pm The colour (without odour) would suggest ground water coming in and that is potentially serious. Have a look outside to see if there is any evidence of movement and cracking and also on the inside. Is there a chance roof or gutter are leaking? Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Re: Brown water leaking from toilet base 7Jul 05, 2017 3:28 pm Ground water!!! I can't see any evidence of cracking either inside the bathroom or outside. The bathroom slab is pretty high above ground level. It would really surprise me if the ground water level was high enough to seep out our toilet base. Re: Brown water leaking from toilet base 8Jul 05, 2017 3:55 pm On rare occasions, you can get perched water table. if it's not coming when you flush where is it coming from? Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Re: Brown water leaking from toilet base 10Jul 05, 2017 4:07 pm Water trapped in a soil layer (aquifer) at higher elevation than your slab and finding its way under your slab ( crack or passage in soil layer or old tree root (excellent conduit for water). ??? more investigation required. Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Re: Brown water leaking from toilet base 11Jul 05, 2017 4:22 pm you know what it is you are in denial you most likely have a P trap toilet fitted to an S type pipe and the adaptor gasket is leaking as mentioned you need a plumber to remove bowl and see what is happening either that or do you have young boys whose aim is not that good Re: Brown water leaking from toilet base 12Jul 05, 2017 4:36 pm Hi aussieta, I'm not sure I understand your post - I'm in denial about......???? Did somebody mention an adapter gasket? I shall look up P type toilets and S type pipes. And no, I don't have any young boys and, as I mentioned, above there is no odour. It isn't urine. Re: Brown water leaking from toilet base 13Jul 05, 2017 5:08 pm Well I've checked our toilet specs. The front bathroom is an Ideal Standard Tonic Back to Wall. The brochure says both S Trap: 140-160mm or P Trap: 190mm. We would have an S trap because I found a photo of the bathroom under construction and I presume the waste in the floor there is for the toilet. We have a strip drain for the shower along the wall.
So if the toilet accommodates both traps this shouldn't be a problem then, should it? Re: Brown water leaking from toilet base 15Jul 05, 2017 8:33 pm that spec S trap 140-160 suggests that you have a P trap toilet with adaptor this is the adaptor http://www.highgrovebathrooms.com.au/s- ... m-adapter/ the pan gasket (top left) is what i suspect is leaking sorry about my sense of humour we had p trap through wall at first house and had a very similar puddle under the pan gasket with no noticeable smell as toilet was not back to wall it was obvious, quick fix for plumber Re: Brown water leaking from toilet base 17Mar 01, 2018 7:52 am Sorry about my laziness in updating this thread. All was resolved in July of last year when the builder sent out a plumber to investigate. Luckily for us it was not the original plumber but somebody who took their time to try and find the possible cause. He took the cistern apart and found a tiny leak in the wedge seal so it was actually cistern water that was leaking (not the other stuff). The leak was so small it only leaked from under the toilet when it reached a critical mass. He replaced both the wedge seal and the keeseal from memory and siliconed around the wedge seal. So far there have been no more leaks and as he poked some holes in the silicone between the base of the toilet and the floor to drain out all the water I'm assuming any other leaks would have been obvious by now. Hopefully I won't have to revisit this issue. DIY, Home Maintenance & Repair Hi, I've got a brand new (2nd hand) Bosch Hydropower 16H tankless hot water heater. Since it was installed I have noticed it leaks a lot. I took the cover off and it looks… 0 24147 I've filled, levelled and compacted around 100mm of roadbase in preparation to lay some outdoor court tiles. Prior to doing the final compaction, I dusted the top with… 0 3044 I have seen poly marble shower bases last in excess of 30 years 1 4504 |