Toilet seal failure.

1/6/2023 (Permalink)

Toilet seal failure causing Black water sewage intrusion affecting carpet and other materials.

Here at SERVPRO of Centennial Hills, we’ve seen it all and we’ve done it all. We got a call from a customer whose toilet had been leaking from the toilet seal and crept into her carpet. SERVPRO was immediately dispatched to the customer’s home. Upon arrival we noticed there was carpet in the bathroom as well as a significant majority of the house that was affected (Typically bathrooms nowadays will usually have tile, vinyl or hardwood flooring instead of carpet). We noticed the toilet was loose with little to no caulking around the base. 

Once the source of loss has been identified, it’s time to get to work! SERVPRO of Centennial Hills fired up the truck mount and began extracting any standing water or water that seeped into the carpet. Next we begin removing the carpet, carpet pad and tack strip. Once all flooring is out, we removed the toilet and noticed an old and damaged wax ring. The next course of action was to immediately treat the wood subfloor and replace the wax ring, set the toilet back into place, hook up the water supply line and put a fresh bead of caulking all around the base of the toilet to seal it. 

This loss ended up as a Category 3 due to contaminated water that had been in contact with hazardous waste instead of a fresh water source such as the toilet supply line itself. This just goes to show that the smallest, everyday details most people miss on a daily basis can end up costing the most amount of damage. With our expert team, we were able to remove contaminated materials from the customer’s home, treat the home with SERVPROXIDE for any possibly mold growth, save the subfloor and give the custom peace of mind.