Toilet Repair in Vancouver
Two very different problems get described the same way. A toilet that runs is wasting water inside the bowl; a toilet that leaks at the base is putting water into your floor. The second is urgent, the first is merely expensive.
Running toilet: flapper and fill valve
A toilet that refills by itself, or hisses long after flushing, is losing water from the tank into the bowl. Usually the flapper seal has hardened or the fill valve is not shutting off cleanly. Both are inexpensive parts and a quick replacement.
It is worth fixing promptly. A continuously running toilet wastes a substantial volume of water, and in a metered or strata-billed building it shows up as a cost long before anyone traces the sound.
Leaking at the base: flange and wax ring
Water appearing around the base after flushing usually means the seal between the toilet and the drain has failed. The toilet has to come up to replace the wax ring, and while it is off we check the flange underneath, which is often cracked or sitting too low.
This one should not wait. Water escaping at the base goes into the subfloor, and by the time it is visible as staining on a ceiling below it has usually been happening for a while.
Rocking toilets and floor damage
A toilet that rocks breaks its own seal repeatedly, so a rocking toilet and a leaking toilet are frequently the same problem at different stages. Shimming and securing it properly is part of the fix, not an extra.
If the floor beneath has already softened, that has to be dealt with before refitting. Bolting a toilet down to a compromised subfloor gives you the same failure again in a year.
When replacement is the cheaper fix
Internal parts are cheap and worth replacing. A cracked tank or bowl is not repairable — a hairline crack will propagate and eventually fail properly, sometimes suddenly.
Very old toilets are also worth replacing on running cost alone, since they use several times the water per flush of a current low-flow model. If yours is original to a pre-1990s house, replacement often pays for itself.
What this costs
$370–$2,600 for most callouts
Performed by a licensed subcontractor at $185/hr with a two-hour minimum. Fixture swaps sit at the bottom of the range; re-piping a vanity or relocating a supply sits at the top. Permit-gated work is quoted separately.
Materials are always separate from labour and passed on at cost. Quotes are free and written, and the full rate card is published rather than given out on request.
Common questions
Why does my toilet run intermittently?
Almost always a hardened flapper seal or a fill valve not closing cleanly, letting water seep from tank to bowl until the level drops enough to trigger a refill. Both are inexpensive parts.
Is water at the base always the wax ring?
Usually, though the flange underneath is often cracked or sitting too low as well. It is worth treating as urgent — water at the base goes into the subfloor and reaches the ceiling below before it becomes obvious.
How much water does a running toilet waste?
Enough to be noticeable on a bill, and considerably more than people expect for something that makes so little noise. In strata buildings with shared water costs it is worth fixing quickly for that reason alone.