Why caulking around a toilet is a bad idea

In Washington state, caulking around a toilet isn't code. The picture is the best explanation for the code because the caulk prevented the water from seeping out onto the bathroom floor.

Isn't that a good thing, you won't dare ask.

No, noob, it isn't a good thing.

The water was leaking for a long time, but where was it going? Not on the floor, for sure. But, it was seeping very slowly under the tile floor causing the tiles to settle and crack. Even worse is that this bathroom has twenty toilets and most of them have caulking smeared around the base.

Ball Plumbing reset this toilet with new wax rings (took 3 wax rings because the original plumbers screwed up) and removed the old caulk.

No, we didn't recaulk because it is not code for very good reasons.

Bellingham sewer replacement

Here's a sewer we did last week in the Roosevelt neighborhood.

Sewage under house in Mt. Vernon, WA

This was a hard one due to the conditions. The tenant complained about bugs in the hallway bathroom, so I crawled under the house to check for problems. There were lots of both. The crawl is extreme because the crawl opening is at the furthest point away from the problem, the raw sewage, and low heating ducts.

We replaced as much as we could and will do the rest when it dries out a bit.

Free Plumbing Stuff

My plumbing parts supplier in Burlington did some spring cleaning. The stuff didn't sell in 3 years, so corporate wrote them off and they gave the stuff away.

Pictured are offset closet flanges, 2" PVC P-trap with union and gal 45s.

All that stuff was used daily by all plumbers 20 years ago and now it is garbage.

Water heater rust

This is from a commercial electric 80 gallon, 480 volt water heater we replaced  in Burlington, Wa.

Ferndale Wa Sewer Stoppage

On the day of the announcement of the Ferndale building inspector resigning for being a drunk, I'll post this nightmare job we did yesterday in a 9 year old house in Ferndale, WA.

The first two pictures are blurred, yea I know. I'm trying to get used to this I-Phone 5 camera.

What you are looking at is a sewer filled with pebbles and dirt. The riser came loose enough to allow the stuff to fill the pipe over the course of years. The third picture is the riser.

What makes matters worse is the sewer makes a u-turn to go all the way across the front lawn to join a shared sewer before it goes into the city sewer.

Bellingham Copper Pipes

We are replacing a water service (pipe from the meter to the house, when I discovered this piece of art.

I call it the DIY Experience: