Your toilet tank is supposed to maintain good water flow to your toilet.
If it’s leaning forward, it could affect its performance. It may also cause your toilet to clog.
So, what should you do if the toilet tank leans forward? A leaning toilet tank can be annoying and unsanitary.
It puts stress on the toilet’s tank and bowl, resulting in cracks and leaks. If you leave your toilet leaning forward for too long, it may even fall over and break.
Fortunately, fixing a leaning toilet tank is easy. First, you must turn off the water supply underneath the toilet tank.
Next, you’ll need to lift the toilet up and place it onto its side or back. Then, you must drain the tank of water and flush the toilet to empty the tank of any remaining water.
Finally, you may need to remove the toilet’s tank and bowl in order to stabilize it. Once the toilet is secured, you can simply reinstall the tank and bowl and turn on the water supply underneath.
Contents
What To Do If The Toilet Tank Leans Forward?
Inspect The Attachment Bolts
When you flush the toilet, the water tank should lean slightly back.
If it’s leaning forward instead, the bolts that hold it in place may have become loose. You should inspect the bolts and tighten them if necessary.
Loosen the bolts with a wrench or pliers, and then tighten them until they’re secure. Don’t overtighten them; if this happens, the bolts may crack or break, and you’ll need to replace them.
Re-Align & Straighten The Toilet Tank
Over time, the toilet tank may lean forward, causing the tank to leak water.
This happens because the wax ring at the base of the toilet weakens and erodes. When the toilet is flushed, the toilet tank pushes water up through the wax ring and into the bowl.
When the toilet is flushed, water rises in the toilet bowl and eventually overflows the bowl. This overflows water onto the floor, causing water damage.
To fix this, remove the lid from the toilet tank and flush the toilet a few times to remove sediment from the tank. Then remove the toilet tank lid and flush the toilet again to remove any remaining sediment.
Turn the tank upside down and flush it again to remove the sediment.Finally, wipe down the inside of the bowl and tank with a dry cloth to remove any water and rinse any remaining water from the toilet tank with a sponge.
Tighten The Attachment Bolts
Toilet tanks start to lean forward for various reasons, such as age or poor installation.
When this happens, the toilet tank must be tightened to prevent the tank from detaching from the bowl. Tightening the bolts is easy, and it only requires common household tools.
The first step is to shut off the water valve underneath the toilet tank. Then, lift the toilet tank off the bowl and turn it upside down.
Next, remove the bolts that secure the tank to the bowl using a wrench. Finally, reposition the toilet tank and tighten the bolts using a wrench.
Test The Toilet
Most toilets have a tank that stores water and helps it flush.
The tank sits on the toilet and is connected to the bowl by a rubber tube. This tube is called the flush tube.
If the flush tube has a hole in it, water will leak out and the flush tube will lean forward. This can cause the water in the tank to overflow and soak the floor beneath the toilet tank.
If the toilet tank leans forward, check to see if it has a hole. If it does, replace the flush tube.
Why Is My Toilet Tank Leaning?
Over time, a gradual leak can cause wet rot to set in the base of the toilet’s base; this weakens the structure and allows the base to shift over time as more water seeps in.
If you do not have a new low-flow toilet, it may be a good time to think about installing one.
Does a Toilet Tank Have to Be Perfectly Level?
Most household toilets can rest at an angle of about 1/4 inch in any direction and still work properly.
However, if a toilet isn’t level and moves side to side or front to back when you step on it, then you will need to adjust it so that it is level again.
When installing a toilet, it is also important to make sure it is level from side to side as well as front to back.
Otherwise, it will rock back and forth when flushed and cause water to spill out of the sides or the front.
Is It Ok for Toilet Tank to Wobble?
If the tank is swaying, there might need to be something done about it so it doesn’t start to fall over or fall off its hinges completely.
In this situation, the best thing to do is to call a plumber to come and take a look at your plumbing situation and figure out what should be done to fix it and prevent further problems from occurring in the future.
If they are overly tight, they will actually bend the bolt out of shape, which will then make it difficult to remove the bolt when you want to adjust the seat height again.
Also Read: How To Get Rid Of Sulphur Smell In Toilet
Final Words
All of these actions must only be done after turning off the water valve and removing the tank from the toilet bowl.
If a toilet tank leans to one side or the other, it may cause water to overflow onto the floor and possibly cause water damage to the flooring underneath it.
It will continue leaning until it is repaired or replaced.
To correct the problem, locate the attachment bolts that hold the tank in place and then loosen them by turning them counterclockwise with a wrench.
This will resolve the issue and allow you to place the toilet back onto its base and level it off again so that water no longer spills out onto the floor.
In most circumstances, this is a simple job that should not take more than a few minutes to complete.
When you step into the bathroom, you often take a close look to see if the toilet is leaking water on the floor beneath it, if it has a cracked bowl, or if the tank rocks back and forth when you flush it.
It will appear perfectly straight if you lift it up and look at the underside of it.
Make the simple adjustment, if needed, to tighten up the connection bolts and once again make the toilet appear straight when standing directly over it.
