Haha, reading this thread makes me feel a bit better about my own plumbing misadventures. I recently tackled replacing our toilet, thinking it'd be a quick afternoon job. Nope—turns out our flange was recessed way deeper than expected, and I had to shim like crazy just to get it level. Wax-free seals seemed tempting, but the compatibility warnings online scared me off. Ended up sticking with the messy wax ring...at least it's cheap if you mess up, right?
Haha, I feel your pain with the wax rings. Last year, I tried one of those wax-free seals because I liked the idea of less mess and waste. But after reading some horror stories about compatibility issues and leaks popping up months later, I chickened out and went back to wax. Messy, yeah, but at least it's tried-and-true. Plus, I'd rather deal with a little wax cleanup than risk water damage down the line...
I get why you'd stick with wax, but honestly, I've installed dozens of those wax-free seals over the years and never had an issue. The key is making sure the flange height is spot-on and the toilet sits level—most leaks I've seen come from rushed installs or uneven floors. Wax is reliable, sure, but I've also had to scrape off some nasty, melted messes after a few hot summers. Either way, DIY plumbing can go south fast if you're not careful...seen enough flooded bathrooms to know!
"Wax is reliable, sure, but I've also had to scrape off some nasty, melted messes after a few hot summers."
Fair point about the wax mess, but have you ever run into issues with wax-free seals on older plumbing setups? I've seen a couple installs where the flange wasn't perfectly level or had some corrosion, and the wax-free seals just didn't seat right. Wax seems more forgiving in those cases...maybe it's just me, but I'd rather scrape off melted wax than deal with a slow leak down the line.
Yeah, wax-free seals can be tricky on older setups. Had one install where the flange was warped just enough that the fancy wax-free gasket wouldn't seat properly. Ended up switching back to wax—messy cleanup beats water damage repairs any day.
