How To Clean Up Toilet Wax Ring? [ 7 Easy Steps and Alternatives]

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Have you been using your toilet for multiple months? If so, then it might be time to change the toilet gasket. 

But, when you have uninstalled the toilet and are attempting to replace the toilet gasket, you’ll see that the previous toilet gasket has a wax ring.

Now, the problem is that the previous wax ring might have degraded and decomposed to some degree. As a result, it might have created an unsightly mess around your toilet gasket. 

So, you might be wondering, “how to clean up toilet wax ring?”.

Well, this is why we’re over here to tell you how you can easily clean up the toilet wax ring in easy steps. 

Also, we will tell you what alternative you can opt for so that you don’t have to clean the wax ring again in the future. Therefore, stay tuned to this discussion till the very end.

Tools Needed To Clean Up Toilet Wax Ring:

To perform a neat clean-up, you’ll have to have a few items readied in your hand. Using these, you’ll be able to clean up the toilet wax ring within one hour or two:

• Hand gloves (preferably made from latex)
• Putty knife
• Lysol cleaner
• White spirit
• Baking soda
• A spare piece of fabric
• A spare towel

How To Clean Up Toilet Wax Ring: 7 Simple Steps

Note: You should never attempt reuse an old toilet wax ring. It’s because the old toilet wax ring degrades over many days of usage. So, if you try to reuse it, the toilet water will leak into your toilet floor.

Therefore, when you disassemble your toilet, you should always clean up the old wax ring and replace it with a newer one.

Now, at this point, we’ll go over the steps of cleaning up the toilet wax ring. Remember, the steps mentioned below must be followed in consecutive order :

1. Putting On Gloves

Before you start the cleanup process, you have to understand that the wax ring has degraded and decomposed. As a result, it is now in a gooey state. So, it might be a bit disgusting to handle.

Furthermore, since the toilet gasket and the wax ring connect the toilet to the sewage opening in the floor, it might have bacteria and other pathogens crawling in it. That’s why, you’ll need to use hand gloves to handle these.

So, put on gloves before starting to clean the toilet wax ring.

2. Laying Down A Towel For The Toilet To Sit On

Once you remove the toilet from the sewage opening in the floor, you’ll have to place the toilet a few feet away from the sewage opening, so you can freely work on the wax ring.

Now, you have to be careful here because the toilet is a very heavy object. If you remove the toilet and place it on bare tiles of your toilet floor, your tiles can get scratched, or get cracked in the worst case scenario.

That’s why you need to set out a towel a few feet away from the sewage opening/toilet gasket. This way, you can easily place the toilet on the towel, so it doesn’t damage your bathroom floor tile.

3. Disassembling The Toilet

You can remove the entire toilet at once, or you can also first remove the toilet and then remove the toilet seat. Either way, in this step, you’ll have to remove the toilet from the toilet gasket.

To do that, you’ll have to unscrew the two screws on the two sides of the toilet seat. By unscrewing these screws, you will be able to take the toilet off the ground. Then, you can place it on the towel that you set out in the previous step.

Now, if you are not able to lift the whole toilet at once, you can also unscrew the screws around the toilet tanker. That way, you’ll be able to take apart the toilet tanker first. Then, you can easily remove the toilet seat on your own.

4. Using A Piece Of Fabric To Jam The Sewage Opening

At this point, you might notice that stinky smells are coming out of the sewage opening. Also, harmful gases might also leak out of the sewage through the sewage opening. And, this will be a disturbance in your work of cleaning the old wax ring.

That’s why you’ll have to use a piece of fabric to close the sewage opening on the floor. To do that, you can roll a piece of fabric and make a ball out of it.

Then, you just simply have to insert the fabric ball into the sewage opening.  

5. Cleaning And Removing The Old Toilet Wax Ring (With A Putty Knife)

To clean and remove the old wax ring, you have to use a putty knife to peel off the waxes that are adjacent to the floor. This process is a very tedious job, so it might take multiple hours to completely clean off the old waxes from around the toilet gasket. 

When you are done peeling off the wax from the floor, don’t forget to put the peeled-off waxes in a bag. This way, you can throw the old waxes into the trash can later on.

6. Cleaning And De-staining The Floor With Baking Soda

Once you have peeled off the whole wax ring from the toilet gasket, you might notice that the toilet floor around the toilet gasket has gotten a permanent stain (from the toilet’s placement in this area).

Which is why you get to clean the floor around the gasket as well. In order to do that, you’ll have to sprinkle some baking soda powders all over the stained places around the toilet gasket.

Then, you can let the baking soda powders sit on the floor for 2 hours. After that, you’ll have to spray some water onto the baking soda and clean the remaining soda off the floor.

7. Cleaning The Floor With Lysol Or White Spirit

After conducting one round of cleaning with baking soda, you can run another round of cleaning with Lysol or white spirit. Thus, you can be 100% certain that all the stains from your floor will get removed.

To do this, you can simply spray some white spirit or Lysol on the floor. Then, you can spray some water on the floor. 

After that, you simply have to wipe the white spirit / Lysol off the floor with a dry fabric. And, by now, you are finished cleaning your toilet wax ring successfully.

What’s The Alternative Of Wax Ring In The Toilet Gasket?

If you want to skip the hassle of cleaning the old wax ring and installing a newer one, you should just install a ring around the toilet gasket that is made out of synthetic materials such as PVC.

One such product is the Fluidmaster 7530P8 Universal Wax-Free Toilet Bowl Gasket. If you install this toilet gasket ring, you won’t need to clean the old ring during the time of replacing the gasket ring. 

It’s because synthetic materials do not degrade or decompose over time. Therefore, it won’t be a mess to clean up the old synthetic gasket ring (when you need to replace it).

Frequently Asked Questions:

1. What Happens if I Don't Replace the Old Wax Ring in The Toilet?

If you don’t replace the old wax ring after it has been degraded for months, you will face problems such as a loose toilet, leaks in the toilet base, etc. 

And, since the wax ring is the object that seals the water flow of the toilet to the sewage opening, not replacing it at the appropriate time can lead to greater sanitary problems as well.

2. Why Do I Need to Clean the Wax Ring in The Toilet?

You’ll have to clean the old wax ring in the toilet gasket when you replace it. That means whenever you have to install a new wax ring in your toilet gasket, you must clean the old wax ring.

3. Can I Reuse an Old and Degraded Wax Ring After Cleaning Up?

No, you should never reuse a degraded wax ring. Even if you clean the old wax ring, you will face leakage problems when using the toilet if you reuse it. 

Therefore, you should always clean the old wax ring and replace it with a newer one.

Conclusion

Well, there you’ve it, people. Now that you have got a clear understanding on how to clean up toilet wax ring.

Remember, cleaning the old wax ring can be a messy and disastrous job. So, it must be done at the appropriate time. Otherwise, you will run the risk of creating a bigger mess by causing a toilet leakage.

Therefore, I recommend you use the above-mentioned steps to perfectly clean the old wax ring of your toilet gasket. Then, you can easily install a newer one and have a worriless toilet experience for the upcoming months.

Thank you so much for dropping in today, you guys are the bee’s knees. Peace out!!!