Quick answer
The best toilet wax ring for most homes is the Danco 10879 Perfect Seal All-in-One Toilet Installation Kit, rated 4.4 stars across 4,106 Amazon ratings, because its wax sits inside a rubber casing that the listing says seals flanges from 1/2 in above the finished floor to 1-1/2 in below it, and the toilet can be lifted and reset without ruining the seal. Measure the flange first: if its top sits on or just above the floor, a plain wax ring such as the Oatey 31190 is enough; if it sits below the tile, you need an extra-thick ring or a waxless seal that states a below-floor range. Never reuse a wax ring once a toilet has been set on it.
Buyer's Guide
What to know before you buy.
How a Toilet Seal Fails and Why the Floor Rots Slowly
The seal sits between the outlet under the bowl and the flange on the drain pipe. It is not under pressure. It only has to stop the water and gas of each flush from escaping sideways instead of going down the pipe. When it fails, each flush pushes a small amount of water out under the bowl. Most of it never reaches the surface: it wicks into the subfloor around the flange, where it sits in the dark. The first signs are a faint sewer smell, a ring of discoloration on the floor at the base, a toilet that has started to rock, or a stain on the ceiling below. By the time the floor feels soft, the subfloor has often been wet for months. EPA's mold guide says wet materials dried within 24 to 48 hours usually will not grow mold; a slow seal leak is never dried in that window, which is why a leaking base is a floor job as much as a plumbing one.
Wax vs Waxless: Which to Buy
A wax ring is a ring of soft petroleum wax that the weight of the toilet squashes into every gap. It never dries out, it costs little and it has worked for a century. Its limits: it seals once, so a crooked set means a new ring; it softens in heat and goes hard in cold, which the Korky listing points out; and it does not forgive a flange that is far too low without an extra-thick ring. A waxless seal is rubber, foam or polyurethane that compresses and springs back. It can be lifted and reset, is unaffected by temperature, and the better ones state a flange height range. Its limits: it needs the toilet bolted down firmly and evenly, because rubber does not flow into a gap the way wax does, and a loose toilet leaks sooner. The Danco Perfect Seal is the middle path, wax inside a rubber casing. For a one-time set on a flange at floor level, wax. For a toilet that may come off again or a flange out of range, waxless.
Flange Height: the Arithmetic Before You Order
Lift the old toilet, scrape the old wax off, and lay a straightedge across the floor over the flange. The flange is meant to sit on top of the finished floor, its top face roughly 1/4 in above the tile; that is the height a standard ring is made for. Measure the gap between the straightedge and the top of the flange. Level or up to 1/4 in above: a standard ring such as the Oatey 31190. Up to about 1/2 in below: an extra-thick ring such as the Hibbent, or the Danco. Deeper than that, down to 1-1/2 in below: the Danco or the One N Done, both of which state that figure, or a flange extender ring under a standard seal. More than 1/2 in above the floor: a thin ring without a horn, and check whether the bowl will rock. Stacking two wax rings is a common fix and a common source of the next leak; the One N Done listing warns against it, and a flange extender is the better repair. A cracked or rusted flange is replaced, not sealed over.
Rocking Toilet, Reused Rings and Other Mistakes
A toilet that rocks has already broken its seal or is about to. Shim it level before you tighten the bolts, with plastic shims under the base where it lifts, and caulk the base afterward leaving a gap at the back so a future leak can show itself. Never reuse a wax ring, and never set a toilet back on a ring it has already been lifted from; wax does not spring back, and the second set leaves a channel. Do not over-tighten the closet bolts either, because porcelain cracks before it bends, and a cracked base is a new toilet. Set the bowl straight down, bolts through the holes, and press with your body weight rather than rocking it into place. If the toilet sits too high on a new seal and will not reach the floor, the Danco listing says to remove its inner plastic ring; with a wax ring, that means a thinner ring, not more force.
Who Should Not Buy a Wax Ring, and When to Call a Plumber
A new seal is the wrong purchase when water at the base comes from somewhere else. Check the supply line coupling under the tank and the bolts that hold the tank to the bowl first, because both drip down the outside of the toilet and pool at the base. Condensation on a cold tank in summer does the same. A seal is also the wrong fix for a flange that is cracked, rusted through or has pulled away from the pipe; the flange has to be repaired or replaced, and if the drain pipe is cast iron or the flange is below a tiled floor that must come up, that is a licensed plumber's job and in many areas a permitted one. Call a plumber too if the subfloor around the flange is soft, because the flange needs solid wood under it to bolt to. HearthDry's line connects homeowners to restoration companies for a wet floor or ceiling; it is not a plumbing service.
After the Set: Checking the Seal Held
Fill the bowl, flush three or four times and look at the base of the toilet with a flashlight and a dry paper towel. Any damp at the base means the seal did not seat; lift the toilet and start again with a new ring or a reset waxless seal. Sit on the bowl and try to rock it: it should not move at all. Over the next week, watch for a sewer smell, which is gas getting past the seal before water does. If the bathroom is above another room, look at that ceiling for a new mark. A moisture meter on the floor around the base, read on the day of the install and again a week later, catches a slow seep before it shows. Write the seal type and the flange height you measured on the inside of the tank lid, so the next person to lift the toilet knows what it needs.
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