Toilet & Faucet Repairs in Toronto Condominiums

Almost always one of three things. The flapper or flush valve seal at the bottom of the tank has hardened or warped, so water leaks continuously from tank into bowl and the fill valve keeps topping it up. Or the fill valve itself has failed and will not shut off, so water runs into the overflow tube. Or the water level is set above the top of the overflow tube, which produces the same endless trickle. All three are inexpensive parts and a visit under an hour, and all three waste a startling amount of water while you wait.

Take the lid off and look. If water is running into the open top of the overflow tube, the problem is the fill valve or the level setting. If the tube is dry but the bowl keeps refilling itself, the flapper is leaking. The dye test settles a silent leak: put a few drops of food colouring in the tank, do not flush, and come back in twenty minutes. Colour in the bowl means the flapper is passing. Running that test before you call tells us which component to bring.

Yes, and more than most people expect. A leaking flapper can pass thousands of litres a month, and in a bulk-metered condominium that lands on the corporation and eventually on everyone's fees. In a suite-metered building it lands directly on you. Either way, the part costs very little against what the water costs over a few months, which is why this is the single most worthwhile small repair in a condo.

Because the sealing surface inside has worn, and turning it harder makes that worse rather than better. On a modern single-lever tap it is the cartridge; on an older two-handle tap it is the seat and the washer or the O-rings. The fix is replacing the part rather than tightening, and if it is a cartridge we can often get an exact match for the brand. Excessive building water pressure accelerates all of this, which is worth knowing if every tap in your suite is failing at once.

Some people do, and a flapper swap is genuinely simple. Two cautions specific to condominiums. First, try the shut-off before you start: if it is seized, you have no way to stop the water and the job has to stop, and forcing it is how the bathroom floods. Second, an in-suite leak in a high-rise does not stay in your suite. If you are not confident about getting the connection back watertight, the downside here is not a wasted afternoon, it is water in your neighbour's ceiling.

Leave it and have it replaced. A valve that has not moved in ten years has corroded around the stem, and the failure mode when you lean on it is a sheared stem or a split body on a live line. Replacing it with a quarter-turn ball type is a short job and it means the valve works the next time you need it in a hurry. If the fixture is leaking right now and the shut-off will not close, call us and call the concierge so the branch can be isolated upstream.

Yes, and it is one of the cheapest pieces of flood insurance available to an owner. Old rubber and plastic supply lines and washing machine hoses harden, crack and eventually split under constant pressure, and they are behind a large share of the in-suite floods we attend. Braided stainless steel lines are inexpensive and far more durable. Replace them proactively rather than reactively, and do the washing machine hoses at the same time.

Check the tank first: a flapper that closes too early, a chain with too much slack, or a water level set low all shorten the flush and leave it weak. Then the bowl: mineral build-up in the rim jets restricts the water that is meant to scour it, and that is cleanable. If the tank and the jets are fine and it still will not clear, the restriction is in the trap of the bowl or in the branch beyond it, which is a drain call rather than a fixture one.

Treat it as urgent in a condominium. A toilet that moves has usually broken the wax seal underneath it, and what escapes at the base goes straight into the floor and, in a high-rise, into somebody's ceiling. It is not a big job: the toilet is lifted, the seal is replaced, the flange is checked and the fixture is set and shimmed properly. Left alone it is one of the more expensive small leaks there is, because the damage is done out of sight.

Somebody has to let us in, but it does not have to be you. Many residents leave a key with the concierge or with management. Fixture repairs are usually well under an hour, so if you can be there it is rarely a long wait, and you get to see what failed and ask about the other things you have been meaning to mention.

For the common work, one visit. Fill valves, flappers, flush seals, faucet cartridges for the mainstream brands, quarter-turn shut-offs and braided supply lines all travel on the van. The exceptions are genuinely proprietary or discontinued fixtures, particularly imported or high-end taps, where we identify the part on the first visit and come back with the exact one rather than fitting something that nearly fits.

Repair, in most cases. A decent toilet with a failed flapper or fill valve is worth a twenty dollar part, and a quality tap is worth a cartridge. We will recommend replacement when the fixture is cracked, when the internals are obsolete and no longer available, when a tap body itself is eroded, or when we are on the third repair to the same fixture. What we will not do is quote a new toilet for a fault that is a five minute part.

Fixtures inside a unit are normally the owner's responsibility, including toilets, taps, cartridges, supply lines and usually the shut-offs serving them, though your declaration governs the specifics. That is why we can be booked directly by an owner as well as through property management. If we find that the actual cause is on the common element side, such as a pressure problem or a failing branch valve, we say so and bill that part to the corporation instead.

Please do it that way. The efficient thing for an owner is to save up the list: the toilet that runs, the tap that drips, the shut-off that sticks, the shower head, the loose fixture. Attendance is the expensive part of a small repair, not the parts or the time, so one booked visit with five items on it costs far less than five calls. Buildings we hold contracts with often collect resident requests and we work through a floor at a time.