Toilet vent?

[p-squared]

Recently moved into a one-story slab home. Finally got the clothes washer installed and the first time I ran it, a toilet in a washroom about 8' from the washer drain started gurgling when the washer was draining. I know from having rebuilt the wall behind the washer (long story) that the washer drain is (now) properly vented, and there is a stack vent through the roof above the toilet and sink in the washroom. Since I can't seem to have enough fun, I flushed the toilet while it was gurgling and the bowl filled almost to overflow level before draining off slowly and water started leaking from (I think) around the bottom of the toilet, but it may have been some overflow.

Should I take the paneling and drywall in the bathroom wall down and make sure the vent is installed correctly? So far I've dealt with two drain vents in this house (kitchen sink, washer drain) and neither one was satisfactory. Not looking forward to that, since the paneling is a 4x8 sheet of masonite with the sink and some shelves mounted to it.

Do I need to replace the wax ring at the bottom of the toilet? Since that incident, I've used the toilet several times with no further leakage, although not when the washer was draining.

BTW, this forum is awesome, big thanks to Charlie Sessums for inspecting my house and tuning me in here.

[Robert E Lee]

I believe your problem is related to restrictions in the drain line, as a large volume of water needs a place to go when the washing machine is discharging. Have a plumber check our the drain lines.

[hausdok]

Yeah,

There is a professional plumber named Dave Yates who writes a lot of articles for Contractor magazine. A few years ago he wrote an article about how he'd struggled to find the cause of a drain restriction and it turned out to be that the homeowner had bought one of those new high capacity washing machines that pumps out about 2-1/2 times the volume of water per second than the old washing machines used to and the old 1-1/2 inch pipe couldn't handle the volume. He increased the size of the pipe from the laundry room to the main line and the problem disappeared.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[p-squared]

Hmmm. So the toilet gurgling is probably due to inadequate drain pipe sizing? Is this something I can live with? Replacing the drain with a larger diameter isn't feasible because I'm not jackhammering the slab. I would like to do everything 100% right, but sometimes the cost/benefit analysis ends up favoring "good enough" over "perfect".

[Jim Katen]

Hmmm. So the toilet gurgling is probably due to inadequate drain pipe sizing? Is this something I can live with? Replacing the drain with a larger diameter isn't feasible because I'm not jackhammering the slab. I would like to do everything 100% right, but sometimes the cost/benefit analysis ends up favoring "good enough" over "perfect".

Before you tear anything up, you might try having someone with a sewer cam videotape the line. He could go in from the vent on the roof, or you could pull the toilet and he could go in from there. In my area, that would cost you about $125.

[kurt]

Try HE type detergent; no suds. Washers sending lots of sudsy drainage down the pipe will make them gurgle too; especially when the drain is only 1 1/2".