Sometimes inspectors can find some ghastly stuff in the bathroom, especially if the house is being lived in (more-so with children). Lack of cleanliness, irregular housekeeping, or a houseful of boys sometimes are to blame. But the area around and behind the toilet almost always exhibits some not-so pleasant observations. Usually "Over-shooters" or "Sprayers" (males of course) are the culprits of un-cleanliness or discoloration at the base of the toilet. After all, who likes cleaning down there... yechhhhh! But sometimes, there are other tell-tale signs. In this case, the "X" led me straight to the defect at hand, a leaky toilet seal, which is never a good thing (the smell also was a clue, hard to show that in a blog, though). Nonetheless, uncovering the evidence and sorting it all out, nasty or not-so nasty, you might just find a notable concern to inform your clients.
FYI- This bathroom had just been remodeled. The tile floor was also new, installed on top of the basement concrete floor. Now, I can honestly say, from my past plumbing experiences, that the extra ¼" or so of tile, grout, mortar bed, etc. caused the newly installed wax ring not to seal properly. Of course there are solutions to situations like this. For one, a thicker wax ring or perhaps even "doubling up" the wax rings. Or building up the existing flange with spacers also works. Personally, I found that using these wax free toilet gaskets work the best, and much, much cleaner to work with.
Northwest Ohio Home Inspection and Property Preservation Services
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