A: Hi Wally, first let me explain to our readers what the dreaded "red tag" means. It usually means someone did not follow their local codes and the "tagged" issue needs to be corrected.

In all fairness though, I was not advising to set a toilet without sealing it to the floor, the issue was shimming a toilet. So, please don't send the toilet cops after me! It looks like you did your homework and if your local codes require that the toilet base be "sealed," then there is no disagreement, we seal the toilet base to avoid the red tag.

However, there is a difference between "sealing" a toilet base and "caulking" a toilet base with adhesive caulk. My advice was that: "Most of the plumbers I know do not caulk around the entire toilet base." The reason for this is that a toilet glued to the floor can be difficult to remove without damaging the floor or breaking the toilet. Now, if you seal the toilet base with a non-adhesive material like tile grout, you can follow your local codes and avoid a problem down the road.

Keep in mind also that a completely sealed toilet base may hide a leaking toilet flange and this may damage the floor under the toilet over time. For that reason, once again myself and most of the plumbers I know will leave a gap in the seal on the back side of the toilet base. This way, the front of the bowl is sealed from urine or moisture that may get in under the toilet, but if there is a flange leak you can usually spot the water leaking out the back.

Bottom line on toilet bottoms is to do what the local inspector says and that should seal the deal with this issue!