A failing toilet and a worn-out angle stop in an east Edmonds condominium near the hospital and Five Corners, replaced by Chase in one September visit
Location: East Edmonds, WA
Service: Toilet replacement, angle stop replacement
Technician: Chase
In September 2026 the owner of a condo in east Edmonds, between Five Corners and the hospital, called about a failing toilet and the angle stop behind it, which had failed too. The owner had already bought a new one-piece toilet, and Chase replaced both the stop and the toilet in a single visit.
What We Did
Chase started with the stop. The unit's own shutoff, an old gate valve inside the condo, was missing its handle and did not look trustworthy, so instead of risking it he closed the water at the meter at the front of the property. That shut off the whole building, and he kept it short: the water was off for thirty to forty-five minutes while he took out the failed stop and fitted a new quarter-turn one, then turned the building back on and checked his work for leaks.
Then the old toilet came out and the owner's new one-piece went in. The floor was in good shape, though the molding on the back side of the wall had swollen a little from soaking up water. Chase shimmed the new toilet slightly so it sat level without rocking, flushed it seven times to confirm a good seal on the wax ring and the closet flange, then sealed the base with clear caulk and asked the owner to give it about four hours to dry.
Why It Matters
- Know whether your unit shutoff works before you need it. A valve with no handle, or one nobody has turned in years, may not close, and in a condo the next valve upstream can serve every unit in the building.
- Change the stop when the toilet comes out. The water is already off and the fixture is out of the way, so a worn stop is quick to replace now and much harder to deal with when it fails on its own.
- A level toilet keeps its seal. A bowl that rocks works the wax ring loose over time, which is why Chase shimmed this one before he sealed the base.
- Swollen trim is an early warning. Molding that has soaked up water behind a toilet means something was leaking for a while, even when the floor still looks fine.
Why East Edmonds
The hospital and the blocks around it, out toward Highway 99, sit in what the City of Edmonds' comprehensive plan calls the Medical/Highway 99 Activity Center, a mix of single-family and multifamily housing, businesses and medical buildings. In a condominium building like this one, a single meter can serve every unit, which is why a unit shutoff that cannot be trusted turns a toilet swap into a building-wide shutoff. Our shop in Old Town Mukilteo is a short drive north.
A toilet that rocks, runs or leaks at the base, or a stop you are not sure will close? Call and tell us what you are seeing. Related: toilet repair and replacement · plumbing in Edmonds · faucet repair in Edmonds · toilet repair in Mukilteo · toilet repair in Lynnwood · plumbing for condos and HOAs · toilet repair questions, answered