I hate caulk around the toilet base. It was put in our master before I knew what had happened and I tried to get it off without success.

If the caulk is well applied, it should not be particularly visible. If the fixture is white, that should give a nice result. If there is a gap, the clear may just accentuate the gap rather than make it look like a seamless transition.

But, it's your bathroom!!

I wasn't aware that the siliconized caulk yellowed, so I am interested in the answer as well.

Thanks, Peppridge farm. I guess I don't care too much about the toilet, as I don't really see the caulk except when cleaning, but the tub is a set in and is across from the toilet so is easily seen more at eye level (when sitting, if you know what i mean :-) There is only a tiny gap to fill with caulk. He asked if I want white to match the tub or a darker to match the grout (it is a Seagrass limestone and the grout is a taupe to blend in). If I don't use clear, what is your opinion on color? Thanks again.

"If there is a gap, the clear may just accentuate the gap rather than make it look like a seamless transition."

This is the first time on this forum, I've ever read someone mention that, but you are completely right!

We had our tub re-glazed last year, and had to re-caulk. I got the clear silicone. It looked God-awful. With white caulk, I had never noticed that the gap between tub and tile is maybe a little too large in one place. With clear caulk, it looks like a black hole between the tile and tub. I removed it all, which is a real PITA with silicone caulk because you need a chemical to break it down and I don't think I'll ever use that stuff again!

It's really funny; clear sounds like a good idea because you'd figure it would show up less than white but not showing up can be a very bad thing.

As for caulking around the toilet, I have never understood the thinking behind this. There must be a reason because it seems almost everyone does it but my understanding is you use caulk to help prevent water penetration. If there's something leaking where my toilet meets the floor, wouldn't I be much better off knowing that than trapping it and letting the floor underneath the toilet rot?

I guess the idea is to stop water on the bath floor from going under the toilet but I think I'd be more concerned about the possibility of leaking from the other direction, LOL. It seems to me that even if water can go beneath an uncaulked toilet, so can air to dry it out naturally.

Great input! Thank you all. The contractor is a perfectionist, so I think he will do a wonderful job. I think I'll do the matching caulk on the limestone and white on the toilet (unless more people chime in with reasons to not caulk the toilet. Maybe it is to keep urine from seeping under the toilet where you cannot clean it?)

If he's a perfectionist, trust him to not mess it up.

I have done a lot of remodeling and the clear caulk does yellow. I've used it, and it yellowed; and I've remodeled where it was used. Both yellowed.

The reason for caulking or grouting a toilet is to keep it from rocking. Sure, toilets should be flat on the bottom, but ceramic clay changes shape slightly in the kiln. I've bought enough toilets to have seen some wigglers. If it rocks or wiggles against the wax ring underneath, it will eventually leak. You could also shim it, but then you have the shims sticking out. Nobody wants to sit on a rocking toilet, and it's just bad practice to install one like that.

Hardwood floors in a bathroom? Not in my remodels. I have been using porcelain tiles that look like hardwood. The remodel we're working on now will have one of the new linoleums, so we don't have grout lines to clean. This one will be a rental.

First of all, thanks for the input on the clear silicone - on my most recent install (today), I will not use it around the toilet base.

I have installed 3 new toilets in the last 18 months in our house, leveling the floor in 2 cases. In all three cases the new toilets sat flat as a board on the floor - because the floor was flat; you can dry fit the toilet before you put in the wax ring to test it out. I'd absolutely return a non-flat-bottomed toilet - no shims for me, please. I personally like the no-caulk look though it's not to code, but in this last install, the toilet is right by the tub and I will go with a thin bead of white caulk to prevent the situation below:

I remember staying in a new apartment abroad, and they had a sink that sat flat on the counter with no caulk around it. Water from the shower would get under the sink, and if you blotted up the spill, you'd also pull black moldy water from under the sink - one good reason to caulk a toilet right by a shower/tub - water getting in a crack doesn't mean it will dry out quickly.

cconlin, I feel your pain. Some clear silicone in our shower has been going strong for 28 years - but a couple of bottom corners of fairly new silicone get mildewy within a couple of years. Sadly, you're just going to have to use something like a 5-in-1 tool to scrape off as much of the caulk as you can, then mineral spirits to remove the remaining residue. Then re-caulk. There are sprays to prevent mold in the shower, but if mold is there already, it won't come out. Note that siliconized acrylic/latex caulks or plain acrylic/latex caulks are easier to remove so if you match your grout instead, you can redo the caulking with less effort though they tend to mold more quickly.

This is the crappy job our builder did. This is unacceptabl. Any suggestion?

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Sorry... forgot to upload

Wow. Did you get this corrected? I’m struggling with similar as we speak.