Broken flange -- best repair advice?

[DC Ross]

Hey all,
I'm remodeling my laundry room in my basement (so it's a concrete slab floor), and removed the toilet to discover a rusted flange -- it's a 4x3 metal/PVC flange going over a 3" PVC pipe. I was able to remove the metal portion of the flange, but I'm not sure the best way to remove the rest of it, or if it's necessary to do so if there's any products that fix this issue.

I'll be installing tile where there was vinyl originally, so the thickness of the floor will be increased by maybe 1/2" or so.

Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Reach4]

Lift out the black thing and take a new photo.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[DC Ross]

Ha, thx, but the black thing is the remainder of the flange...

 

[Reach4]

Ha, thx, but the black thing is the remainder of the flange...

Really? That seems odd. Have you tried lifting it?

The easiest thing would be to put a repair flange around the black thing to hold the closet bolts. Then use your wax or waxless seal.

 

[Standardairconditioner]

Reach4 is right, you should be able to lift out that black piece and put a regular one-piece flange back in the place.

He's also right about suggesting a two-piece repair flange, it'll work just the same. A toilet isn't going to experience stress that would get 'diminished' performance from a repair flange.

On the chance you want to replace/rebuild the flange entirely, that would not be difficult since I can see you have no tiles. Linoleum flooring, plywood, all soft stuff that can be cut out. Build it all back with a new piece of exterior grade plywood, then would be a good tile to ceramic tile the floor.

 

[DC Ross]

Thanks again,
Just to clarify: the 'black thing' is the remainder of the original 4x3 flange (just like in the pic of the red and black one that standardairconditioner posted) and is glued into place over the 3" waste pipe, and is embedded in the cement (not ply) floor.

I picked up a couple different options at Lowes:
http://www.lowes.com/pd_253209-138-436454___?productId=50315045&pl=1&Ntt=toilet+flange
http://www.lowes.com/pd_253206-138-427774___?productId=50315041&pl=1&Ntt=toilet+flange
and
http://www.lowes.com/pd_631832-1366-10672X___?productId=50244967&pl=1&Ntt=toilet+flange

I won't be able to determine how much I'll need to extend the height until the new tile flooring is in place, but hopefully one of these options will work.

Thanks

 

[Reach4]

If you use that first option, it would probably be best to use some silicone sealant between rings. That system does not get a lot of recommendations on this forum. That third option looks interesting. Second option looks like it should work well. Please post a picture of the result.

I think you are saying that the black thing is rigid and not resilient.

 

[DC Ross]

I think you are saying that the black thing is rigid and not resilient.

Exactly; it's glued to the drain pipe.

If you use that first option, it would probably be best to use some silicone sealant between rings. That system does not get a lot of recommendations on this forum.

Thanks. What's a good system to use?

 

[Reach4]

What's a good system to use?

I would like to see see how that Danco HydroSeat Black Stainless Steel Toilet Flange fits your situation.

Or the stainless repair ring. If that fits around, good. There are other repair rings if that does not fit well.

In your picture, I don't understand what the white (PVC probably) pointed to by the green arrow is. The orange arrow points to the inside of the 3 inch PVC pipe. How much smaller is the diameter of that PVC pointed to by the green arrow than 3 inches? How does that compare with the ID of the black?

If you were to grind away everything above the PVC pipe, you might consider a 3 inch PushTite flange with a stainless ring. See
https://terrylove.com/forums/index....ng-3x4-lead-drain-pipe-on-3-steel-pipe.60569/ including reply #10.

 

[Standardairconditioner]

Yup, Reach4 is right. PVC and ABS are soft and that makes it easy to gring away and remove.

Remove everything so you are left with the I.D. of that pipe drop, and you will find a pushtite that will fit neatly in that I.D., they make lots of goodies like that.

 

[DC Ross]

The green arrow is pointing to the glue that was used, the orange is indeed the inside of the 3" pipe.

After really looking at it, the HydroSeat seems kind of cheesy -- like it wouldn't get a very good seal at all.

That PushTite flange looks like it'd fix everything -- both the broken flange, as well as raising it all up to the new floor level.

 

[Jadnashua]

You said you have a 3" pipe. You do not want to use a push fit into the 4x3 fitting, I don't think - not sure where the curve starts, and you may not get things seated well. The easiest thing would be to use the SS repair ring. Those should slip into the notch of what's left of your existing flange. While it's better to have the flange on top of the finished floor, 1/2" isn't catastrophic. You could use one of the waxless rings, or probably a jumbo wax ring, or a combination of plain wax and a wax with a horn (that one on top to help keep things centered) to fill the gap.

Now, while there are transition cements between ABS and PVC, some don't really like to use them. It would have been better if the existing flange was PVC since that's what the pipe is...but, buried in concrete, it's not probably worth the effort to change it...it has worked, and will probably continue to work for a long time. You can see why they do not recommend the painted steel rings on the flange, especially on concrete where you might get some moisture up from beneath, they don't fare well long-term...SS is the better choice.

While you could use flange extension ring(s), getting a reliable seal just means one more possible area of failure.

 

[Master Plumber Mark]

the flange you show will work ok but they also make an insert that glues into the 3 inch pvc pipe

it has the flange with about a 4 inch extension that you drive into the 3 inch pipe... and it glues in
we have gotten out of some very nasty jams with them before......