Toilet offset from stack question

[ejg]

See attached drawing. The plumber working on our renovation of a 1950 home says you can't offset a toilet from the stack. It has to line up right in front of the stack. It can't be set at an angle, or offset like I want to do to allow for a larger sink. I already moved a closet wall to give the toilet room to shift. Is it true that we can't offset the toilet? If that's the case, why not?

 

[hj]

Where did you get that turkey who is pretending to be a plumber. That is ridiculous and there is NO limitation on how far you can offset it. In fact, I often put the stack behind the lavatory and then "offset" the toilet drain to where ever I want it.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[ejg]

I agree, having to center the toilet directly in front of the stack at a 90 degree angle is ridiculous and we're talking about inches here. The plumber knew I moved a wall to give us more room and essentially eliminated the benefit by preventing us from moving the toilet. The plumber has 25+ years experience and must have run into situations where the toilet could not be centered at the vent stack. It wasn't going to cost him anymore work or time. I don't get it.

 

[JRC3]

Maybe he doesn't want to or can't rotate the wye at the stack. Does something else feed in to it? I've seen a 22 or 45° elbow used plenty of times to move a toilet over instead. Of course one of the real plumbers will have to verify that can be done.

 

[ejg]

I'm trying to make some sense of this, too. This toilet is the uppermost waste connection to the stack. There's nothing in the way that could have prevented rotation of the toilet tee. Below the toilet tee, and separate from it, is the sink tee, which also serves the tub. I'll try to upload photos when I get a chance.

 

[Terry]

Offsetting is done all the time.
A toilet arm can be up to six feet long.

 

[ejg]

Terry, thanks, your photo above is exactly the situation we had. On the right there was a joist. We had about 5 inches to swing the toilet arm until we hit that joist and that's what I was looking to do. It made sense the way it was because the original toilet center was about 12" from the closet wall, but we moved the closet wall for the express purpose of 1) meeting the code requirement of 15" and 2) shifting that toilet (swinging that toilet arm to the right) to give us room for a larger sink. Ugh!

 

[JRC3]

Did he by chance glue the wye in straight and then decide it couldn't be offset? If so could a 22.5° elbow easily correct the problem? Do they make less than a 22? Depending on the type of toilet flange used it may even still work.

 

[ejg]

JRC3, to answer your question, before the plumber had begun the bathroom waste pipes we were looking at centers (I had a 1/2 x 3 piece of plywood screwed to the studs marking the centers for them) and we discussed the mark I had for the toilet center. He said, No, we can't line it up with that mark because the toilet center has to line up with the vent stack center. So we marked a new center to line up directly in front of the vent stack. I believed him at the time and they finished out the toilet waste accordingly. Later I got to thinking about it because, you know, we had moved a wall for this, and I began to have doubts and questions. And that's how I came here today.

 

[hj]

When I was an apprentice we had the plumbing inspector for a neighboring city working for us. I had to fire him, and he told everyone, "I have been a plumber for 25 years and that apprentice fired me". It was because of something just like this. Being a plumber for 25 years is NOT the same as being a "knowledgeable" plumber.

 

[ejg]

I respect this plumber because I see that he works hard but I agree that there's something to be desired in the knowledge department. How do I tell a plumber with 25+ years experience that he's wrong? But I guess I'll have to find a way to move that toilet.

 

[JRC3]

Just curious, was a county inspector involved? If so make a call and ask him/her and then go back to the plumber with that response.

If you can't get him to correct it it might be worth a call to someone else to correct the problem. It'll cost but you'll have to live with it if you don't. Not sure if it's worth trying to prove in small claims court or anything.

 

[ejg]

Thanks for the suggestions. I won't bother with small claims and he's tight with the inspector. There are some things that I appreciate about his work. He didn't go through any studs that I asked him to stay clear of. Going through those studs would have made his work easier, but instead he got creative and worked around them. And I agree, the toilet is worth getting corrected one way or the other; I'll find a way. Every day I'm reminded that I don't live in a perfect world; moving on to the next conundrum!