closet flange and new floor

[xj-boonie]

So I'm redoing the floor in my bathroom, and the closet flange (PVC) is attached to a 1/2" plywood subfloor. It had 5/8" plywood stapled to the subfloor and vinyl glued to that, which I removed. I'm planning on putting down 1/2" plywood then 1/4" backerboard for tile. My question is what to do about the flange? It was not raised up for the vinyl, and the how-to books I've looked at say you can use spacers, but the guys at the big box stores suggest cutting it off and putting a new one on, but I don't have access to the underside unless I try to rip up the subfloor... thoughts?

Thanks, Mike

 

[Gary Swart]

Ideally, the flange should rest on top of the finished floor and be screws securely through the finished floor and into the sub floor. It is not uncommon to find the flange on top of the underlayment and the vinyl cut out around it. This works OK because the wax ring will take care of the 1/8" or so difference. If you are going to have more space than that, I suggest the proper thing to do is to do what has to be done to position a flange on top of the finished floor. Yes, this might very well mean cutting out some subfloor, but at least it's not concrete.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Tbplumbloco]

closet flange+new floor

when you add your new sub+finish flooring you will be 1+3/8" above your present flange,you could add spacers and use the fernco or fluidmaster extended seal and if properly installed will work,the best solution is to cut out the old flange to the O.D.of your pipe 3" or 4"and raise the flange to the proper heighth.