closet flanges - what's good?

[ss3964spd]

G'afternoon folks, first time poster here.

Am dangerously close to wrapping up the tile setting in my new basement bath and believe I've settled on a Toto Aquia dual flush unit (from the glowing - er, flowing, positive comments here) to dispatch the nasties.

Floor is tile over concrete slab, with 4" PVC poking through. What flange do ya like? Just the regular old HD or Lowes cheapies or some super reinforced unit? Cost really isn't the issue, reliability and longevity are.

Thanks much,

Dan

 

[Gary Swart]

The flanges sold in the box stores are standard brands and will work fine.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Jadnashua]

If you haven't tiled around where the flange is going to go yet, consider notching the tile so you have one less thing to drill through to set the flange screws. Especially if it is a hard porcelain, drilling through it can be a major pain - in comparison, drilling into the concrete is like butter. Make sure you have enough room around the pipe to set the flange down the proper depth, too.

 

[ss3964spd]

Opps.

Tile is already partially completed Jim, since I've read to set the flange on top of the finished floor. Not too worried about drilling through the floor tiles.

But....

Thought I understood that the outside diameter of the flange goes INSIDE the waste pipe, not the other way around. Or, the flange is male, the waste pipe female.

Incorrect?

Regards,

Dan

 

[Lancaster]

The typical "4x3" flange goes **over** a 3" pipe and inside a 4" pipe.
There are also "street" flanges that go inside a 3" fitting.
There are also,though not so common,flanges that go inside a 3" pipe.
There are also flanges that go **over** a 4" pipe.
The supply house I go to probably has 20 different kinds.95% of the time,the "4x3" garden variety flange will do the job.

 

[Terry]

If you have a 4" inside dimension, you can go with a flange that glues inside the pipe.
The ones below are by Sioux Chief.
I like the ones with the stainless ring.

There should be plenty to choose from though that will work fine.

The Toto Aquia will require six holes drilled through the tile for the mounting blocks and adapter.
I sure like mine though. It gets a lot of comments from guests too.

 

[ss3964spd]

Thanks for the information gentlemen, exactly what I needed to know.

Just measured the waste pipe (home now) - 4" ID, no doubt about it.

I like that one with the SS ring too, just need to track one down.

Terry, when you say the Toto requires six screws to hold the flange, does that indicate the Toto comes with it's own or will a standard flange do the job?

Don't want to buy and install one if Toto requires it's own.

Many thanks,

Dan

 

[Jadnashua]

As I understand it (and you can check on their site), that Toto uses their Unifit adapter. This adapter fits to the standard flange, but it extends back towards the wall and that part needs to be attached to the floor, so there are more screws to be installed. Once that is installed, the toilet fits on top of the Unifit adapter

 

[ss3964spd]

Thanks again Jim.

One more question Re the Toto, and I'll direct it to Terry since he's installed one (anyone else that's installed one please chime in).

By my measurement I'll have exactly 12" from the finished wall to the center of the drain give or take 1/4". I presume that the standard 12" offset will still provide enough clearence between the tank and the wall, correct?

Thanks,

Dan

 

[Jadnashua]

You'll be fine...

 

[hj]

flange

As a minor point, I always use the flange that goes over a 4" pipe, unless there is some very unusual circunmstance that requires the internal one.

 

[Terry]

For the Aquia, you will still need the flange installed.

The flange will hold two closet bolts, and then you will need it use the six screws, two for the back of the adapter and four for the blocks.

With the Aquia, the toilet slides into the adapter towards the wall.

The Unifit adapter for the other models that use an adapter, has the toilet dropping in from the top. (Vespin, Carlyle and some others)

 

[ss3964spd]

Thanks Jim, appreciate the replies.

HJ, I'm trying to wrap my brain around why I should be concerned with using a flange that goes over the pipe instead of inside it. Seems to me that if the outlet of the toilet is 2.25", and the ID of the mounted (inside) closet flange is, say 3.75", there would be no restriction at all. Is there something I am not considering? If there is a compelling reason I can make room for it now.

Thanks for clearing that up Terry.

I appreciate you gentlemen tending to my incessant questions. At the end of the day I'm just trying to get done as correct as I can.

Regards, Dan

 

[florida_wen]

This afternoon I just purchased two Sioux Chief 884-PTM PVC w/stainless steel ring toilet flanges.... extremely difficult to find a supply house here in Tampa that stocks these.... for two new Toto UltraMax toilets I am installing this weekend. The original PVC flanges here in our 16 year old (Florida) home were never fastened down to the concrete floor, just very lightly glued into the 4" pipe, and actually the flange "bent/warped" upward where the toilet bolts were tightened. To begin with, the flanges were never properly seated "flat" onto the floor and were way too high (over 5/8"), especially when the floor covering is linoleum (only approx. 1/8" thick) and not the traditional ceramic tile. I swear there was LESS than 1/16" of wax between the flange and the original toilet.... and to make matters worse, the contractor that poured the slab never "leveled" the concrete around the 4" pipe and actually made a "volcano" or "hill" effect but one "good" thing that resulted from this (and the fact the plumber hardly used any glue) is that I was able to cut (with my Dremmel) the flange off and carefully "collapse" this flange pipe and actually "remove" it from the 4" pipe without any damage, other than a little bit of cement/primer residue which was easily sanded away. I then had my chance to remove 1/2" of that mounded concrete with my grinder and make the floor perfectly level. I know for a fact the Sioux Chief S.S. flange ring is very thin, compared to PVC, and now that my floor is level I can honestly say there should be well over 1/2" "space" between flange and toilet for the wax ring to seat.