installation of a Caroma Caravelle

[WaterMiser]

Ack, the place we got the toilet just closed, and they don't open till Monday morning. At least we were smart enough not to remove the old toilet till we read the directions for installing the new one....

So--anyone out there who can help us with installing a Caroma Caravelle? We've installed "standard" toilets before--no snap. But we got the full skirt Caroma model, and the instructions are a bit lacking... The way I understand toilet installation is that one places a wax ring on the the closet flange (the metal ring on the hole in the floor), one positions the bolts in the the flange, and then one places the toilet down over the ring (squish) and bolts the toilet securely into place.

Our instructions tell us to position the wax ring, and the bolts... then we (I think) are supposed to bolt the Caroma offset adaptor (a not so big plastic dohicky) onto the ring (squish). Then, we're advised to put a bead of caulking on the toilet, align the bowl over the offset adaptor, and "lower into position uniformly and secure closet bowl with suitable fasteners". (WTF???) There were no "suitable fasteners" provided... there are a couple of fairly small holes for bolts or whatnot at the very back of the toilet, not sure they look adequate to keep it in place, even if we find some "suitable fasteners" to screw through them. Is gravity and/or the offset adaptor supposed to keep our precious toilet in place??? Are we supposed to go buy a couple of long and suitable screws/bolts/whatever and make brand new holes in the floor???

To be honest, I'm also kind of afraid for when my 300+ lb father visits and, ahem, christens the bowl. Will the arrangement above really keep mayhem from happening?

I suppose we should now read the instructions that go with the dual flush tank...

 

[Terry]

You would first install the adapter to the floor flange,
The drop the toilet over the adapter.
The front of the bowl is caulked to the floor.
The back of the bowl is screwed to the floor.
Caroma does make screws (601150) for this, with snap-on plastic caps.
If you don't have those, you can improvise from the hardware store.

Caroma toilets in the Seattle area

The side of the 270 bowl

 

[Sponsor]

 

[WaterMiser]

Wow, I didn't expect to get a reply from Terry Love himself on Saturday night! A big *thank you* for your site! It's wonderful! My husband and I have perused it and love all the info and links!

If you don't mind, I'm going to ask more specific questions. It looks like your instructions jive with the Caroma instructions. But here's where our confusion comes in... since this is a little different from a "standard" toilet installation, we're concerned that it won't be as stable. Will the toilet sitting on the adaptor and 2 screws into the plywood subfloor *really* hold the toilet in place so that it's not going to come off the seal? It just boggles our not so imaginative minds...

I think for what we paid for the toilet, we'd kind of like to have the correct screws + caps, so I think we'll call the shop Monday morning instead of guessing. Would the toilet be stable enough for a couple of days without these screws? (No large father around, but a very squirmy 3 1/2 yr old who often stands on the toilet to be able to see in the mirror to brush his teeth.)

Also, the tank attachment instructions seem very straightforward--just attach in the standard manner, no fiddling around with the guts, even though they look very unfamiliar to us. Is there anything else to the tank installation?

Thanks again!

 

[Terry]

With good caulking it should work fine.
With some caulks, it's nearly impossible to pull the toilet up, I'm thinking of Silicone as being the hard one to pull up.
That's why I don't use it except in a rare and I mean rare occasion.

 

[cchw]

With good caulking it should work fine.
With some caulks, it's nearly impossible to pull the toilet up, I'm thinking of Silicone as being the hard one to pull up.
That's why I don't use it except in a rare and I mean rare occasion.

I am thinking about getting the Caravelle but noticed Terry suggested using caulking for installation. My question is how would one install the Caravelle on a carpeted surface? Yes, I know I should get rid of the carpet but we haven't had time to remodel the bathroom yet since we moved in. Thank in advance. This is a great forum.

 

[hj]

toilet

Good practice would say you never install any toilet on top of carpet. You install the toilet on the floor and then cut the carpet to fit around it.