My toilet drain pipe is too tall

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JohnBauder

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My toilet has always rocked. I have someone come in and reinstall it and shim the hell out of it and its OK for some weeks. I was told once that the drain was not cut off close enough to the floor so the flange sits too hig by about a half inch. The drain and flange are metal. The floor is vinyl over concrete. How can I fixe this?
 

Reach4

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I have someone come in and reinstall it and shim the hell out of it and its OK for some weeks.
After those weeks, what happens? Toilet starts rocking again, or some other thing?
 
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This is a common problem with some older homes with cast-iron flanges that are just hammered to flare over a flange ring.

The toilet itself is also part of the problem, especially if the bottom of it has a very low waste neck, and does make contact with your flange. Newer toilets actually lift off the ground by a good inch or more, so there is space that is normally filled with the wax ring.

You may want to raise the toilet by what you said half inch. You're going to want to do this with some sort of ring-like base that will lift it up whole, not just shimmed in a few spots. The thick white plastic they use to make kitchen cutting boards is a good material, since it is easy to contour to the shape of your toilet's base.
 

JohnBauder

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This is a common problem with some older homes with cast-iron flanges that are just hammered to flare over a flange ring.

The toilet itself is also part of the problem, especially if the bottom of it has a very low waste neck, and does make contact with your flange. Newer toilets actually lift off the ground by a good inch or more, so there is space that is normally filled with the wax ring.

You may want to raise the toilet by what you said half inch. You're going to want to do this with some sort of ring-like base that will lift it up whole, not just shimmed in a few spots. The thick white plastic they use to make kitchen cutting boards is a good material, since it is easy to contour to the shape of your toilet's base.

Would this ring need to extend to the outside dimensions of the toilet?
 

Reach4

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Yes, it slips off the shims and begins rocking again. It sometimes leaks onto the floor around it too.
Slipping off of the shims sounds weird. That would imply that the toilet moved laterally a lot. It sounds like your toilet was not held down enough. That After shimming, the base of your toilet would normally be 80% to 90% surrounded with acrylic caulk. That not only dresses things up, it helps keep the toilet in position.

When the toilet based was shimmed and working, how high is the toilet from the floor?Maybe http://www.oatey.com/products/rough-in-products/toilet-base-plate/toilet-base-plate would be worth checking out. Also see https://terrylove.com/forums/index.php?threads/flange-too-high-floor-not-level.4723/

Next time the toilet is off, how about getting a picture of the flange. Also, is the flange position solid, or will it deflect to the side?
 
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