Screws Instead of T-Bolts: Is it Safe?

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LarryP

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I am replacing a toilet and found that the flange is installed so that the slots for the T-bolts cannot be used -- the flange is rotated 90 degress so that the slots for the T-bolts are in the wrong place. Instead the toilet was fastened down with screws screwed through the round holds in the flange and directly into the floor underneath the flange.

By the way, there was some leakage under that toilet (wet floorboards, mold) that I've cleaned up.

Question: Is it safe to re-install the same way -- using screws into the floor instead of T-bolds connected directly to the flange?
 

Gary Swart

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It is my non-professional opinion that this would be a risky thing to do. It might work for a time then fail or it might work just fine for years, but it's a "get by with" fix at best. it may well be the reason the toilet leaked was due to those screws allowing movement which broke the wax ring seal. I would suggest removing the flange and replacing it with one install properly would be the wise way to go. I suspect you already know this and are hoping to some suggestions for an easy fix. Perhaps the pros will have some way to repairing this without a complete flange replacement, but I doubt any of them will OK the screws into the floor.
 

Jadnashua

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Is the flange securely fastened to the subflooring? If it is, then if the toilet is also fastened tightly to the subfloor, they would move in union, and it probably doesn't matter. Otherwise, it could be a factor.
 
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Hey, wait a minute.

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