Uneven Flange

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samlin7

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Ok so this is really frustrating, my bathroom is essentially all tiled up, however i decided to keep the original floor - not looking at the toilet area at all. Now that i am ready to install the toilet it find that it rocks when i dry fit it.

On the left side it is about 1 in off the floor the right side is about 3/4" in off the floor. I used a level and the floor is level but the flange is way OFF (NOT level)

I was thinking of using a marble slab underneath but but would prefer not to.

Any suggestions, or what is the common method to fix this?

Thanks
 

Basement_Lurker

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Did you raise the flange so that it would sit on top of the new tile floor, only now it is sitting higher than the new tile floor?
 

Redwood

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The flange is way too high! Why?

The 1/4" off level is not a problem the wax ring will cover that! The height is though.
 

Gary Swart

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You are going to have to find a way to lower the flange or raise the floor. The flange is supposed to set on top of the finished floor and be screwed though the finished floor into the sub floor. A marble slab would work, but you still need the flange to set level on that and the slab is really less than professional appearing.
 

samlin7

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SoI refinished my entire bathroom,

I figured I would leave the floor as that was the only thing i would not touch (well i did regrout the floor)

I pulled up the old toilet and figured I can add another with no problem.

But I am installing a toto toilet and i guess it would just work but apparently it does not.

I bought a slab of 1/2" marble and dry fit it, made a HUGE difference, very minimal rocking - which i think would stop when I tighten the bolts down, but I am not a real big fan of the slab. So if there was anyway around this would really help.

I guess the old toilet may have had a thicker cavity in the bottom??? I don't know because I threw it away already. I do know it was a Kohler. Only thing I know.

How would i lower the flange? it is all one piece with the drain pipe

Thanks
 
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Basement_Lurker

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hmm that's a tough one, since you'd have to smash up some of floor surrounding the flange to set a new one. If the flange/piping is plastic, you could try to use an internal pipe cutter to cut the flange off and then try to pry off what was left of the hub still stuck to the pipe and then cut the pipe down, but it's pretty unlikely that you would be successful.

Another option would be to put shims under that existing flange and secure it down, and then try another Toto model that uses a unifit flange which would hopefully absorb the extra height and still allow the toilet to seat properly.
 

Jadnashua

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A toilet is nearly guaranteed to fit if the flange is projecting 1/4" or less above the finished floor. For support, it should be sitting on top of the finished floor so bolting the toilet to it won't produce any unusual stresses which could be caused by it sitting in the air - the anchoring ring needs to be anchored before you ask it to hold the toilet.

Any toilet should fit on a properly installed flange. Absolutely no guarantees if it isn't...it's not a 'fault' of the toilet.

Never allow tightening down the flange bolts to keep a toilet from rocking. You need to shim it so it doesn't rock, then anchor it in place. Otherwise, you risk either breaking the toilet, or causing the wax ring to fail, allowing leaks of both waste and sewer gasses.

From the finished floor, how high is the highest point on the flange?
 

samlin7

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Thanks for all the replies, I will try and take a pic of it with a ruler as a guide.

I won't be at my house for about a day or 2 so I will post them up in a couple of days.

A local plumbing store tried to sell me a flange repair kit - a semi circle device, and said to build up the lower part, but I just realized building it up will only increase the overall height of the flange and my toilet may or may not even touch the ground.

Oh Well I'll try and post some pic asap

Thanks again
 

hj

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flange

It is not "one piece with the riser pipe", but it can be difficult to remove, and I would not recommend a DIY'er try it especially since you just redid the room.
 

samlin7

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So my plumber had to come to the house for something else and i asked him about the toilet, It was not as bad as I thought, esp after taking the pics, the flange was not 1 inch off the floor, sabout 3/4".

He informed me the flange is lead and to use a piece of wood and very gently try to lower the higher side.

He later told me if I wanted to go crazy, since I have access to the basement I could cut the brass pipe underneath and use a furncoat to attach a PVC to the old pipe work and have a totally new drain pipe.

I think i am first goingto try and lower one end first real gently and if I break anything then i will replace the whole thing.

i took some pics but have a hard time uploading it will try again tonight
 

Jadnashua

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Cut it off and replace it with pvc. You'll probably put a dimple in the wall of the pipe if you try to push it down which could compromise the flow and would be a stress point that could crack.

The connector is a no-hub. Fernco is one company that makes them. It is a neoprene sleeve covered with a metal reinforment band and hose clamps on each end. You do not want the one that is just a rubber sleeve with clamps...they're not authorized for use above ground.
 
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