Raised floor - what to do with toilet?

[DannyH]

Hi there,

I'm an amputee and have begun a renovation of the master bathroom to have a walk-in shower. We've decided to raise the floor rather than cut into the joists to accommodate the drain and get the necessary slope.

The issue is that the floor will likely have to be raised 3" to 4" inches and so the toilet needs to be raised the same amount.

What are my choices to raise the toilet to the new floor height? I see many products that permit the flange to be raised - but at most 2.25". Do I have to get someone to raise the waste pipe in the floor? Do they need to open up the subfloor to do so or can they simply extend the pipe?

Need some advice please,
Danny

 

[WorthFlorida]

Is the pipe 3" cast iron or PVC?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Terry]

Sioux Chief makes an extension flange that fits inside 3" ABS pipe. Also one for 4"
There is no reason to have tile under the flange. As you can see, the ring has holes, slots, and it swivels.

Cast and plastic are different sizing. What I'm seeing at the hardware stores lately don't seem to fit any size in the field.
I'm looking at ordering in what I used to use for some of my replacement installs.

I've also used this one. I don't know if any of these will be long enough for you though. I would pick up some, make your measurement and decide.
Opening the flooring at this time might be a good idea.

Re reading that you have a wood floor, just redo the piping for that.

Comes in ABS and PVC

 

[DannyH]

Is the pipe 3" cast iron or PVC?

It's PVC.

 

[Reach4]

Removing the existing flange and putting in new stuff is probably the best thing to do.

Can you see enough below the current flange to take a photo?

 

[Jadnashua]

IF the pipe is 3", I'm not a big fan of using one of the push-in flanges as that can narrow the throat more than I like. A more common 3" flange fits on the outside of the pipe, leaving the full 3" ID of the pipe open. Putting it inside, you usually end up with it 2.5" or so. While the internal pathway of most toilets is about that or even smaller, making that last turn into the flange means a sharper bend, and a potential clog point. If it's a 4" pipe, no problems.

 

[WorthFlorida]

Since you have a wood floor there must be a crawl space or basement. Cutting the PVC is easy to do and then extend it to the new level and it will provide support for the new flange.

 

[Tuttles Revenge]

In agreance with WorthFlorida. By looking down the pipe you should be able to gauge how much pipe is between the closet flange and the next fitting below. You will either have enough pipe to cut the flange away and install a coupler fitting on or use a Reed Reamer (model 04526) with a shaft extension to drill the pipe out from the next fitting below. The reamer bit cost me around $85 about 8yrs ago.

On a slight aside. The reamer bit can be commonly referred to a Ram bit.. but the ram bit style and anything similar are garbage and should not be attempted on 3" PVC or ABS in my opinion.

 

[Terry]

I like the one on top. It works well with 3".