Toilet flange advice

[Bryan P]

Hello, I'm new on the forums, I just bought a house though so likely will be on here more in the future. I hope this is the right place to ask this.
The situation is we bought a house, and knew one of the toilets was cracked. We turned off the water to it right away and emptied it and removed it last weekend, assuming I was just going to have to replace the toilet with a new one.
Upon removal though, we realized the existing flange was completely corroded away, the toilet bolts were really not even doing anything as the metal was so corroded, I think the only thing holding the toilet down was some caulk around it.
I got the old corroded flange removed, but it still had the inner ABS section. I maybe should have left that ABS part as is and installed a new ring or flange repair, but I thought it would be best to try to remove the old flange and put a new one in.
I removed the top part of it with some drilling and an inner cutter blade, but the bottom part that is glued to the ABS rough-in around the outside is still there, and proving difficult to remove.
I'm not sure what to do next. I will try to post a picture if that would help, but I'm left with a 3 Inch inner diameter rough-in with the extra width of the old flange still glued to the outside. My plan was to use another flange that goes around the outside, but I can't fit one of the same size with the old flange ABS still on there.
I know there are flanges that go inside the 3 in. inner diameter rough-in, but do those make the pipe too small and cause clogs? I could install one and just leave the old stuff on the outer side?
Is there a good way to remove the old ABS that I'm sure is glued to the rough-in?
Another option, is that now it seems the full outer diameter is 4 in. so I could see if one of those huge 4in. outer flanges fit around the whole thing. If I do this, should I worry about the rough edges on the top where I cut the flange?
Or, does it sound like I should just call a plumber at this point to fix it? (I had initially called a plumber but after they cancelled on me two days in a row I decided to try to tackle it myself).
Thanks for any advice, I know a picture could be useful and can try to upload one after work.

 

[Terry]

An inside closet flange would be fine. Most toilets have a 2" trapway dropping into a 3" pipe.
To remove the existing hub flange, cut two slots and using a flat blades screwdriver, you can split off the flange. You need the cut though to allow the outer part to split away from the pipe. The pipe does not need to be all that smooth while gluing the new one in. It's a solvent glue, sort of melts things.

Or use an inside pipe flange.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Bryan P]

Terry, thanks so much for the advice. I think we may just use the inside flange then. The subfloor of the bathroom, while stable, looks like it may need to be replaced at some point, so maybe I'll do the inner flange myself to get this toilet working and then hire a plumber when we get around to redoing the whole subfloor and bathroom.

 

[Reach4]

I will try to post a picture if that would help, but I'm left with a 3 Inch inner diameter rough-in with the extra width of the old flange still glued to the outside.

Are you looking at an ABS thing that is 4.50 inches OD? That could happen if the old flange was a 3x4 flange glued outside of 3 inch. In that case, an outside 4 inch glued flange would probably fit.

 

[Bryan P]

Are you looking at an ABS thing that is 4.50 inches OD? That could happen if the old flange was a 3x4 flange glued outside of 3 inch. In that case, an outside 4 inch glued flange would probably fit.

Yeah, I think that is the case, I did not purchase this flange, but I measure the total diameter currently and it look to be 4 in, so likely the OD is 4.5.
I'm still planning to just use the inner one though at this point. I do have room around the outside that I could fit a 4.5 too.

 

[Reach4]

You could use an outside compression (no glue) flange, such as a cast iron Code Blue. They come in 3 different depths depending how deep the pipe is that you are connecting to. When you change flooring, you can lift the flange, do the floor stuff, and replace the flange.

 

[Jeff H Young]

you seem to be grasping this pretty well. It sounds like a 3 inch ring will glue inside the pipe . I concider this a fine option and not shoddy or temporary the challenge may be to screw it down solid if subfloor is damaged. craw spaces some one can go under and hold blocks for backing to run screwes in

 

[Bryan P]

Thanks for the help everyone, I installed the inner flange, it looks pretty good so time to install the toilet.