Cracked Toilet Flange in Concrete

[ScottyRice]

I bought a small building from a concrete company recently and within the first month or so both toilets began to leak, a new toilet leaking at the bottom and an older toilet leaking from the top.

I decided to work on the older top leaking toilet first, because I thought it would be easier, and purchased a repair kit. While I had the toilet apart I decided to check the flange, even though it wasn't leaking at the bottom, and discovered it was a PVC flange and it had cracked where one of the bolts holds it down. The subfloor is concrete and the concrete company who owned the building looks to have poured a top coat of concrete, including around the toilet, and marked it to resemble ceramic tile flooring. The the toilet base is surrounded by a layer of concrete.

I watched a bunch of youtube videos and decided to drill out the concrete and chisel the PVC flange off the 3" PVC elbow. Unfortunately, I chipped some of the elbow and what's strange is that it looks like at the core it is thin wall pvc elbow with a pvc sleeve around it so a schedule 40 pvc flange will fit.

I'd prefer to stick with the older toilet because, as you can see from the photos, its footprint is imprinted in the surrounding concrete, and also because this place is turning in to a money pit and I'd like to not have to purchase another toilet right now. The subfloor is pretty level and if I need to replace the toilet in the future I'll chip away the surrounding concrete top floor to make room. I know mounting a flange to the subfloor is frowned upon, but given the situation and the unlikeliness I'll ever want to replace the concrete top floor I think it'll be okay to mount the new flange to the subfloor. Let me know what you think!

Have I chipped the elbow too badly to connect a flange? I've attached some photos and am looking for advice on how to best complete the job.

 

[Reach4]

Your last picture, at least, should have been without the rag.

What is the ID and wall thickness of that pipe you have been trying to expose? If you don't have a digital caliper, the time is now. You want 3 decimal places in inches. Check HF.

The Sioux Chief 888-GPM may be a possibility, but you would probably have to add some mortar for the screws. Or maybe that, and immediately top it with a PASCO 21013 or Superior 21015 repair ring with mounting tabs outside.

Or maybe glue in a Sioux Chief 888-PTM, which gets you a stainless ring. You would first add mortar to give the screws something to screw into.

This would have been much easier starting with picture #1. I am not a plumber.

 

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[ScottyRice]

Your last picture, at least, should have been without the rag.

What is the ID and wall thickness of that pipe you have been trying to expose? If you don't have a digital caliper, the time is now. You want 3 decimal places in inches. Check HF.

The Sioux Chief 888-GPM may be a possibility, but you would probably have to add some mortar for the screws. Or maybe that, and immediately top it with a PASCO 21013 or Superior 21015 repair ring with mounting tabs outside.

Or maybe glue in a Sioux Chief 888-PTM, which gets you a stainless ring. You would first add mortar to give the screws something to screw into.

This would have been much easier starting with picture #1. I am not a plumber.

Thanks for the fast reply. ID measures 2.445, but as you can see the caliper doesn't quite reach the full distance on the non-chipped edge because of the "sleeve" that's over the elbow.

 

[ScottyRice]

Wall thickness not including sleeve is .1325" and including sleeve it is .2795"

 

[Reach4]

Those flanges that I mentioned would not work. They expect about 3.00 inches.

Perhaps you could fill the area around the PVC with something a bit less porous than concrete or water-resistant concrete, and install a DANCO Model 10672X is Hydroseat with wax beneath. They intend that that sit atop the finished floor, and not have wax above. If that sits too low, then add wax above too. Just an idea.

 

[ScottyRice]

I need to get a flange with a stainless steel ring, but this 3" flange I have laying around is a really tight dry fit but seems like it will work. I was more concerned I chipped the PVC elbow too much, but if it's okay I was planning to install a new flange and concrete. A guy on youtube used Quikrete epoxy concrete repair after he installed the flange, instead of using concrete (

). What do you all recommend?

 

[ScottyRice]

OD = 3.5225" Is a Sioux Chief 887-PM recommended? Feedback on the chipped elbow and concrete vs filling hole with epoxy concrete repair would be much appreciated, or any other general tips like I should have called a plumber to begin with, etc.

 

[Reach4]

OD = 3.5225" Is a Sioux Chief 887-PM recommended?

That flange is made to fit over a 3.50 OD pipe. Close enough? I don't know.

Maybe some sandpaper strips could knock off the high spots, but that may not be enough.

 

[ScottyRice]

Okay, I've decided the right thing to do is fill in the footprint with concrete and install the flange on top of that so it's easier to replace the toilet in the future.

So what's the best practice/method for installing a hub flange before filling underneath with concrete? Overall the floor is uneven side to side but not really front to back, so should the flange match the uneveness or be set level? Life and plumbing is hard!