I am replacing the 70-year-old toilet in the main bathroom. There’s nothing wrong with it other than it uses five gallons of water per flush. Actually more like four gallons since I have a one gallon pickle jar in the tank. And it’s a round bowl. Mrs pj hates it with a passion. She wants an elongated bowl. I found a Kohler one that I think will fit and still allow the bathroom door to open past it.

The big hurdle yet to clear is whether the outlet in the floor is 12 inches from the wall. In a house this old, it’s anyone’s guess.

And I have to get the rusty nuts off the rusty bolts holding the old toilet to the floor. We’ll, just three of them since one has rusted off completely.

Wish me luck.







My plumber's helper!


(Oh, I guess you can see that I need to replace the tub surround, too.

Hope the procedure goes smoothly.

You have a good snoopervisor, so I’m sure all will be well.

They weren't nuts and studs... they were like lag bolts. Two of them "came out" like this (that is, most of it is still in the floor).


The one fairly intact one.


And we're off!


Yay! The hole is 12 inches from the wall.

Hmmm... I guess they could have been studs, but with the nuts completely rusted on.

Those aren’t usually lag bolts, they’re brass T nuts that slip in to notches in the floor flange.

No matter, you got them out and it looks like the flange is OK so you’re golden.

Make sure to level and shim the new unit before tightening the bolts. I usually use coins for shims, stuck down with a bit of bathtub caulk.

Now I see that the flange has no notches in it. I’ve never seen a toilet mounted that way before.

Not sure how you’re going to mount it. There’s probably a workaround on YouTube.

I have replaced 7 toilets in my lifetime.

You got this!

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Miller:
Now I see that the flange has no notches in it. I’ve never seen a toilet mounted that way before.

Not sure how you’re going to mount it. There’s probably a workaround on YouTube.

That's really old I guess. I've never seen one like that either. Found a video for it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uri7jeiPuRM

Steve,

Seventy.

Year.

Old.

Toilet.

The house was built in 1952. The toilet lid has a date stamp of 5/22/52 (considering how many kids grew up in this house, I am stunned that it still has the original lid). Somewhere in the early '80s, someone pulled up the toilet to do a very very bad job of laying down a sheet of vinyl flooring. Looking at the screw again, it's one of those with coarse wood thread on one end and machine thread on the other (I forget the name for those) and a washer and acorn nut holding the toilet down. Again, this is the only one that came out intact:


And there were four of them holding the toilet down. Two that were right next to the flange, and two farther forward on the base.

This is what's left of the forward ones. I have tried using a visegrip to get them out. No deal. I'm going have to just try to cut them flush. Further, they have rusted very badly and you may be able to see that there is a bulge under the flooring where the rust scale has expanded.


One of the back ones had the head completely rusted off. Unfortunately, what's left of the screw is still in the floor right next to the flange. I think I have a nail nipper that will clip the end flush with the floor, but the rust scale has pushed up the edge of the flange.



Tomorrow, I'll get the new toilet out of the back of the car and dry fit the base and see how much I need to clean up and level out the floor.


Mik,

Thank you very much! I think I need one of those thingies in the video.

There was a plastic flange pushed down into the metal one with a big gob of plumber's putty to seal it, then a very large, very gooey wax ring above, under, and around it. It was a mess to clean up all the wax, but it never leaked.


I spent at least an hour trying to scrape up all that tub caulk that was around the base. I tried every tool I could think of other than a metal blade (to avoid chewing up that lovely flooring). The only thing that was at all effective was my thumbnail. Even the universal thumbnail substitute - a plastic bread bag closer-thingy didn't make a dent.

By the way, I showed the pictures to the guy at Lowe's who helped me get the toilet on the cart. He said, "great... you got a new toilet... now let me show you some new floor tile."

Mrs. pj asked if I was interested in re-doing the floor while we're at it. Ummm... no. Not right now. Because we'll want to replace the pressboard vanity, and the sink, and everything else. Right now, we just want a different toilet. She also suggested we put the old toilet in the front yard and plant flowers in it. That's why I married her.

But I figure if I install this thing correctly, it will be a lot easier to pull it up again to replace the flooring if we decide to do that at some time in the future. Frankly, I didn't expect to be living in this house long enough to have to replace a toilet. I really hope we're not here so long we do the floor. (The kitchen floor was redone in 1995 with cheap vinyl and it looks like carp now It was laid over 1/4" luan laid over the original linoleum. The guy who did it said it was a sure bet there was asbestos in the flooring and the adhesive and he wasn't going to pull up an inch of it.) If we move, we may take the new toilet with us.

About the pickle jar...

http://well-temperedforum.grou...613913597#6613913597

quote:

Right now, we just want a different toilet. She also suggested we put the old toilet in the front yard and plant flowers in it. That's why I married her.

Reason enough

So, the outlet in the floor turns pretty quickly, so I need to find one of those insert thingies that isn't too deep.



I have a smidgen over two inches to work with, or it guess I could have it stick up a bit.




The other big question was whether the door would clear the toilet. This is the shortest front-to-back of any elongated toilet Lowe's had. Ummmm... it's a squeaker, but at least the seat that came with it (flimsy plastic, but a soft-close one) does not stick out beyond the rim... it's about 1/4 inch shorter.

You would have a hard time closing the door once you are seated.



I can always elongate the holes in the mounts. I like one of those quick-release seats that don't require tools to remove. We'll be upgrading to that shortly.

I’d cut the bottom off of the adapter before I let it sit above the flange. It has to sit flat on the floor or it won’t work.

The guy in the plumbing dept at Lowe’s sold me an adapter that has a plastic section that goes down into the floor and a stainless steel ring with screw holes and a thick foam rubber ring under the flange rather than around the tube.

Basically this, but with a thick sponge rubber gasket under the metal part:

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Oatey-PVC-Flange/50315057

I’m not totally sold on it. I’m concerned that that sponge rubber will deteriorate in about ten years. But I only have two inches of depth to work with and that outlet pipe isn’t exactly round. I’m going to run down to the real hardware store and see what they have.

The one commercial plumbing supply place I used to go to closed.