Toilet Flange Help

We decided to replace a very old (30+) toilet yesterday in one of our bathroms. The old toilet came up nice and easy, I removed the old wax put on a new one dropped the toilet in and tightened everything up. The toliet seemed nice and solid it flushed well with no apparent leaks. I sat on it and wiggled a bit and picked up some rocking so I tightened the bolts a little more and still got some rocking, then I noticed what appeared to be a leak from the base.

So off everything comes and this time as I'm cleaning off the new wax ring I notice the flange is loose, as in can spin around and drop down a bit. After exploring some more I realize that the flange is not mounted to the subfloor (concrete) and it's sitting around the waste pipe (both are cast iron, waste pipe is 4" flange is 5 1/2").

1) I found the source of the instability
2) I also probably found the source of the leak.

So as I'm pondering this and looking on the net I think I have figured out what the deal is, between the flange wall and the outside of the waste pipe there appears to be what is left of lead wool. There isn't a lot of it and it's very loose so I pulled it out (less than a handfull) and of course now the flange comes out very easily, not that it was in there very well to begin with.

So now the question is what now? I'm not a great DIY plumber but I have patience and can get things to work if I just take my time. Should I call a plumber? Should I get some lead wool and repack it?

Any suggestions are really appreciated.

I'm too young to know how to fix this, but I'd probably fasten the flange to the floor like it should have been, then pack some lead wool in there and see what happens. Take a picture for us.

Well fastening the flange to the floor isn't an option in this case. The cut out of the floor approximates the outer diameter of the flange (with a little slop) so there's nothing to attach to. Hence I think the point of the lead wool. I could however pack the flange then take a full flange repair bracket and mount that to the floor over the flange and then put the closet bolts on that. Although I'm tempted to just pack the flange and mount like it was before.

A plumber could make a leaded joint that would anchor the flange to the pipe very solidy. As I understand it, if you use lead wool, you have to really pound it in to basically make it look and act like a liquid lead poured joint. The alternative is to use oakum then pour lead in.

There is a "Plastic Lead", that can act as a substitute to a traditional leaded joint. You need to clean up the pipe so you can get a good bond.

What size is the pipe? If it is a 4" pipe, you can buy an expanding flange. Basically, you push it in, then use the screws to expand a collar that then clamps it to the inside of the pipe. The seal is made with neoprene rubber as the flange expands. If it is 3", it gets tougher, you don't normally want to make it smaller, but a 4" pipe is larger enough where it doesn't matter.

I took the flange to a local plumbing supply place, the kind that is a total mess but they always seem to have what you need and know exactly what pile it's in. He took one look at it grumbled "lead wool" took off for 30 seconds and came back with this big blue cast iron flange called an InstantSet. It's basically what you described except it fits on the outside of the waste pipe just like the old one. Instead of using the oakum and lead it compresses the neoprene seal against the outside of the pipe making the exact same seal as the oakum/lead would.

I just got done installing it and so far so good, I'll keep my fingers crossed.

flange

A plumber would have packed some oakum into the joint and then melted that lead wool and poured it into the joint and then caulked it down tight. Lead wool is a poor subtitute for a poured joint and was only used by handymen or in a very unusual situation.

Get it leaded...............