Installation of Toto G500

**nadiar2012** · 10-04-2012, 06:45 AM

Hello,

I am wondering about a new Toto MS970CEMFG G500 integrated toilet installation. The dilema that I am faced with is that the distance from the wall to the center of the floor drain is only 11 inches. The specification guide calls for minimum of 12 icnes roughtin; however, within the same specs the drain size is stated to be 2 inches wide. The drain size that we have is 4 inches wide. Would it be possible to fit the toilet into the space that I have? Please advise. Thanks in advance.

**jadnashua** · 10-04-2012, 09:49 AM

Can't tell from the spec sheet drawings as it doens't show any gap behind the toilet and the places that are dimmensioned, aren't enough to tell for sure. Most toilets have a little space behind them to the wall but this one looks quite close from the drawings (but that may not be the case in the real world).

You can fudge the bolts in the flange maybe 1/4", giving you 11.25" or so, but it may not be enough.

Make sure you are measuring from the wall, not the baseboard. As long as the baseboard isn't exceptionally tall, the skirt is designed for most normal thickness ones. Also, there's slight differences in toilet to toilet, but Totos tend to be very consistent - more so than most others in the industry.

So, unless you can find someone with one already installed, you may need to take it out of the box and put it up against the wall and see. Have you tried calling Toto?

**nadiar2012** · 10-04-2012, 10:02 AM

Thats for the reply, jadnashua.

I actually requested the installation manual from Toto. Hopefully they get back to me quickly. This is a brand new model and noone has them in stock. The only place that has it its Toto's showroom, which I am planning to visit sometime this week. I was just wondering whether I have any leaway with the fact that the actual size of the floor drain is much bigger than its is stated in the specs. The space from the tiledwall to the end of the drain is 13 1/4...

I wonder whether I might be able to use somehow an extention/reducer to fit it in......

**jadnashua** · 10-04-2012, 10:15 AM

You're restricted mostly by the bolt hole location in the flange, which is centered. Depending on the flange, as I said, you can fudge about 1/4" or so. Yes, the horn of the toilet is smaller, but it is the way the toilet attaches to the flange that is the deciding factor, and those are centered around the middle of the flange.

**Gary Swart** · 10-04-2012, 10:30 AM

One way to tell is when you go to the showroom, take a tape measure with you. If possible, have them place the toilet against a wall. Then measure from the wall to the flange bolt holes. This will be the absolute minimum distance required to set the toilet. It would be preferred to have a little extra space between the tank and wall to enable removing the tank lid. Most toilets have more space than their rough-in size would imply. I have a Drake that although rated a 12" and is set on a 12" rough-in, has almost 2" space behind the tank. Measuring as described will be the surest way I know to tell exactly what is needed. If I were a betting man, I would bet this toilet will install on an 11" rough-in...but I don't gamble.

**wjcandee** · 10-04-2012, 12:58 PM

Let's go through a couple of things.

First, it's a certainty that 11" isn't going to do it. The fact that Toto's own drawings show the toilet flush against the wall plus the fact that they explicitly say in a "Warning" that if you have a baseboard you need 12" from the baseboard to the center of the floor drain are clear indications that they are using most, if not all, of the 12". So, unlike, say, the original Drake, you are going to need close to or at the full 12". Plus, because all there is is a spec sheet, we don't know what mounting hardware is going to be used; depending upon how it mounts, you may not have the ability even to fudge the 1/4". The latest models from Toto seem to have abandoned simplicity as a guiding principle, so I would expect that this thing mounts in a more-complicated way. Indeed, the spec sheet seems to show that something will be drilled in at a point 1.5" from the finished wall and 3.125 from the center of the flange. This is most likely something to do with the mounting system.

Second, I don't see anything anywhere that indicates that the toilet will use a "two-inch drain". It plainly mounts on a standard closet flange, and the drawing seems to anticipate the flange mounting on a 3" pipe. The toilet does have an internal 2" trapway, but that doesn't have anything to do with the size of the flange it expects.