Weird Flange?

Hi Folks,

First time poster (but long time reader) here.

I was replacing a toilet today in the house we just purchased and came across a flange that just looks off to me. Now in all honesty I don't know flanges from a hole in the wall as it's only the second toilet I've replaced so far, so I thought I'd post a pic.

If you look at the pic, you'll see about a 1/8-1/4 inch separation between the bottom of the plastic flange and the pipe. The bottom of the flange is quite jagged (like someone did a bit of a hack job sawing it off). The toilet had a wax ring with a sleeve. The wax ring was barely compressed and near as I can figure the sleeve was probably the only thing preventing water seepage through the space between the flange and the pipe. I think sewer gases were probably escaping into the bathroom as my wife was complaining that the bathroom smelled.

I cleaned up the flange and the first 4 inches of the pipe and used a fluidmaster wax free ring for the]seal since the gasket and o ring sit in the pipe and ensured that the o ring made the seal in the pipe below the point where its separated from the flange.

Was this the right approach to take and I'm not crazy right, there is something wrong with this flange?

Thanks,

Serge

Normally the black plastic of the flange assembly would go outside your pipe. Are you sure there is a gap, and that you are not just looking at skuz on the jagged sawn edge? i.e., can you see light coming through where I drew the green elipse, or can you see wood through the crack, or can you stick a probe thru and under the black part of the flange assembly?

FWIW, some flanges have a 'socket' or stop for the pipe which hides the edges of the pipe it fits over (well, mostly if it is bottomed out in the socket), but some are designed with no stop and will slide completely over the pipe, which normally would go maybe slightly higher, but would work fine down slightly. Can't tell for sure. What isn't great is that they didn't used ss screws nor did they fill all of the screwholes with them.

Yep, it's definitely a gap, I was able to stick a screw driver in there. I didn't try to push it past the thickness of the pipe though so it's possible that the flange sleeves the pipe from the outside and the inside portion is just meant to hide the top edge of the pipe and maybe it just wasn't pushed in far enough. I still don't really understand the jagged edges though, they cut up my hands pretty well.

How much of a concern are the rusting screws? Are we talking imminent failure? The toilet is already in place so I would hate to have to pull it back up to replace the screws unless it's really a disaster waiting to happen.

Thanks for your help!

Serge

Rusting screws can be an issue long-term. If there's a gap and the flange is not actually sealed to the pipe, that's a much bigger deal. Is, for chance, the pipe actually cast iron? You mentioned sharp edges...while plastic could be sharp, snapping CI can produce some funky edges.

What is that "stuff" between the flange and the pipe? From here it looks like silicone caulking.