Flange too tall?

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C1aire

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I'm working on a bathroom remodel. The old tile floor needed to come out and so did about an inch of concrete/mortar before I got to the concrete slab. New tiles are in and around the PVC flange coming out of the floor. Everything looks good. The new tiles are about 1/4" tall. So there is a a net negative difference in the new floor height. Go to put a new toilet on with a wax ring and the flange seems too tall. It is not flush with the floor. There is a considerable amount of space between the bottom of the toilet and the tile. More than you can caulk! Is there some piece I need to purchase or is it time to call a plumber to lower the toilet flange so my toilet will sit on the floor and not rock?
Thanks,
Claire
 

Mikey

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Place the toilet on the flange with no wax first to see if the toilet will then sit solidly on the floor. If it won't (your case, apparently) you either have to raise the floor or lower the flange.
 

Terry

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Mikey is right.
If the toilet sets right without wax, you may be able to make it work with the Fluidmaster waxless seal.
They take up hardly any space.
 

C1aire

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You guys are the best! I pulled the wax ring off, replaced the toilet, no go. Still a huge gap between the floor tile and bottom of toilet, at least a 1/2". Called the plumber today. I only hope it won't be a fortune! And my husband wanted to put shims under there! Thanks again!
Claire
 

Mikey

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I only hope it won't be a fortune!

O, ye of way too much hope! Will be dependent on the exisiting flange and how it's connected to the DWV beneath. I'd be thinking a small number of hundreds of dollars.

Keep the other alternative -- raise the floor -- in mind. It wouldn't be totally unreasonable to pour a toilet-shaped cement platform under the toilet (others who know more than I might think it would be totally unreasonable). There's a product called "self-leveling cement" (SLC) that pours like pancake batter and produces a dead-level surface with no fancy troweling that might do the job, although I'm not sure of its structural strength in an application like this. If it's strong enough, your problems would be a)constructing the toilet-shaped dam to contain the stuff while it's curing (it behaves more like water than concrete), and b) making the exposed edge look attractive enough for you. You could pour a rectangular section near the toile and tile the top of that rectangle. Endless possibilities.
 
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Jadnashua

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If you can find one that you can live with, they make toilet support thingies (I can't remember what they call them!). In some places, they are code. Basically, it is a rectangle around an inch thick with a hole for the drain designed to fit under toilets. The reason they were code is that they usually spanned more of the floor and would help support the toilet if the floor started to rot?!

SLC has good compressive strength, but the edges would flake off, and it wouldn't look that great.

You could use something like a chunk of solid surface counter material that might match your vanity.
 

Spokaneman

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I think I would consider using a plywood subfloor to make up the height difference. If removing the tiles causes that big of a gap with the flange, there must also be a height difference where the new floor meets whatever old floor is adjacent to the new floor. Sounds to me like 1/2 inch plywood would be just right.
 

C1aire

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Spokaneman - you would think there would be a height difference b/w the new bathroom floor and the old bedroom floor. But that is not the case. The old bathroom floor was actually higher that the carpeted bedroom floor. You sort of stepped up into the bathroom. I was told it was an older method of tiling, to add the cement-like layer b/w the slab and tile.

Well, the plumber was only $40. I couldn't say no to that, much cheaper than me ripping out my new floor and replacing it. Although I liked the floor leveling idea too. Since the plumber was already out to finish some trim work on the shower faucet lines (went from the 3 knob to single lever) I guess I didn't have to pay for another house call!

So with the flange lowered. I wasted one wax ring because I didn't see the word "Jumbo" on the box. Second regular wax ring worked fine. Toilet is installed and working properly. Thanks so much for all your input!

Claire
 
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