Toto Aquia III Installation Woes

I have the CST464 Dual Flush. This model has a skirt on it. They give you a template and there are two plastic mounts that the base screws into. These mounts require you to drill 4 holes in the floor. This is the part that is giving me trouble. The floor is linoleum and I assumed just subflooring underneath. However I have hit something very hard and broken a drill bit. I also tried a masonary bit and it stops as well. It feels like it could be metal, but I'm not sure. It's also possible that someone in the past put linoleum over tile. The floor is 60 years old and is raised from the hallway floor. So there are definately extra layers in the floor. The drill bit does not get to the sub-flooring. I am afraid to attempt to drill through metal, if it is part of the sewage. I haven't gone under the house yet to see what it looks like from under the floor. But again, the drill bit never gets to the sub-flooring.

Unfortunately all 4 holes have the same problem and it is a template, so I have no options to move the holes. Is there another way to fasten these brakets? Or am I screwed and need to get a different type of toilet? That would be a shame, since I really was sold on the dual-flush Toto from comments in this forum.

Chris

It's almost certainly tile. The first clue is the raised floor height. If you haven't even got to the sub floor, there's no way you are hitting pipes. You need a better drill bit. Some tile is very hard and difficult to drill.

Yup. Just popped the floor trim off under the door. I can see Linoleum on top. Tile just under that. Then about an inch of morter under that, then the sub-floor. I guess the project just got a lot bigger. I'm going to remove all this stuff and get down to the sub-floor. That also means new sink and new tub/shower. I was going to do this anyway. But I was hoping to at least get a nice new toilet in first.

Thanks, Chris

If you want to wait, a diamond or possibly a carbide drill bit will go through the tile and mortar. Then, you can do the rest of the remodeling and tearout at your own schedule if now isn't convenient. You could probably get away with the plastic inserts into the mortar bed, rather than going all the way through. On a really old house, the tile is probably not porcelain, and a carbide bit will work. Modern porcelain tile can be very hard, and the only thing that will cut it easily is a diamond bit (core bits seem to work well - they're more like a hole-saw so you aren't trying to chew up all of the material in the middle).

Ok. Well that's food for thought. But I was basically almost to the point of redoing this floor anyway. This seals the deal I think. After closer examination, it looks like they built up 3/4" of mortar from the subfloor, instead of plywood. That matches the level of the original wood floors. Then I can't tell if there is floor on top of that (linoleum or otherwise). But then there's another 1/4" or so of mortar, then tile, then some sort of chalk-like stuff, then linoleum. This is a mess. I think it's demo time....

Chris

Whether to replace the floor now or later is your choice, but various anchors are available to anchor the toilet in that floor. Keep in mind they are more in shear than tension. If you drill a clean hole and use a plastic anchor or a bigger one and use a lead anchor, you should have plenty of strength. Or, you could drill all the way through and get it into the subflooring.

Well I just couldn't stand having this brand new toilet sitting here and the old one out. Seemed to me that it wasn't that much additional work installing the Toto. So I did. A diamond tip drill bit went right through the tile. I used the anchors that came with the toilet. The bolts were a pain, so I picked up some better bolts and everything went pretty good from then on. I don't seem to have any leaks. The new toilet looks very sharp. I am actually wasting water right now, because I like to see it flush. It's a thing of beauty. I can't believe it's possible to get so excited over a toilet.

This is a great forum!

Thanks, Chris