Comments on: How to Install a Toilet

By: Mike Z

Mike Z — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 13:51:23 +0000

I was taught by a professional plumber to lay a bead of plumber’s putty on top of the wax ring when setting the toilet.

By: PJ Lewan

PJ Lewan — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 18:28:55 +0000

Nice article. I am a professional plumber and here are few other pointers:

The wax free seals are a great invention, however some old homes with very shallow or lead pipes underneath will be incompatable with them. Then you would use old school wax. If the flange is too far below the finish floor you can stack two wax rings together. Wear latex gloves when handling the toilet bowl wax as it is very sticky and gets everywhere. If you do have wax smears, solvent or wd-40 will aid in removal. Put the nasty old wax into the cardboard box that the new seal came in. Where I come from it is required by code to seal the base of the toilet with caulk. It keeps pee and toilet overflows from getting underneath and it helps ‘glue’ it down and keeps the toilet from coming loose. I would never use grout around the base of the toilet. It makes it extremely difficult to remove it for maintanence. Also I personally thing Gerber toilets suck. Try a Toto or American Standard. Enjoy!

By: Craig

Craig — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 21:20:18 +0000

My flange has rusted to crumbs. I need a tutorial and how to replace it.

By: bil

bil — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 18:09:39 +0000

One trick I was taught is to make a slurry of plaster and squirt that under to toilet around the base from a cut plastic bag and straw. That stabilizes the base so the toilet won’t rock side to side. Esp. good for older uneven floors.

By: Darden

Darden — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 15:19:41 +0000

I learned the very hard way to get help in setting down the toilet and wear pants. I was installing a toilet a couple years ago and dropped the toilet while setting it down. The porcelain sheared off and cut 3 inches into my calf muscle = over 500 stitches. Freak accident but be careful.

By: Harvester

Harvester — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 16:44:38 +0000

Great article. I live in a colder climate and have found it helpful to use a small electric heater to get the bathroom, toilet, and wax seal up to at least 70 degrees F before installation.

By: Splash Pitman

Splash Pitman — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 04:38:18 +0000

Australian plumber here , as advanced as you guys are I can’t believe you still use wax seals , looks like it has no adjustment in any direction , and to top if off the WC isn’t even flush with the wall .
When the floor is out of level I first put some masking tape on the floor around the base of the pan then put a wedge on a side or both sides at the back and one at the front , I pump silicon under the edge right around leaving the back until it is flush with the outside edge of the pan , then clean the edge up with your finger that had been dipped in soapy water , leave for 24 hours pull the front wedge out and silicon that hole and repeat the finger trick , with a sharp box cutter score between the masking tape and the pan and then remove tape , this stops the silicon going all over your tiles/timber floor .

By: Rick

Rick — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 02:28:57 +0000

If the toilet is on a tile floor, I grout around the base of the toilet using the same color as the grout in the floor.

By: Rich

Rich — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 00:59:40 +0000

You forgot to mention to get new pennies made that year – so when the next person pulls up the toilet they know what year you put it in!

By: Albers

Albers — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 22:17:10 +0000

And ready for use.
Dump!