Here’s the question: How do you do a toilet
flange repair? Today you’re going to see one method. Before we start, I’m going to
tell you one thing and a quick story. Number one, I’m not a plumber. Number two, a plumber
did do this repair for me eight years ago. Here’s what happened. This toilet—well,
there’s no toilet here. There was a toilet here, and we were getting water leaks down
into the dining room below. Pretty disgusting, right? So our plumber, Charlie, came by fixed
the problem, told me how to do it, and that’s what I’m going to share with you today.
So here’s the problem. This closet flange is sunken down below the tile. Why is that
bad? Having a closet flange below your finish floor is bad because the wax ring will compress,
and there will be a gap between the wax ring and the bottom of your toilet bowl. That will
form a leak in this area, which can ruin your floor, your subfloor, and whatever room is
below this flange. So how do you fix this problem? And what if
your closet flange is broken? What can you do to fix this? You’ve many different options,
but I’m going to present three of them today. So if the actual metal closet flange is broken,
you can buy a replacement ring at your hardware store or plumbing supply warehouse. This is
stainless steel, and it’s made by Sioux Chief. You can also get a toilet flange repair
ring. This split design goes around the way stack. It’s pretty easy to do, and this
“replaces corroded and rusted metal rings on PVC/ABS flanges.” So again, this is made
by Sioux Chief. This third option is a Push Tite 4” Gasketed Closet Flange. You can
use this for “cast iron, PVC, or ABS pipe.” This red gasket here goes down into the pipe,
creates a water-tight seal, and then you would secure this to your subfloor. So those are
three options to repair a toilet flange or closet flange.
After you repair the flange, you need to raise it up so that it’s at least 1/8” to ¼”
above the finish floor. And one way to do that is to use a closet flange spacer like
this one here. This is a ½” spacer made by Oatey. You can get one of these in your
local home store or, again, plumbing supply warehouse. They come in ¼” increments and
½” increments. Now some people say you can double up the
wax ring, meaning put two wax rings on top of each other. Why is that a bad idea? It’s
a bad idea because these wax rings compress, and eventually they’ll compress enough such
that the bottom of the toilet bowl is not touching the wax ring, and you’ll form a
leak here. This is a much more solid repair, and I’m going to show you how to do it right
now. You can see there are grooves on the closet
flange for the closet flange bolts. So what you need to get are some 3 ½” bolts like
these ones by Fluidmaster. And the reason why you want 3 ½” bolts is because we’re
going to slide these in here like that, and they have to be tall enough to go through
those flanges and through the bottom of your toilet bowl. So they have to be extra long
in order to do that. You want to make sure that the existing closet
flange is clean and free from any wax. So this is a bit rusted because it’s cast iron;
that’s fine. What we’re going to do is put down a nice bead of 100% silicone sealant
on top of this and on the bottom of our closet flange spacer.
We’re going to be using white silicone, and this is 100% silicone by GE. It’s a
seven-year, mold-free product, and it’s 30-minute water-ready. It comes with a lifetime
guarantee, and it’s flexible. So we’re going to be applying this around the existing
closet flange and then on the bottom of the spacer.
The new toilet we’re going to install is the VorMax by American Standard. The closet
flange bolts need to be 12” from the wall. So this baseboard molding is ¾” thick.
I’m going to place my measuring tape up against that baseboard, I’m going to look
at the 12” mark, and then subtract ¾”. So that gives me to right about there. And
what that’ll do is make the closet flange bolt 12” from the wall. So we’re going
to do that on the other side as well. So here’s my 12” mark. That’s where our two closet
flange bolts need to be. Now fortunately when I put this on there,
it’s absolutely level, which is great. There you go. That’s a little bit off there. So
we’re going to have to shim the toilet base once we get it on there, but that’s for
another day. So now what we’re going to do is apply the
silicone to the original closet flange and to the bottom of the spacer. It’s okay to
be generous with the silicone here. All right, so now I’m going to apply some to the spacer
here as well. It’s kind of the idea of like back buttering a tile. It’s always a good
idea. All right. Now what I’m going to do is,
since this bolt is a little bit snug here, I’m just going to scooch it—as I get silicone
on my hand—I’m just going to scooch it up to the 12” mark. I’m just going to
slide this one in. So next step is to just put these washers on there and then your nuts.
And then do the exact same thing for the other side. Then just take the crescent wrench and
tighten down on the nuts. And make sure that they’re still lined up with your closet
flange bolt marks that you made from the wall. Then just smooth out any silicone that oozed
out in between the spacer and the original closet flange.
So there’s nothing worse than a toilet bowl leak. I hope that these toilet flange repair
tips help you out. If you do have any questions, ask them down in the comments. I’d be more
than happy to help you out. If haven’t already subscribed to our YouTube channel, you can
do that right here. We come out with weekly step-by-step video tutorials like this one
here and also quick tips that are meant to just improve your skillset when it comes to
home improvement. So thanks for watching. Really appreciate
your time. Take care, and I’ll talk to you soon.
It’s a dreary day in Pittsburgh. It’s been raining all morning and all afternoon,
so it’s kind of a perfect day to be inside doing a toilet flange repair video tutorial.
Well, minus the whole toilet thing.
