We haven't pulled up the toilet yet. I doubt that it is post-tension. The house was built in 1990. How would we find out if it is post-tension? If not, is it just a matter of cutting the concrete, moving the pipe or adding an elbow and replacing the concrete on the other side? My husband is very handy but he is not a plumber. We can't do it hiring a plumber would be necessary.

Easiest way, which might not meet code, is you can shift it 1-1/2" to 2" by using an offset closet flange.

Other than that you'll have to break out the concrete, moving the waste line, then making repairs to the area.

It's not technically difficult but it is a bit of effort.

Mongo

I also would like to know what 'post-tension' means???

Anyhow, here is a pic of my DH jackhammering the cement slab/floor of our basement bathroom. We also converted the tub area to a shower, and in so, moved the drain over a foot or so. He had tried unsuccessfully to break it up with a sledgehammer- way too much effort for little gain.

We also added a drain in the furnace room (didn't have one before). Once you've made that first hole- easier to do the rest!

What do you mean by easy? If your DH is handy/strong he can make the hole and I guess get the plumber to do the rest. My DH is going to reroute the plumbing himself- we just picked up the permits yesterday- so hopefully the township will let us know if he does anything wrong... fingers crossed!

Sorry, paint fumes and migraine combined to make RH pretty dozy- here is the pic:

I know, hard to believe we're actually going to replace that lovely mint green toilet! (would it sound nicer if I called it 'ming green'? Hee hee!

PT cable slabs were used in California in the 1980s-90s to counteract expansive soil, usually near hillsides. The concrete subcontractor would put down very thick (3" diameter) steel cables every 4 feet, pour the slab around them so that the cables were sitting in the middle of the slab, and then pull the cables very, very taut. If you cut into a cable, the house explodes. (I'm exaggerating only a little bit -- it's supposed to be very, very dangerous.) How to tell if you have a house built with this:
1. Get a copy of plans and/or soils report.
2. On two sides of the house at the footings, there will be rust marks and dimples from when the cables were pulled and tied off.
3. Cables can never be placed exactly in the middle of the slab, so tic tac toe cracking of the slab in 4' x 4' squares usually mean PT cables.
4. After a while, the building code required that the garage slab have a stamp.

I don't know if PT cable slab design spread beyond California. It was a design fad in the 1980s-90s.

Thank you all for the helpful information. We must not have a cable slab. Though we live in California, our lot is very flat and the soil is sandy.

Is it really necessary to pull a permit if we are sure the work has been done correctly? I have heard that this can be very costly. What can happen if we don't do it?

Raehelen, don't feel bad about the mint green toilet. The reason we removed our tub is because it was peach!

That was interesting to learn about PT. Wow! The more I learn, the more I learn how much I don't know!

Anyhow,... in our township the permit for plumbing is only $20 for each fixture that you're moving/adding. So, in our case it was $60 for this bathroom- one for the shower, one for the sink, and one for the new furnace room drain. Cheap, cheap, cheap, for the peace of mind it provides. When the inspector comes out, my DH will either get confirmation that he did everything right or a free lesson/advice on what he needs to correct!

Our experience with all the inspectors has been so positive- We were able to prevent a potential catastrophe when building our deck a few years ago. Though it pissed me off at the time that we had to have our septic tank dug down to and get inspected (is our township's way of insuring things get upgraded to code as the years go by), it turned out to be a good thing. The previous owners had actually just covered up a broken cement slab cover with plywood! Not only was that under 5 feet of soil- but it blocked access from the manhole (What were they thinking!!!), so we would have been unable to get the tank pumped. It was a large tank with only one manhole, so we had another manhole slab made with reinforced concrete (original slabs were not reinforced which I guess is why they broke in the first place), so that now the septic tank can be accessed at both ends. Long story, but we often speculate what might have happened if we'd had a septic back-up or if the slab had completely broken and 5 ft long cement manhole and all had fallen into the tank with all that soil in the middle of a rainy November!

Here is another pic showing that we had to dig the hole larger as original drain plumbing was a convoluted collection of 45 degree pieces, and at 1 1/2" not up to code anyways! So, DH has to access the 3" waste pipe further back. He suggest that you guys check out some DIY books on plumbing and your local municipality on its specific plumbing code. You can draw up your plans and go and ask them to check it out for you- that won't cost anything.

I agree that $20 would definitely be a small price to pay to make sure the job was done right. I would be surprised if it costs that little here, though. A neighbor told us that when he built his own in-ground pool, the county charged him $4500 for the permit. I will call and ask how much it is to inspect the toilet. I'll get the plumbing book too. Thanks for the helpful tip and for sharing your septic tank experience. I'm glad that worked out for you.