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Problem installing toilet flange

SYinUSA, GA zone 8

10 years ago

I'm in the middle of redoing a bathroom in my house and came across a problem while trying to prepare for toilet installation. The T underneath is set too high, and there's not enough room to glue the flange on the pipe stub - it will sit too high off the finished floor.

I haven't tried it yet, but I will loosen the pipe straps below (which are fortunately still accessible) and see if it will drop at all. My suspicion is that it will not - the sink drain stub further down the line will probably keep it in place.

Are there flanges with a shorter socket? I've looked around a bit but don't really know what to search for. Thanks!

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Comments (7)

homebound
10 years ago
What do you mean by a "T" (tee?)? Can't use that.
SYinUSA, GA zone 8
Original Author
10 years ago
Well shoot. It's a sanitary tee if that makes a difference. If a sanitary tee is not what is needed, what do I replace it with?

If the sanitary tee is ok, the question remains. I've attached a photo, where you can see that the socket is right up against the bottom of the subfloor. The total depth of the floor is less than the 2" socket of the flange.

I'm pretty peeved at the people who roughed in this plumbing. I've found error after error (unsloped drain lines, stacks sticking out of the wall stud cavity by 8", reversed hot and cold lines) that I've had to fix myself, and I'm hoping that this one is as easy as a special fitting with a shortened gluing socket.
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Flanges are slightly different sizes, but the height is usually set by cutting the pipe that mates to the flange a certain distance below the subfloor. When the flange is plumbed, usually there's just the subfloor in place. So you'd add the thickness of the underlayment (if any) to the thickness of the finish flooring, and that's how high above the subfloor you want the toilet flange to be. It's common for a plumber to add a 1/4" or so to that, most prefer the flange to be slightly above the finish flooring than to end up below it. Knowing how high you want the flange above the subfloor, you then cut the waste pipe at the appropriate spot so when it's glued together the flange sits at the proper elevation. If the flange truly sits too high, the best thing to do is cut the waste pipe down and set a new flange. The flange can be cut out from the inside of the pipe, I have a small round blade, about 2" in diameter, that's on a shaft about 12" long. I mount it in a drill, insert it down the pipe, and cut the pipe from the inside. It's not uncommon for the flange bolts to be too long and to have to cut them down to get the caps to fit. That's not a big deal. So...long flange bolts? Not a problem. The flange set so high that the toilet rocks when set upon it? That's bad. I wouldn't accept that. You don't want your wax ring to be crushed to nothing, you'll lose your seal. I'd have the flange reset.
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Thank you Jason! Great education! Maybe the builder used a 14" rough-in so it would fit any toilet? Since no technical installation issues, I'll bite the bullet and order the Toto Ultramax that seems to be popular with the Internet community. I'll go with the ADA height ones. I came to appreciate the extra ht. using handicap toilets at stores. Back wall is only ~10 sq. ft. anyway, so aesthetics shouldn't be a problem (I rationalize). Yabadabadoo!
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SYinUSA, GA zone 8
Original Author
10 years ago
It never occurred to me that the tee fitting was incorrect, but now that I've read a little more, I see that it needs to go. I'll pick up a combo wye and a new sawzall blade and get to work. Thanks.
aidan_m
10 years ago
Does the contractor who did the rough in have a plumbing license?

I assume there are no permits for this work.

If you had pulled permits, you would have the assistance of the inspectors to help catch all these code violations.

The contractor should not be paid for any of this work. He is not a plumber. If he has a license, report this all to the License board. NONE of the mistakes you found are acceptable in any circumstance. These are straight up, violations, and your plumbing will not work. This can be a health and safety issue..

And back to your original issue about the height of the flange, the Wye combo will not work. The flange will be even higher than the sanitary tee. The entire line needs to be lowered by about 3 inches.
SYinUSA, GA zone 8
Original Author
10 years ago
Aiden - thanks for your response. I will have to remove a lot of the drain line to be able to do it properly, but it WILL be done right. Fortunately this section of plumbing is isolated from our primary bathroom, so I can take my time. And I'll be taking out some of the hodgepodged "fixes" they did before, so maybe this is a blessing in disguise.

The guy is a licensed general contractor but he usually subs out his plumbing work. Wonder why! He didn't on our job because it was supposed to be so minor. Unfortunately he's already been paid, two years ago. I'm doing the rest of the reno myself. I've had 2 babies in the intervening years so it's been slow going, made slower by the fact that I keep having to re-do stuff that they did wrong.
alan_s_thefirst
10 years ago
"made slower by the fact that I keep having to re-do stuff that they did wrong." I hear you.

Every house I've owned (3 so far, in two different parts of the world) has involved a lot of remedial work to do stuff right.

Good on you for doing it right, now, rather than kludging something. When you do the flange, my personal (amateur) recommendation is to use one of those stainless steel flange cover things - it goes over a regular flange, and more or less reinforces it.

I also like the Fernco waxless seal. It seems like a much better system.

Here is a link that might be useful: Fernco waxless seal
SYinUSA, GA zone 8
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks for the tip on the waxless seal. Reducing the diameter of the pipe by inserting the waxless system doesn't reduce efficiency?

I had planned on using an Oatey flange with the stainless steel ring already on it. Is that any better or worse than the separate flange cover?

Here is a link that might be useful: Oatey Stainless steel flange

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