Bathroom Floor Height & Toilet Flange

[x071907]

I'm getting ready to remove the poured concrete subfloor & Tile in my bathroom and replace it with Durock underlayment & pergo laminate flooring. By doing this the toilet flange is probably going to be a little higher with the finished floor as compared to the old floor. Is it difficult to lower the toilet flange (probably about 1/2") when I install the new toilet? Or, is there some tolerance built into the bottom of the toilet to allow for flange heights that my be a little higher?

[Speedy Jim]

1/2" may be too much. It will work on a few older toilets but most newer ones have precious little space under the bowl. You need about 1/2" to 3/4" of free space between the top of the flange and the bottom of the bowl or else the wax seal will be squeezed out and very little material will be left to absorb motion. That usually results in early seal failure.

You didn't say what the pipe material is, but you need to be careful excavating around it...

Jim

[Tom Baker]

The toilet can be shimmed and the joint caulked. We have two toilets with the flanges set too high. It's an 1840 house, so we wdidn't want to mess with floor and structure. Playwood was marked and cut to match the toilet base. It has worked fine for several years.

Tom Baker