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Replacing wall-mounted toilet tank? (Afraid of other issues)

If it's free standing it don't need to be against the wall.So what if there is a space there?

Reply to
Claude Hopper
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We have been nursing our old bathroom toilet for a long time. It's one of the ones with a larger tank that uses more water flushing and that's the reason we've nursed it, because for some members of our family, it might take three or four flushes from a 1.7 toilet to dispose of the "business," if you catch my drift (which of course defeats the water-saving purpose, but nobody asked me).

However, the ell that runs from the tank to the bowl is now leaking, and I know those are difficult to find, plus it's leaking around one of the bolts on the floor (probably bad seal), so it's probably time to get rid of it.

I have purchased a new complete toilet set, have an appointment with a plumber to install it (I would rather spend the money to have it installed by someone who knows what he's doing).

However, the tank of this toilet is attached to the bathroom wall, appears to be connected by two pieces of metal coming out of the wall, probably from studs. There are no pipes running through the wall or anything, it's just attached to the wall. There don't appear to be any other holes in the wall except for the two studs that are holding the toilet.

The toilet kit we have is a free-standing floor mount toilet that I don't think is going to sit up against the wall. My wife and I are afraid that this is going to wind up involving sheet rock and re- tiling work in the bathroom, which we'd really rather not do right now if it's at all possible.

Can any of you plumbers out there suggest any other options for this situation? Or are we stuck with the extra work? Thanks in advance for any advice.

Reply to
PRW

Assuming the supply line for the water enters the tank at the bottom, you have no problems.

Many of the old wall mount guys had a 14" rough in to the center of the floor flange. Most new johns are a 12" rough in. So the max space behind the john will be 2 inches, not enough to worry about in my mind.

If that bothers you, may I suggest that your precut a small section of 2 x 4 to a length about 2" less that the width of you new tank and mount that to the wall behind the new tank so that the top edge is about an inch above the new tank when it is installed and the top is on.

You can then add a small finished shelf to that 2 x 4 after the plumber leaves. The kids or the wife can store all kinds of stuff there to fall into the new john and plug it up. (grin)

Colbyt

Reply to
Colbyt

I did not make myself clear in either posting here or at another board I posted at on this, and I apologize for that.

Basically, my ideal scenario would be to NOT have a free-standing toilet and NOT have to do the wall repair that will be almost inevitable from removing this old toilet. And the space between the toilet and wall is immaterial.

What I really would like to know is if anybody, anywhere still makes a toilet tank that would attach to the wall like this one.

Reply to
PRW

They make toilets for different dimensions from wall, the floor drain, just order the right one. Even the cheap 59$ HD toilets are only one flush needed, if your worried consumer reports rates them on crap efficency.

Reply to
ransley

Basically, my ideal scenario would be to NOT have a free-standing toilet and NOT have to do the wall repair that will be almost inevitable from removing this old toilet. And the space between the toilet and wall is immaterial.

What I really would like to know is if anybody, anywhere still makes a toilet tank that would attach to the wall like this one.

Not that I know of, but the replacement pipes to connect the tank to the bowl are sold at real plumbing stores.

You won't find them at HomeCeapo or Slows.

Reply to
Colbyt

The plumber is the one who told me the replacement parts weren't readily available. Would just changing the toilet be an, (a.) easier or (b.) more financially rewarding for him, job than repairing this one, and would that be coloring what he's telling me? (I don't have a clue, I'm not a plumber.) I'm a couple of miles from a very well stocked plumbers supply store that I've bought numerous items from in the past, so I may pay them a visit.

Reply to
PRW

Try Renovators Supply online.

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They have lots of old style plumbing stuff including toilets and parts. I know they have the wall mount tanks that mount high up; not sure about the type you have, but worth a look.

HTH,

Paul F.

Reply to
Paul Franklin

PRW wrote in :

I'm a handyman, not a plumber, but I've done that job plenty of times.

It's difficult to find parts for old equipment. If you do find it, it might be used and not last very long. You'll have to pay the plumber for his time shopping for parts. That might be very costly. You could cut the price by doing the shopping yourself, but you might accidentally wind up with the wrong part, and the plumber will have to go shopping anyway.

It will definitely be easier to replace the toilet. This is a known job that every plumber has done lots of times. It will probably be cheaper, too.

You'll have a complete picture after you remove the old toilet. Lots of things could be wrong that you can't see right now. Most likely the wax seal has just failed, causing your leak at the bottom, but it could be other things, too.

The plumber can put in an offset for the drain if it's the wrong distance from the wall. That will close up the gap.

You can probably just screw the bolts out of the wall with some locking pliers. If not, you can grind them flush with the tile surface.

Reply to
SteveBell

Replacing that elbow is really quite simple......any experienced plumber can do it for you.

I bought a wall mount toilet on ebay to replace the cracked tank on my unit...for my 1930's house.

I like the 3.5 gallon toilets.....appropriate usage will minimize water consumption.

cheers Bob

Reply to
BobK207

.

......The plumber is the one who told me the replacement parts weren't readily available. ....

total BS

Reply to
BobK207

BobK207 wrote in :

But "readily available" means he can walk into his usual supply shop, get a cup of coffee, and say, "Hey, Bob, give me one of ___." And Bob just hands it over the counter. If he has to look in catalogs or wait for a special order, or go to any effort whatsoever, it, by definition, isn't "readily available".

Reply to
SteveBell

Following up:

  1. Plumber is concerned about getting parts for this specific toilet, especially the spud because he says it's kind of a bastard looking one that may have been jerry-rigged anyway, and says he will be most surprised, given the shape of the mounting bolts on the floor (very rusty and crudded over) and the fact that there are a couple of cracks, non-leaking ones but cracks just the same, in the bowl, if when he pulls the thing up to replace the wax seal it does not break and become unusable anyway. That's why he advises total replacement.

  1. She who must be obeyed ... i.e., the Mrs. ... says we're going to replace the thing and she's already got some plans for the space (mounting a shelf maybe where the brackets to hold the tank to the wall are), so I guess we're going to replace the thing.

Thanks for the input, everyone.

Reply to
PRW

Just hang a picture over the area where the old tank was.

Reply to
Claude Hopper

Now there's a man who knows how to keep the peace in a family. :)

Reply to
Colbyt

Another followup ... toilet is in, after a heroic effort and much weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth and hours of parts hunting by my plumber, and a little extra cost for myself. And I'm glad I got the plumber instead of trying to do this myself, because while I've been involved in doing this a time or two, I could never have done this one myself in a million years.

When the plumber removed the old toilet, he noticed that there was no cabinet flange in the floor. He went to the plumbing supply store to get one, brought it back ... and it wouldn't work. He went back to the plumbing supply store, got a different one that was designed to fit down into the pipe instead of over, as the first one was ... and it wouldn't work. Turns out that the pipe is a bastard size, like 3.5 or a fraction over, not the standard 3 or 4. The reason there was no cabinet flange is that the flange was built into the old toilet bowl, there was not a separate one. We all had visions of my house being toilet-less for a while, because of maybe having to either special order a flange or have one custom made, but the plumber went back to the plumbing supply store, they looked around and happened upon, I mean it was by accident, it was not in the place where the flanges are supposed to be, a smaller sized cabinet flange, albeit not quite as small as it needed to be to fit the pipe easily. However, my plumber used a bit of grease on the flange, his hammer and some prayer, and the thing fit down flush and worked.

I did get the toilet at Lowe's, and they offer installation for $79, and it cost me considerably more than that for the plumber, especially with the fact that the flange was kind of pricey for some reason, but I can't imagine how somebody from Lowe's would have handled this curveball, because I know I sure couldn't have. Lesson learned ... you get what you pay for, and I don't mind paying for good work that I can't do myself, and extra diligence and effort.

Reply to
PRW

"PRW" wrote

Yes, he's right there. Very likely he just wont be able to get it out without breaking it. He's an honest fellow to tell you that upfront.

Grin, Don and i had to break one once to get it out. Bolts just corroded beyond fixable.

Reply to
cshenk

PRW wrote in :

I bet the Lowes contract says the price is $79 unless they run into something unusual, "unusual" being defined as anything other than just bolting the new equipment down and going back to the shop.

Reply to
SteveBell

I'm glad you got the job done, and apparently done right.

When I remodeled my basement bathroom, I had a wall-mounted tank that was attached to the bare block walls. I wanted to keep the full-flush toilet, but since drywalling the block walls was going to be part of the project, I hadn't quite figured out how I was going deal with the tank since I couldn't add furring strips, insulation and drywall behind it.

As I was demo-ing the existing non-block walls, I was mulling over ideas on how to trim out the tank and still be able to remove the top for maintenance. The sill plates for the old walls were nailed to the slab with concrete nails, so I was using a sledge hammer to loosen them up.

Concentrating on my target, I swung the sledge numerous times, hearing thunk, thunk, CLINK-SPLASH, thunk. The CLINK-SPLASH was the sledge hitting the bowl on the backswing, chipping off a large piece from the rim and knocking it into the toilet.

The free standing toilet I was about to purchase sure made drywalling that block wall a lot easier.

Reply to
DerbyDad03

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