Replacing a WC

[Stephen Jones]

I am in the process of doing up my bathroom and am going to replace the WC. The problem is the WC is cemented into the soil pipe pipe which is set in concrete in the floor. Do I just chip away the WC waste and put some sort of plastic insert into the soil pipe as it comes through the floor to connect the new WC waste to ? How difficult is this ? Thanks for any help

Steve Jones

[Andy Hall]

Basically, yes.

Typically the soil pipe in this scenario is cast iron so you should try to avoid hitting it directly. The WC waste should break reasonably easily when hit with a hammer. Then remove the pan out of the way and carefully chip away any remaining pieces and the cement from the soil pipe socket. Try to clean up the inside of the socket to remove any lumps of cement and to provide a reasonably smooth surface.

There are adaptors available from plumber's merchants or DIY sheds which have a rubber gasket on the male end with fins. You basically insert this into the soil pipe socket. Use washing up liquid if lubrication is needed as a result of the fit being too stiff. It

*may* be necessary to seal with some mastic as well - that all depends on how smooth the soil pipe is. Some of these adaptors have a flexible section if you need it.

If this is a ground floor bathroom, then the pipe in the floor may be an old salt glaze earthenware type. These usually have a wider diameter socket where the cement is. On runs of this type of pipe underground these were used to fit the pipes together with a wrapping of sacking and grease to locate and seal the connection, followed by mortar to finish the job. If salt glaze is what you have, be a bit careful with the hammer because it does crack rather easily. It doesn't matter too much if the collar breaks away a bit because the adaptor is going to fit into the main bore of the pipe anyway. You want to try to avoid breaking a section of the main bore of the pipe away if you can.

.andy

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[BillR]

It seems to be usual to cut the soil pipe more or less flush with the floor and use a 90 degree plastic connector. Plumbers used to use a special cutter tool but a small angle grinder works. You may need to use a "space saver" 90 bend connector to get the pan nearer to the wall. Oh, and I found those fancy pans, with the sides that hide the pan's U bend, don't fit in this situation.

[Stephen Jones]

The soil pipe as it comes through the floor is terra cota etc. Its a

1955 bungalow. Sould I cut it of at floor level using grinder or knock out old wc and chip away the cement that held it in place in the terra cota pipe taking care not to damage it

Thanks

Steve