Hi - We have a roughed in two piece bathroom in our basement. We had a plumber come in yesterday to run the water lines. He told us that the flange is "way too high" and wants to break the concrete and lower the flange. Is this really necessary? We are thinking of putting carpet in there which would raise the floor level up an inch or so. Is this guy on the up and up or is he looking to make some extra money?

RickJ

He is basically offering the "best" solution. Yes, it will be a costly one, but for a basement, I recommend a "pedistal" for the toilet to sit on. It could be made from the proper thickness of plywood - and just a bit bigger than the base of the toilet.

In other words, bring the area around the flange up instead of lowering the flange.

You could paint the "pedistal" or tile the top of it if your basement floor around it is tiled, then just paint the vertical edge of it to match.

Am I describing this adequately enough for you to see what I mean?

speedball1

I hate to disagree with both Rick and your plumber but to lower a flange you don't have to take up concrete. I need more details before I can help.
What material is the flange and the stub-up made of? Cast iron? Plastic?
How high is it off the floor? As a rule when we rough in a closet stub up in cement we put a styrafoam closet wrapper around the stubup before the cement's poured. This leaves a 3/4inch space around the stub up allowing the flange to be set later. Lowering a closet flange, (any flange) is a simple job that can be accomplished by most do-it-yourselfers. We do it all the time on this page. Get back to me with the information I need and I'll be happy to give you or your plumber instructions on how to do it. Regards, tom

Klein

Hi Rick and Tom -

Thank you for the replies. The flange is black plastic. I measured from the floor (which is not finished yet) to the top of the flange and it is 1 inch. There is a gap between the floor and the bottom of the flange.

If I installed ceramic tile or carpet in there, would that be enough to compensate? I am willing to tackle a do-it-yourself project if it is do-able.

Rick - I can picture the pedestal. I guess that is where "the throne" comes from!

Thanks again - klein

RickJ

Tom is far more an expert than I - I am not too bashful to admit.

I often "wing it" with some things; this being one of them. My idea will work as a quick solution for a basement, but Tom will no doubt lead you to a more "routine" answer.

tanman

I just repoured my basement slab and had a plumber do roughin's for a basement bathroom. The 3" pipe and toilet flange come out of the floor almost a foot. This was done intentionally as neither the pipe nor the flange is glued. Once we have installed the flooring, I'll lift out the pipe, cut it to size and replace the flange at the finished floor level.

Have you checked to see if the flange is glued down. You may find that it can be wiggled out along with the pipe.

jason

speedball1

Hey Klein,

Your pipes and flange are ABS. You have options here, ( and none of them involve breaking out cement) Since this was a rough in for a future bathroom are you sure the flange is glued on the stub up? Did you try to pull it up? As a rule when we rough in for future bathrooms we don't set the flange because we never know how the floor will be finished off and we also cap the stubup with a test cap so no trash falls down inside it.
You said 1" to the top of the flange. since the bottom of the flange rests on the floor that's the measurement I'm interested in. Figure about 3/8" thickness for the flange and that brings us down to 5/8 " off the cement. If you plan on ceramic tile add add another 1/4" which brings us down to 3/8 ". The toilet has a cavity in the base that might just eat up that 3/8". Or if you needed a little more your tile man could build up the mortor base to compensate for the rest. You might not have to do a thing to the flange.
That's one option. Another one would be to tile the floor and take a Saws-All and cut the stubup and flange off even with the floor . And now you have even more options. If the tile man's sharp and left a 1/2" opening all around the stub up you could set another ABS flange. or if the space around the stub up's filled in you could install a 4"PVC inside flange with a "O" ring and secure it to the tile floor.
I'm surprised your plumber didn't present you with these options. Frankly speaking, I've never found it necessary to break any cement to lower a flange. Your thoughts? Cheers, Tom