Hi, I am finishing my basement and I am having a problem where the toilet rough-in is too far from the wall. It is more than 14" away and to compound the problem the bathroom is pretty narrow so space in front of the toilet is important.

Ideally I would like to find a toilet that extends back from the drain as much as possible and extends out in front of the drain as little as possible. If it doesn't extend back too much it's not a huge deal because I can just build the wall out a bit. I do need to find one that doesn't extend out in front too much and give as much space as possible.

Any help or advice with options would be appreciated. Thanks.

You need a toilet that roughs in at 14 inches. Going to be special order and probably going to be expensive. What's the possibility of moving toilet bend. There are off set toilets flanges. What's the pipe type and what's the distance between the top of the bend and the finished floor. The off set flanges require a certain amount of space to make the off set.

Thanks for the quick reply. There isn't anything greater than 14" is there?

I checked out some 14" toilets on the American Standard website and the distance from the flange to the front of the toilet doesn't seem to be much less than a 12" toilet. This was just while quickly looking though, I'm sure there are shorter ones out there.

I can move the toilet bend around, but I can't get it any closer than this to the wall. The pipe is ABS and the distance from the top of the bend to the concrete floor is about 3.5" How much would the offset flange push it back? I thought I had read that these cause problems with clogging etc.

Well a 2" off set flange would set the toilet back 2 inches. I don't think you will have clogging problems with an off set flange.

YUP! Install an offset flange and it will get you between 1.5 and 2" closer to wall... You may need to change the toilet bend over from a regular elbow to a street elbow?

Offset flanges do not increase chances of clogging drain line as discharge hole from all toilets is only 2" anyway... so don't worry about that.

See picture below.

Good luck... MARK

The offset will definitely work but it is more work than just buying a toilet setup for a 14" rough in. If you check around they aren't all special orders, check Lowes. You do not want your tank near touching the wall. It should be about 1.5" off the wall to allow for the tank lid and a bit of wiggle room in case a person leans back of the tank.

Let's boil this down to his options which are, 1) Install a 14" special order toilet, Expensive, 2) Move the closet bend back 2 inches, involves taking up the floor and reinstalling the bend **or** 3) install a 1 1/2" or 2"" offset closet flange, Your best bet. good luck, Tom

Not knowing about the floor materials I'm staying with the 14" toilet. I have some Mansfield 2 piece that come in 12" for $161 and 14" $198. They 14 is more expensive but $37 isn't much when you consider there is no alteration to the drain, for me time is money.

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I have been thinking about these options and I thought of something but I'm not sure if it would work.

I was thinking of getting a toilet that is a little bit lower profile and then putting it on a pedestal. Then running the pipe down through the pedestal to where the drain is.

This isn't the best picture but I couldn't find a better one to show my idea:

http://images.craigslist.org/010102010405010308200808302f48ba88b8669fcad800ba42 .jpg

Would that be feasible?

Now you are into jury rigging something that may not work or look right. Either way you apparently need to buy a toilet so I'd say just buy a 14" rough in. The Manfield model I mentioned is 130-125 sells for $198. You can find cheaper if you search but I would not buy the absolute cheapest toilet I can fimd, you nay be flushing twice most of the time.

Vic123:

Can you tell us exactly what your toilet rough in meaures from the finish wall. Measure from finish wall to the center of pipe.

You say you can't get the pipe any closer to wall... why? Can't you just chop up a little more concrete and place elbow where it belongs?

Thanks...

MARK

It measures about 23" from the finished wall. I can't move it any closer because of concrete footing.

ballengerb1, thanks for the suggestion I'll look into a 14". The only problem is that some of them are long so it doesn't really create extra space in front of the toilet.

Thanks.

It measures about 23" from the finished wall.
Are you saying that from the center of the closet bend back to the finished wall you measure 23 inches? If that's so then a off set flange or a14" toilet won't do you much good. Unless you want to move the toilet position you had better get out the chipping hammer and notch the footer. My question is this. If you're out 23" why are we even talking about a 14" rough toilet or a off set flange? Have we been missing this all along? Regards, tom

Yes that is what I am saying. :(

I understand that I wouldn't be able to completely make up for the distance but I was looking for suggestions/options to get it as far back as possible and then I would build the wall out up to that point.

Can you elaborate on what you mean when you say to notch the footer? Thanks.

My guess is that the rough in was placed in a logical location by the rough in plumber. When you built your wall you were not familiar with the required demensions and made a big error, correct? You said more than 14" but none of us would have giessed 23". Just to be sure we aren't making any other assumptions is the rough in at least a 3" or 4" drain?

Hi Vik...

Tom is suggesting that you take a chipping hammer and chip out the concrete so you can move that pipe back closer to the wall.

Also, here, I seem to note that you considered the different toilet lengths in terms of what space is out front after installing toilet in location pipe is in now. They make round front toilets and elongated front toilets. The round front type are obviously shorter.

Only option I really see here is to chip out about 6 inch wide trench over toward wall... even if only move back 6 inches overall and build wall after that... sounds like would work best for you.

And Bob...I guessed something was up with the measure off wall...*smirk*...but you sure would be right that I didn't guess was 23"...;)

Also... how far off the wall is the toilet to the left or right..? Wondering if possible to turn the toilet sideways?? Just wondering aloud??

Let us know if want to discuss more Vic...

MARK

I'd build a towel closet behind the wall the toilet is on just to fill the void. The back wall was was certainly placed wrong in respect to the existing toilet rough in. Oh well, I have done worse.
The 7 fingered repairman

Thanks for all of the help guys. Sorry for being vague on the details. The drain is 4"

It's not possible to turn the toilet sideways as it's a narrow area, thanks though.

Is chipping out a notch/trench in the footing OK to do structurally?

I guess nobody likes my pedestal idea? :D

Hi Vik...

You said it... pedestal would be worst case from our perspective... ;)

Chipping out footing would not harm anything structurally... promise. Chipping hammer can be rented and should only need to chip enough concrete out to move back 6 inches or so... no easy task in some ways but overall probably less work than building platform and ending up with something that is out of ordinary.

Let us know what you think...

MARK

Great thanks a lot, I think I will do this. Should I only chip enough to go back 6 inches or can I go back a little more, like 8-10 inches? Also the trench would need to be 8-9 inches deep (4 inch drain pipe and then 4-5 inches between the top of the pipe and the floor) right? Any suggestions on what to do when filling it back up after the pipe is run? Thanks.

Hi Vik...

Can go back even more if you want...

I would only chip out about 6-7 inches deep and then fill in with dirt to cover pipe and then just add another two inches of concrete over the dirt/pipe... that should be enough in this case.

Let us know how it works out.. ok?

MARK