Replaceing a new toilet bowl flange into a lead bend can I use silicone around the pvc flange to prevent gas leaking in to the house

Hi Robert...

A regular PVC closet flange is not the correct flange for this application.

If you have some lead that sticks above the floor then you can simply install a brass closet flange (see image) and bend/peen the lead back over the inside of the flange. Install closet bolts and a wax gasket with horn to the brass flange and set the toilet as usual and you should be all set here.

If the lead begins to tear be real careful to minimize this and if necessary you can use some PLUMBER'S EPOXY PUTTY to patch... ;)

If you don't have enough lead to peen over the edges of the new flange then you may want to see if a TWIST AND SET closet flange works... see other image. Most likely this won't work, but if it does it is a great option here.

Otherwise, I think you'll need to look into cutting out the lead and installing new PVC. Here, anything will be better than caulking around a PVC flange as the caulking probably won't dry or at least will shrink away over time and cause damage down the road, OK?

Questions? Let me know...

Mark

I am tileing a bathroom floor to ceiling and the floor which do I do first the walls or the floor and which side of the durock do I tile on

I am doing a bathroom over until
Ing the floor and the walls which do I do first the walls or the floor? Also which side of the durock do I tile on

Hi Robert,

Boy, is that a loaded question, and you can expect a different answer from every other person you ask it to, too.

There really is no set way to do it. What there is, is your preference for things. Here, you can either make your cuts on the last row of floor or wall tiles, or even both wall and floor tiles and you can cover the floor tile cuts with the wall tile if you tile the floor first, or if you tile the walls first, you can cover the wall tile cuts using the floor tiles...

Either way, grout will cover up the junction between the floor/wall tiles and hide most imperfections anyway, so like I said, it really doesn't matter.

Most of the time, I lay my floor first as I like to cover my floor tile cuts with the wall tiles.

In terms of the durock and what side to tile on, you want to set your durock in a 1/4" notched trowel layer of thinset mortar, screw it off every 6 inches with the DUROCK SYMBOLS on the durock board facing UP so everyone can read that you used durock (advertising gimick). Finally, use alkali-resistant tape and tape/seal the edges of the sheets together to make the floor "seamless", if you will.

More questions just let us know, OK?

Mark