I'm remodeling my bathroom. I've removed the old toilet and dug up the old flooring and subflooring. Together they were about 7/8" in thickness. Since I will now have a lower floor, what do I do to put in a new toilet flange? The old one was brass and only 1/4" thick and simply had the drain pipe(probably iron) bended over the flange and then the wax ring. Do I set up the new one just like the old one was and if so, how do I lower everything since my floor won't be as high. It is a 4" drain. All I have is floor boards to screw the flange to.. is that going to support it enough? I was also wondering if the toilet flange needed to attach at all to the drain pipe?

Thanks for the assistance!

Alfy

Hi Alfy,

Go easy on this one. I'll tell you why. You have a older house with a lead closet bend. You don't "bend" iron over a brass flange, you flare lead over it.
You're lucky! Ya got a old timey plumber that remembers lead closet bends and closet bolts that screw into the floor.
Make a mistake on this and you're looking at replacing the closet bent all the wayback to cast iron pipe.
The first thing is to VERY GENTLY lift and straighten out the lead flare. Now remove the brass ring lower the floor and reinstall the brass ring. Now ,again, VERY GENTLY work the flare back over the ring and purchase a new wax seal and two screw type closet bolts. Set the toilet back over the flared closet ben, screw in and tighten the closet bolts, test and you're back in business. Good luck, Tom