I'm doing a remodel of a bathroom in an older house. The existing bathroom was notched out of an existing bedroom, and the waste pipe goes through the exterior wall, meeting up with a waste stack for a downstairs bathroom. The supplies and waste were all just recently roughed-in by a plumber, with the exception of the exterior waste pipe (cast-iron).

The rough-in for the toilet is now very high -- a good 2 1/4" higher than the joist. My intent for the finished floor will add about 1 1/2", leaving about 3/4" difference. If the closet flange adds any height to the rough-in, then the difference will be even higher.

Can I saw off any part of the rough-in sanitary tee or flange to reduce this difference? The rough-in waste is PVC, which mates up to an old copper Tee then meets up to the cast-iron that goes through the exterior wall.

The plumber suggested raising the floor around the toilet, but I'm trying to avoid that, as I think it would be weird looking. I could raise the whole bathroom floor too, but that would end up WAY over the height of the adjoining bedroom floor, and I'd have to cut down my door to fit this new height. I guess the exterior waste pipe could be moved a little too, but I think that would be expensive, and would have to disturb the roof line of the bathroom downstairs, not to mention putting another whole in my asbestos shingle walls.

Any suggestions? If I do raise the floor just around the toilet, what's the best way to do this? Also, I've seen one forum that says that a sanitary tee can't be used horizontally, is that true? How would we fix this?

I will post pics to help clear up my descriptions.



Attaching pics of the plumbing rough-in. The shower is off to the right-side, out of the pic. The vanity will be on the left-side, and the vanity waste is what comes into the back of the sanitary tee. It comes in as 2", the closet comes down as 3", and the drain is 3". I'm not sure what size the cast-iron is.

"The plumber suggested raising the floor " what because he did not want to come back and fix his error. The plumber needs to establish the correct height and apparently he did not. Take another picture from the side right at joist level so I can see if it's the closet bend or the 4" PVC pipe that is too high.

I'm with Bob on this. A few minutes with a Saws-All will lower the stub up down to grade.
Raise the floor??
Is your -plumber lazy or simply stupid? Either call him back of cut the PVC back yourself. Good luck. Tom

Here's two shots - 1 from the adjacent joist top, and the 2nd from the top of the next joist away.

If I saw down this PVC, can I just install the floor, then cut the PVC level with the floor, and install the flange over top?

Thanks a million for the feedback gents.

I would cut the closet stub-up back level with the FINISHED FLOOR and then install the flange.
Good luck, Tom,

Just wanted to clarify that it's okay to cut down on the bend itself? And that's what the flange installs into? The tube coming out of the bend I thought was just a cap for the fumes. Does the flange need to be installed into or around the tube that comes out of the bend? If so, that will be very high above the finished floor.

They actually sell Closet Ring that fits inside PVC pipe... I am sure you can make it work... But agree with other Experts: Original plumber didn't want to rework the entire connection so he went for the easy way out...