Hello all.

Our very old house has a broken toilet flange in the pool house. The floor is bare concrete (and will stay that way), and the sewer pipe appears to be lead or some other very soft metal.

The closet bolts are gone and it does not look like they can be replaced easily, as one of the slots has completely rusted out and will not hold the bolt head. The other slot seems to be filled with some sort of metal (and it's not just the old bolt head as far as I can tell). The inside diameter of the riser is 4 inches.

I have seen several references to an inside flange. Can I use this, and if so, does that mean that I wouldn't have to dig out the old broken flange set in the cement? And if I use an inside flange, will that raise the toilet off the floor (if something is fit into the riser and then protrudes out to hold the closet bolts, wouldn't that mean that the flange is functionally raised? Or is there enough room between the toilet and the flange that it doesn't matter to have it raised a small amount?)

Is this the same as an expansion flange? And if I want to use one of these, would I use ABS or PVC with the lead pipe?

Or is the best approach to spend the time to chip away the old cement and try to replace the old flange set into the floor? If this is the case, is it connected to the lead riser or is it just set around it and level with the floor? If I do eventually succeed in chipping it out, what material should the new one be and what should I use to set the new one in the floor?

So many newbie questions...

I have attached a picture to try to illustrate the current state of affairs.

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/2334/flangecd4.jpg

Thanks for any help anyone can offer.

KHult

It appears as though you have a 4" cast iron pipe with an outside flange. Hopefully it is flush with the floor. Use the pvc expansion flange sometimes called a compression flange. It is supposed to sit flat on the floor and the toilet sets on it with the ceramic ring of the toilet going inside the flange. The compression flange has 3 allen type bolts that compresses the rubber seal. Bolt the flange to the floor with either tapcons or plastic anchors and screws.

For another option, see Tom's answer at https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/plumbing/closet-flange-repair-19400.html?

Doug and Labman
Thanks very much for your replies. I went to Home Depot looking for a compression flange and ended up with a "flange repair ring" that bolts to the concrete using little tabs that extend past the diameter of the flange. It is a thin coated steel plate (maybe 1/16" thick with cutouts for closet bolts. I bought some tapcon screws to bolt it to the concrete and with any luck this will be a good fix.

Thanks again for the help.

KHult

Good luck is right. Who sold you that? I hope it does not leak.

good luck is right. who sold you that? i hope it does not leak.

They're called a 'Redi-Flange' here on the west coast, and I've had pretty good luck with them.

Growler, I have seen them. They are very thin pieces of metal shaped similar to the flange? What do you use under it to seal beneath it?

I place a warm wax ring, sans neoprene horn under it and then let the pressure of the tapcon screws tightening up squish the wax out and then trim the excess wax with a putty knife.