Check out some similar questions!

djharris · May 20, 2011, 09:35 PM

First time question here, long time lurker...

I just upgraded a toilet in my house which was built in '84. Upon taking the old toilet off I noticed a problem with the flange and the pathway below it.

The flange is at about a 10-15 degree angle and the right side bolt slot is cracked, so I'd like to replace it. However, I'm not sure what I'm up against based on the material it's attached to.

The material seems to be a lead sleeve going I to cast iron. I'm not sure about the flange material but think it's brass.

The odd thing about the

sleeve is that it's constricting the pathway on one side like someone pushed it in from the outside. If I had to guess I'd say the concrete crumbled and pushed it in.

I've seated the new toilet for now and it's a fairly good seat with no rocking and properly shimed but I'm wondering what my best course of action is to repair it.

djharris · May 20, 2011, 09:37 PM

Lead Sleeve | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

massplumber2008 · May 21, 2011, 04:40 PM

Hi Dj...

Do you have access below the pipe or is the pipe in concrete? Let me know, OK?

Mark

PS: I pop in a few times a day so you can expect my response back pretty quick off... ;)

djharris · May 21, 2011, 06:27 PM

Originally Posted by massplumber2008

Hi Dj...

Do you have access below the pipe or is the pipe in concrete? Let me know, OK?

Mark

PS: I pop in a few times a day so you can expect my response back pretty quick off...;)

Thanks Mark. It's in the concrete slab.

djharris · May 21, 2011, 06:30 PM

Originally Posted by djharris

Thanks Mark. It's in the concrete slab.

I should add... the new toilet is an American Standard Champion 4 and shows no signs of blockage or issues because of the constriction.

massplumber2008 · May 22, 2011, 07:41 AM

Hi DJ...

Looking at your set up, I think I see that the lead pipe has been soldered to the brass flange in the back area making this pretty tough to work with, but here is what I am going to recommend:

I want you to try and pry the lead piping up and back onto the brass flange as best you can... use a hammer to peen the edge down to the old brass flange, but don't rip the lead (if you do rip the lead, patch with a plumber's epoxy putty). Then, I suggest that you purchase a metal repair ring (see image below)... the red one is usually sold at home depot. Remove the screws from the old flange and install the new ring into the concrete using TAPCON concrete screws<<<---needs proper drillbit, sold with screws.

After that you should just install the wax gasket and 5/16" johnnie bolts (closet bolts) as usual and you should be all set here... ;)

Questions? Let me know, OK?

Mark

djharris · May 22, 2011, 09:24 AM

Thank you Mark, looking at the photo along with your ideas helps make heads or tails about what's going on. Considering that's on the side of the flange that's lower it makes sense that the lead us just "bunched up." While I do have ball peen hammers I'm assuming in this case a wood dowel and a mallet us what's called for. U hope to tackle this in one of the next two weekends and will post my results.

One last question, would it help to heat the lead, probably with a heat gun, and what temperature would be considered safe?

massplumber2008 · May 22, 2011, 02:53 PM

Heat gun shouldn't be needed... lead's pretty malleable, but if you think you want to try it out just take things slow and you'll know the proper heat/time-frame!

Also, pliers, dowels and a mallet... all good! Whatever it takes to pull back as much lead as you can... within reason... ;)

Good luck!

Mark

djharris · Jul 9, 2011, 02:13 PM

I finally got around to doing the job. July 4th weekend I was the only one in the house, so that gave me time to work on it without worrying about 4 people sharing the only other toilet.

I ran into 2 snags. One is that the old flange was installed in such a way that putting a repair flange on top of it wouldn't allow the closet bolts to slide around. The second is that the constriction wouldn't budge, even using a tailpipe expander.

So I took the old flange off completely, pried the lead inward, and cleared out the concrete dust that must have caved in when they installed the lead sleeve in the first place.

I was able to install and attach a new brass flange to the concrete and pull up the sleeve around that, getting rid of 90% of the constriction.

massplumber2008 · Jul 9, 2011, 03:00 PM

Nice job! You must be very happy with the result... ;)

Thanks for posting pics... will certainly aid others in the future!

Mark