Our house is about 50 years old and we have an old cast iron flange that is broken on both sides. We need to replace it. We were told to unscrew the old cast iron flange. I say yeah right! Is there a trick? We have hit it in both directions with a hammer. Mostly the direction of removing a nut to the left and has not budged at all.
Thank you for any help.
Rosa and Chuck

Hi MrsRosa and Chuck... ;)

As a homeowner you may be better off purchasing a couple SPANNER FLANGES.. see images.

Here, you insert a toilet bolt into each spanner flange and then slide the spanner flange under what remains of each side of the cast iron flange. You will then proceed to install the toilet as usual... works best in most cases. Spanner flanges are readily available at all home improvement stores. See images below for an idea of what I am talking about.. ;)

If the spanner flanges are tight going in under the flange just use a hammer to tap them in and under... they should go.

Otherwise, if that fails to work then you will need to drill out the lead ring around the cast iron pipe, leverage out the lead and then the oakum material under it to finally loosen/remove the old flange. After that you would purchase a TWIST AND SET flange for cast iron... simply inserts into the old pipe and twists to set into the pipe.

Questions? Let me know...

MArk