Plumbing Question

[David Bross Ks]

Im in the process of installing a toliet in the basement. My question is before I cut the drain pipe stubbed up, Should the base ring go over floor tile or flush with the basement slab and then tile around the base ring later.

 

[Billy NY]

I would say directly to the concrete slab, you can tile in under the footprint of the toilet, then bed the toilet with some mortar, will prevent the toilet from rocking, should not adhere to the tile and should be able to remove the toilet without any problems, though I am not sure if the mortar bonds with the unglazed toilet bottom, it will already be molded to where it mounts anyway, my plumber friend beds toilets like this, he finds them loose quite often. I did one with tile for a customer a few years ago, I gutted the old bathroom, toilet is on top of the tile and bedded, almost complete in the photo, just got done with the tile and vanity;

 

[bc]

The rings are designed to sit on the finished surface. Any lower and you will have to use 2 wax rings stacked on each other to get the proper seal. You might also have a problem with bolt length with it set to low but you can always buy longer ones. Trying to get tile completely flat around a toilet drain is always tough when you are dealing with multiple pieces of tile especially for the novice. They do make plastic shims and you can use caulk or grout to seal the edge around the base.

 

[Billy NY]

Yes, that is a good point, always have to consider the dimension from the subfloor, though the example I posted in the photo, was no problem to seal with one wax ring, I think the difference between finished floor and top of slab was about 1/4". I think I used the standard length brass t-bolts, though there are longer ones available.

A lot of people forget those kind of dimensions, same thing is true with the undercut of a door, have to consider the thickness of your flooring, had an owner change the subfloor and finished floor system, had already received the hollow metal apartment entry doors on the job, and all 57 of them went back, they needed to be shorter to allow for the thicker flooring system and the enclosed sweep. A little coordination goes a long way sometimes.

 

[oliver power]

Yes, on finished floor.

 

[David Bross Ks]

Great, So I will sit down some tile on the floor next to the pipe, add a little for the mastic, and clut the pipe to length so the ring will be on top of the tile..
Guess Ill have to lay down a few pieces of tile and grout before I set the toilet.
Always new there would be answers out here. Thanks

 

[bc]

David, I'd wait to cut the pipe and glue the ring AFTER the tile job is complete. When you add the mastic/mortar you will lay the tile down and press it in a little. No need to guess at it first. Assuming your ring has a female coupler that fits around the pipe, and not a male coupler that fits in the pipe, cut your tile with enough clearance so the coupler will slide all the way down with a little clearance(no need to be too exact). Before your tile is fully set, you could gently set the bowl down to check for flatness and then adjust a tile accordingly. You would also want to grout your joints before permanently putting the bowl down. A cutting wheel on a drill will cut the pipe.

Although you can use mastic, I always learned mortar was better for a floor, especially on concrete, and mastic on walls. I was assuming you were doing this in a basement on a cement floor. If you are on a wood floor, you probably want some cement board nailed down to add some stiffness to the floor. Tile and grout joints on 3/4" wood floor over joists/trusses will just crack from walking on it. Need about 1 1/2" of floor for stiffness. Nail the cement board and gap it according to mfr instructions.

As Billy mentioned, some plumbers will put a layer of grout around to set the bowl on to seal it level. More common is to use caulk and then just go around the outside edge. You will probably want to take it back up sometime.

 

[MarkB_MI]

It's better to be a little low than a little high. You can always use a thicker wax ring on a low flange, but if the flange is too high the toilet won't sit on the floor.