How To Replace A Toilet

dreamaker | Feb 2, 2011 |

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Your Hard Earned Cash Down The Drain

Stop the monster water bills

How to replace your toilet is a great little article that is going to walk you right through the process of changing that old monster looking, water consuming glutton of a water closet, that has been ingesting your money at a much faster rate then necessary.

This is a home improvement project that you can do yourself. Saving money on installation costs and shopping around a little for the best deal on the toilet you'd like can make this job so inexpensive, that it can pay for itself in a few hundred flushes.

UpDate And Improve Your Facilities

Add Comfort And Savings

Shopping for a new toilet is a matter of style to some and comfort to others. Design features are available for the connoisseur of potties to match just about any decor. Searching on line venues for this apparatus can give you an immediate idea of the available features and colors, as well as functionality virtues, that any given brand name may offer.

Taking a little time to decide whats right for you will give you a comfortable place to sit for years to come. Neglecting this step could have you changing your toilet again relatively soon. Go try out the toilet before you buy and by this I don't mean use it, just sit and make sure the height is good for you and the seat is comfortable then make the purchase.

This is a fixture in our homes that we are going to see almost every day and when they don't work it's rather inconvenient especially in homes with only one bath.

Water Savings Are Measurable

7 Gallons Or 1.6?

Toilets today are doing incredible things. They have somehow managed to design a fixture that will not only function leaps and bounds better then it's recent predicessors, but they have done it while saving 70 percent or more in water consumption per flush.

Over time (say a year or two) this saving can actually add up to more then you spent to replace the toilet. Not only that, but you'll be saving the world. We all want a greener way to dispose of waste as the world scrambles to get a grasp on recycling our natural resources.

Toilets of yesteryear used up to seven gallons of water to accomplish a single flush. The new and inovative toilets of today can do it with only 1.6 gallons. This is an incredible amount of water multiplied by the number of toilets in the world. Saving money and the envirement all in one shot.

Removing The Existing Toilet

Out With The Old

First things first. Let's start this renovation by shutting off the water to our fixture. This is accomplished normally by simply closing the valve behind the toilet. Next we flush the unit continuously until all the water has left the tank.

Now I like to use a wet dry vac. with the filter removed, to remove any and all standing water. Do this for the tank as well as the bowl and get it all out. A mess can be saved with this step, however drop cloths are still recommended as a little water will still be in the trap that's built into all toilets. When the toilet is removed it can tip a little and spill this remaining water out the drain hole.

Next remove the supply tube that feeds water to your toilet. Take the nut thats under the tank off with a pair of plumbers pliers or channel locks. Once the supply nut is removed the tube can be removed from the toilet.

Next remove the bolts that retain the toilet to the floor. This is also accomplished easily with channel locks or an open end wrench of the proper size. Throw the bolts away and use a new set, they are a couple of dollars and well worth not having to make this repair again for some time.

Once the closet bolts have been removed from the base, the toilet can be lifted straight up and off the floor for disposal. If you tip the toilet you may get a small amount of water so be careful and get a helper. This is an awkward piece of equipment to carry by yourself and back injuries are common among people who attempt this job alone.

After the old toilet is out clean all the wax off of the toilet flange so that you may inspect the integrity of the apparatus that will hold your new toilet to the floor. This flange is the anchor that you will bolt your new toilet to.

Once the flange is cleaned up and in good shape. You''l need a wax seal. Place this seal on the flange and push down to stick it in place centered. Now install a new set of closet bolts in the flange and stick them to the side of the wax seal to hold them straight. Now we're ready to install our new toilet.

Install Your New Custom Water Saving Toilet

In With The New

After following the instructions to assemble your new toilet, lower the toilet onto the flange allowing the bolts to come through the base as you set it down. This can be easier accomplished with the aide of a helper to watch as you align the bolts.

After the toilet is in place put downward pressure to crush the wax seal between the toilet base and the floor. This makes a perfect water tight seal. You should feel the resistance of the wax as the toilet settles into it. If there is no resistance then your flange may be too low and you may need a toilet flange spacer kit, available from Amazon.com. These are spacers that are in quarter inch thickness intervals. They fit over the bolts in the flange to raise the flange so it will meet up with the toilet base. Add the flange spacers and then the wax seal will reach the toilet.

When you have the toilet in place you can sit on it back wards and rock the fixture a little to settle it into the wax. Once the toilet hits the floor you can assemble the washers and nuts for the flange bolts and tighten hand tight. Use a small pair of channel locks or a proper sized open end wrench to tighten these nuts one turn each. alternate the bolts at that rate until the toilet is secure. Be careful not to over tighten these bolts as you could break your porcelain base.

Now we can hook up the supply tube to the bottom of the tank and tighten this hand tight with one or two extra turns with the plumbers pliers. Now turn the water back on slowly allowing the tank to fill and check for leaks.

Last but not least we have to get those pesky little whit caps on top of the bolts that are most likely too long right now. These must be cut with a mini hacksaw right above the nuts. They are made of soft brass so they cut fairly easy. After they have been cut down the plastic caps will snap onto the washers that came with your new toilet.

How to replace a toilet, is a great place to save some bucks and at the same time your helping to conserve natural resources as well as improving the value of the home. I still say that the biggest benefit to accomplishing this task is that you now have the toilet of your dreams.