Occasionally, having some handyman skills can save you money overtime, not to mention the fact that sometimes, off situations happen at the least time you expect it and you have to rely on yourself.
If your do-it-yourself challenge is to remove a toilet flange from a drain pipe with flying colors, you are in luck. Here, you will find a step-to-step guide to succeed in fixing a toilet plunge problem.
A toilet or closet flange is the connection between the toilet and the drain pipe. It can be a plastic or metal fitting mounted on the drain pipe and is attached to the toilet. Removing it is warranted if water is leaking from the bottom of the toilet and flooding the bathroom floor or if you need to replace the toilet bowl with a new one.
Step-By-Step Procedure
1. Before doing anything, see to it that you have shut off the water valve and disconnected the supply line. After this is done, you can now remove the bolts that connect the toilet bowl from the flange. The toilet can be quite heavy so you might want to remove the cover of the water tank first or separate the tank from the bowl.
2. Once you have unbolted the toilet from the flange, your next step is to clean it to remove the wax by using a putty knife and discarding it on a piece of old newspaper. You can also use detergent to wash it thoroughly and wipe the remaining wax on the flange with a towel. Do not forget to clean the bottom part of the bowl as well as the bathroom floor as this can be messy.
3. Your next step is to unscrew the flange from the sewer pipe. If you do not have the replacement and have to get a new one, you can measure the diameter of the pipe or better yet, take a picture of the flange using your smartphone and bring it with you to the hardware store
Note: If the flange is cemented on PVC pipe, you may have to use a pipe cutter to remove the flange.
1. If the flange has broken pieces, you can use a spanner flange to fix it. What you have to do is place the spanner flange under the damaged flange and screw it quickly and tighten it. It also stabilizes the existing flange. And in cases where you only need to replace the flange collar, you can opt for a repair ring to solve the problem. A repair ring is designed to fit the collar and is made of thin metal. This will prevent water from leaking.
2. In case you need to remove severely damaged flange collars, the plain old hammer and chisel are the tools you will need to remove the cast-iron flanges from the assembly.
3. Now that you have removed the broken flange, you can now replace it with a new one. You can go for a tapered flange as it can be easily attached by inserting it to the drain pipe and twisting it. As this is being done, the rubber seal on the flange will secure the new toilet flange.
Removing a toilet flange can be a tedious job but it can be done. With the right tools and parts plus a procedure that is easy to follow, you can fix a toilet flange problem.