Toilet mounting question

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I have a new (2016) house and have a toilet issue. I noticed that the toilet in the master bath was loose enough to turn on the floor. I tightened the plastic flange bolts and, you guessed it, broke one. I can’t pull the bolt out but am pretty sure that’s what broke and not the flange. Monday I’m going to pull the toilet and install a new wax ring and bolts. I assume that the flange is plastic so I’m wondering what kind of bolts to use, plastic or brass. I’m kind of leaning towards the plastic bolts because I’m glad I broke the bolt and not the toilet. As always, your help and advice is appreciate.
 
You'll need to pull the toilet to investigate further and see what you're working with. The flange might be too high or too low, or the floor is such that the toilet rocks. I would use the standard brass bolts. I also like the urethane donut style seal rings over wax rings
 
While you are at it you can also purchase metal kit - two half moon clips something like these that go around the plastic flange so the bolts will hold.
toilet kit.webp

You may also want to use two wax seals or some of the newer options.
 
You'll need to pull the toilet to investigate further and see what you're working with. The flange might be too high or too low, or the floor is such that the toilet rocks. I would use the standard brass bolts. I also like the urethane donut style seal rings over wax rings
It wasn’t rocking. I noticed it wasn’t “square” with the vanity and I was able to easily turn it into the correct position. I did that and broke the bolt as I was tightening it
 
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What kind of toilet? If it's "contractor grade" (aka "junk") then it might be worth it to just replace the whole thing if it just won't seat properly. Other than that, maybe find an OEM bolt kit. My American Standard toilet lid has a listing various replacement part numbers.
 
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Good comments! I also prefer Brass Bolts & Nuts, but only if they are solid brass. Unfortunately, these are increasingly hard to find. Packaging that claims solid brass is often cheap steel with thin brass plating -> it rusts! Next-project I need to buy the best brass bolts & nuts I can find and sacrifice one to a test-cut. If indeed they are solid brass, then buy a lifetime supply for me and my extended family...!
Any recommendations?
 
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Good comments! I also prefer Brass Bolts & Nuts, but only if they are solid brass. Unfortunately, these are increasingly hard to find. Packaging that claims solid brass is often cheap steel with thin brass plating -> it rusts! Next-project I need to buy the best brass bolts & nuts I can find and sacrifice one to a test-cut. If indeed they are solid brass, then buy a lifetime supply for me and my extended family...!
Any recommendations?
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Keeney-Bra...Q-1Z5LxIS0yVi3zXQ5RoCt7cQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
 
What kind of toilet? If it's "contractor grade" (aka "junk") then it might be worth it to just replace the whole thing if it just won't seat properly. Other than that, maybe find an OEM bolt kit. My American Standard toilet lid has a listing various replacement part numbers.
It’s a Mansfield toilet. I replaced the guts with Fluidmaster parts and it works perfectly. I just don’t think it was ever fully tightened to the flange.
 
Good comments! I also prefer Brass Bolts & Nuts, but only if they are solid brass. Unfortunately, these are increasingly hard to find. Packaging that claims solid brass is often cheap steel with thin brass plating -> it rusts! Next-project I need to buy the best brass bolts & nuts I can find and sacrifice one to a test-cut. If indeed they are solid brass, then buy a lifetime supply for me and my extended family...!
Any recommendations?
Take a decent magnet with you to the store. While it wont tell you if its solid brass it will tell you that its rust proof. I dont think anyone is coating white metal or aluminum so odds will be good its solid brass.
 
Good comments! I also prefer Brass Bolts & Nuts, but only if they are solid brass. Unfortunately, these are increasingly hard to find. Packaging that claims solid brass is often cheap steel with thin brass plating -> it rusts! Next-project I need to buy the best brass bolts & nuts I can find and sacrifice one to a test-cut. If indeed they are solid brass, then buy a lifetime supply for me and my extended family...!
Any recommendations?
Just put a little grease on the threads before installing, the screws will be covered by a cap anyway.
 
It’s a Mansfield toilet. I replaced the guts with Fluidmaster parts and it works perfectly. I just don’t think it was ever fully tightened to the flange.
Don't know much about the brand but they don't seem like they have a bad reputation. One I needed to replace the toilets in a rental and did it with all some Home Depot special that cost maybe $70 without the toilet seat. The tank tended to rock back and forth because of the spongy hardware, but it never leaked.

What's it like inside? A lot of the newer (as in last decade) toilets are really good because they figured out how to make less water more efficient. When I bought my current house it had really old toilets - like 4-5 gallon flushes. They'd get backed up when the tiny trap got plugged up and the higher volume of water meant the bowl would overflow and I'd have to clean up the mess. Got a couple of American Standard Cadet 3 toilets which were about $130 complete with everything including a slow close lid and wax ring. Also got a $100 credit per toilet from the water utility. Has all Fluidmaster parts including a 400A valve and a rigid 3" Fluidmaster flapper with a silicone seal. The only thing I added was a pinch roller bowl fill tube that Fluidmaster has for about $3. That part is included with their higher speed version of the 400A, but I find the regular 400A is fast enough. I can't say it never plugs up, but it's not very often and it never overflows on a single flush.
 
So it turns out that it was the flange that broke (clean break) not the plastic bolt. The plumber apparently glued the flange in so I couldn’t remove it to replace it. I ended up reusing the bolts, they were very heavy duty, and installed this over the existing flange. It’s rock solid now
1597715795523.webp
 
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Nothing I detest more than replacing toilets. We have Mansfield "comfort height" oval bowl thrones in the OH house and older mismatched "short" oval bowl units in the FL house, one of which needs some attention. I have had great luck with Kohler in the past, one of these days I'll break down and replace one, or both of the FL thrones.
 
The Mansfield ”comfort height” is the toilet is the toilet I’ve been fooling with. I replaced the “guts“ with the Fluidmaster PerforMax kit and that toilet would flush billiard balls now
1597936984696.webp
 
Also look to see if it's a standard distance from the wall. There is a distance from the wall that most toilets use, if not you'll have to special order one to fit. I second a urethane seal instead of wax.
 
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Also look to see if it's a standard distance from the wall. There is a distance from the wall that most toilets use, if not you'll have to special order one to fit. I second a urethane seal instead of wax.
The plumbing term is "rough-in". I ended up getting mine in a standard 12 inch rough-in even though it's about 14 inches to the wall. I rather like it that way rather than having the tank sit right against the wall.
 
The plumbing term is "rough-in". I ended up getting mine in a standard 12 inch rough-in even though it's about 14 inches to the wall. I rather like it that way rather than having the tank sit right against the wall.

Be careful that there isn’t too much gap between the tank and the wall. A person that leans back could break the tank bolts. I’ve seen it happen.

Of course if you have a one piece toilet then the point is moot.
 
Be careful that there isn’t too much gap between the tank and the wall. A person that leans back could break the tank bolts. I’ve seen it happen.

Of course if you have a one piece toilet then the point is moot.

Mine (American Standard Cadet 3) seems to be pretty strong/stable. The tank doesn't rest that close to the seat anyways. Now I do remember buying the cheapest two-piece toilets I could find for a rental. That tank came with mounting bolts with these really soft washers. It would easily rock although it didn't leak. Leaning back on that tank wouldn't have been a good idea.
 
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