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.
Toilet mounting question
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JTK
$100 Site Donor 2025
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
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.
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?
Any recommendations?
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.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Fluidma...Closet-Toilet-Bolt-Kit-7110A-003-P5/308812814
these look interesting
these look interesting
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.
Those are nice. Normally I just get the 5/16 inch bolts and cut the excess with a hacksaw. Or at least that's what my plumber normally did. The regular ones at 1/4 are too thin.
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
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
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.
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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