A closet flange connects a toilet to its sewer pipe.
Plumbers install a closet flange on the end of the sewer pipe to which the toilet connects. A closet flange has a vertical sleeve and a horizontal flange. The closet flange's sleeve wraps around the sewer pipe and its flange holds a set of closet bolts. Before installing the toilet, a plumber places a wax ring around the closet flange's sewer pipe opening. The plumber presses the toilet's discharge port against the wax ring, forming a waterproof seal. The closet flange's closet bolts secure the toilet's base against the bathroom floor. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Cut the end of the sewer pipe flush with the bathroom floor, using a reciprocating saw. During a building's construction phase, plumbers extend the toilet's sewer pipe through the bathroom floor. This allows the plumber to custom cut the sewer pipe to match the flooring's height.
2. Trim the burrs from the end of the sewer pipe, using a utility knife. The reciprocating saw's blade leaves burrs on the cut end of the sewer pipe.
3. Tap the closet flange's knockout, the plug that covers the closet flange's sewer pipe opening, with a hammer until the knockout breaks free.
4. Coat the interior of the closet flange's sleeve with PVC cement, using the brush on the PVC-cement can's lid to apply the PVC cement. Cement manufacturers supply a brush with each can of PVC cement. The brush attaches to the inside of the can's lid.
5. Slide the closet flange's sleeve over the end of the sewer pipe and press the closet flange down until the bottom of its flange touches the bathroom floor. Turn the closet flange until its keyhole-shaped slots on the flange rest parallel with the bathroom wall behind the sewer pipe. When looking at the bathroom wall behind the sewer pipe, the keyhole-shaped slots should face the 3-o'clock and 9-o'clock positions.
6. Run 1-inch stainless steel screws through each round screw hole around the closet flange's perimeter, using a Phillips screwdriver to tighten the screws. The screws hold the closet flange against the building's subfloor. Usually a closet flange needs six stainless steel screws.
7. Set a closet bolt's head in the wide portion of one of the closet flange's keyhole-shaped slots, keeping the bolt's threaded end facing up. Slide the bolt from the wide end of the slot toward the narrow end. Install the second closet bolt in the second keyhole-shaped slot, using the same procedure.
Tags: closet flange, sewer pipe, bathroom floor, sewer pipe, closet flange sewer