Community Forums

sploke · 05-12-2022, 12:48 PM

I removed my toilet and black tank to do some repairs. When I pulled the toilet, I realized that at some point (Production? Previous owner repair? Who knows), the hole for the closet flange was really opened up...to the point where the flange doesn't have anything to screw into. Someone's solution was to overlay a thin piece of sheet aluminum and screw the toilet flange to that.

So, I'm trying to come up with a better solution here. This bathroom is tiny, so I can't cut back the floor far enough to replace the whole thing without getting into removing the wall....not happening. I dont want to raise up the entire floor by laying down a full piece of plywood over the whole thing, and I can't do much for reinforcement from the bottom because the black tank goes pretty much flat against the underside of the floor.

My best solution is to cut a piece of sheet metal (I had some galvanized steel on hand) and screw it to the underside of the floor from the bottom. Then, cut a ring of plywood with an ID the size of the toilet flange, and an OD to fill up most of the excess size in the existing hole. Then use fiberglass resin and mat to fill in any remaining gaps between the plywood ring and the existing floor. This more or less maintains the existing planes on both sides of the plywood, and gives me some solid meat to screw the new toilet flange in. Before I go crazy with this, anyone see a glaring fault with this plan,.or have a better idea? The carpet in there will be replaced with glued down VCT once this is fixed, so keep that in mind as far as finished flooring surface goes.

rgvtexan · 05-12-2022, 07:04 PM

Cut any damaged plywood from around the hole. Cut the hole to a better geometric shape and make a plug to fit. Glass and epoxy in. Cover entire area with tile mastic or construction adhesive then 1/4" tile underlayment. Cut new hole and install toilet flange. Waterproof area.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/James-Hardi...oard/999994576

sploke · 05-12-2022, 08:24 PM

The wood was actually in remarkably good shape. I didn't bother cutting it back at all, but I traced the opening, cut out a plug and fiberglassed it in. I had more wiggle room than I thought on the bottom side, because there are two strips of 3/4" ply on the underside of the floor to give some space between the top of the tank and the floor. I used a piece of 1/2" plywood to backstop the plug, glued and screwed. So, this is going to be one study toilet once it's installed. Once the fiberglass is fully cured, I'll level it all out and sand it down as needed, clean up the rest of the floor then put down a sealer. I picked up some vinyl.composition tile that I'll glue down for the finished flooring surface.

rcnuts · 06-02-2022, 04:44 AM

Hello! Looks to me what your doing is fine. Theres never just one technique for that type of repair due to all the different circumstances someone encounters when tearing out. Id just try to get the final glass work level as possible as sanding it will make a mess.

MSGDLD · 06-03-2022, 04:07 PM

It's not the way I would've done it, but I like your idea better! It'll make a nice clean yet strong install.

1972VWbus · 06-06-2022, 07:19 PM

When I did the floor in mine I used a sander on the wood (in good shape) then I gave it a few coats of polyurethane to seal it from future water intrusion if it were to leak. Coated all the way to the walls.

sploke · 06-07-2022, 07:45 AM

The fiberglass repair worked well...Once I got the repair done, I cut a new hole for the toilet flange, laid down some 1/4" cementboard, used a paint-on sealant to waterproof everything, then installed VCT to finish the floor. 100% better than the plush carpeting that was in there, especially with two little kids.

https://www.irv2.com/forums/f292/my-...ml#post6184272