Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Tiling HELP! Handy folks need input. :)

As most of you know, I've about wrapped up my finishing of the basement/HT room. One of the last things I need to complete before the carpet installers show up, is tiling the basement bathroom floor.

My question is in regards to tiling around the toilet pipe/flange. Do I tile around the pipe, and have the flange that the toilet bolts to sit on top of the tiles? Or, do I tile around the flange, in this case the flange would be about the same height as the top of the tiles.

Thanks for any input in advance...Randy

ps: I finished the L-shaped bar this past weekend, looks pretty awesome.

Randy,
Tile close to the flange. Do not need to touch it. Just make sure you have enough room to get that bolt in or out if needed. The height of the flange will depend on how the put it in and how thick your tiles are and how much thinset your using. This is not a concern. From my experiemce after putting in tile you should get the thickest wax ring or even double it up.
Good luck

Thanks for the feedback,

I forgot to mention, not that this matters, but this will be installed on the concrete basement floor...

Randy

Most professional tile setters will tile to the pipe, then the toilet flange/wax ring go on over the tile. The tiles that the toilet will placed on really needs to be as level as possible. For tile, the floor should be no more than 1/4" in ten feet out of level. Most regular thin set can be built up to 1/2 inch or so.
If you don't have enogh fun doing the bathroom, come out here I'll gladly let you set all the tile you like.

Randy, get yourself over to the advice forums at The John Bridge website. All the tile advice you'll ever need

What is the situation now with the concrete floor/pipe and flange? In many cases the flange is in place when the concrete is poured so there is no choice. A normal flange goes on around the pipe and needs to go down into the concrete around the pipe. Are you using a flange that mounts inside of the pipe? The flange should end up about level with the tile or with the flange sitting on top of the tile. What you don't want it the flange mounted too high and/or not fastened to the slab since connection to the flange is what holds the toilet securely in place. I would second doubling the wax ring with an additional flangeless wax ring or: using a wax ring with compressable foam inside the wax or: using one of the new waxless gasketed rings designed for use with heated floors(wax melts when heated).

Thanks Guys for the info.

Mark, no the flange is not in place. When they built our house, they just roughed the plumbing to the location where the toilet will sit. I had to break/chip away some of the concrete to get down to the elbow. I have a piece of pipe that needs to be adhered to that elbow, and then cut to the proper length to match up with the flange. I'm planning now on tiling around the pipe, just below the flange, so the flange will be on top of the tile, and then put the wax ring centered on top of that.....fun fun fun

Now this is a topic I find really fascinating!!

I can't offer any assistance in tiling talk, but the ratifications of welcoming a "Newbie" are incredible!!

Welcome....!

"Even if you don't own Axioms; please stick around for discussions on receivers, amplifiers, speaker break-ins, or toilet installation!!"

It boggles the mindit's great!!
Rich.

I'm agreeing with Dennis... the correct way is to have the flange sit on top of the finished floor... if the tile butts to the flange, the cheat to get around it may be to install two wax rings rather than a single one. All depends on stability of the subfloor, relative heights, etc.

You may not have the ability to raise the flange if it's in poured concrete though?

Oddly when we moved in here, I got reminded about how they used to do things. All our major waste plumbing is torch-brazed thick wall copper here... and the toilets are set in an entire bed of plumbers' putty. I'm used to plastic flanges into ABS pipes (or in my parent's place - all cast!)

Bren R.

To further confuse the issue Randy, you may need a "Flush Tite" ABS closet flange. Fits over 3" or 4" pipe. Without pipe stop the pipe may be cut flush with floor. Mounting slots on four sides with four countersunk holes for securing flange to floor. The floor can be drilled for attaching the flange to the floor. Install the flange first, then tile up to the flange.