Hi folks,
I'm a new member and non-professional trying to reseal my toilet in a main floor bathroom. The pipe is 4'' cast iron and the floor is linoleum over wood. It looks like the previous person had used a repair flange, which when I found it, was not secure; the wood all around the flange was rotted out, which I tried to remove as best as I can. After a professional consult who advised it was a pretty straight forward repair, but would cost over $600, I thought I'd at least attempt the repair myself. He suggested a closet flange.
I purchased the PVC closet flange from a plumbing supply store. They looked at my photo and suggested that I either replace the sub floor or use blocks of wood to screw into to secure the flange. That made sense to me except, the flange they provided, which fits nicely and securely in the pipe, sits right on top of what I'm calling the pipe casing/thickness-- the area encasing the pipe. It looks like this material is not consistent, some areas are softer than others, which appear to be wood, and the other areas where I am trying to drill screws in, appear to be hard a rock, perhaps lead? I first assumed it was concrete so bought a concrete appropriate drill bit and screws, but unfortunately I couldn't make a dent in the material in order to secure the flange. Now I'm hoping to buy a repair flange to secure the new closet flange and install it by securing the repair flange with wood in the gaps around the pipe.
Photos below: old repair flange removed and view of pipe + thick encasement.
I am hoping to avoid replacing the subfloor right now, because I'm unsure if there's asbestos in the linoleum and i'd like to not have to wait a week for results. I am also hoping to replace the flooring along with other flooring in the home at a later date. Further, it seems that unless I can drill into material encasing the pipe, I won't be able to get away without using a repair flange anyway.
Any ideas on what the material is? Is it lead from the old cast iron flange? Unfortunately, if it is lead, I'm not comfortable enough removing and pouring new lead.
Any thoughts?
I'm a new member and non-professional trying to reseal my toilet in a main floor bathroom. The pipe is 4'' cast iron and the floor is linoleum over wood. It looks like the previous person had used a repair flange, which when I found it, was not secure; the wood all around the flange was rotted out, which I tried to remove as best as I can. After a professional consult who advised it was a pretty straight forward repair, but would cost over $600, I thought I'd at least attempt the repair myself. He suggested a closet flange.
I purchased the PVC closet flange from a plumbing supply store. They looked at my photo and suggested that I either replace the sub floor or use blocks of wood to screw into to secure the flange. That made sense to me except, the flange they provided, which fits nicely and securely in the pipe, sits right on top of what I'm calling the pipe casing/thickness-- the area encasing the pipe. It looks like this material is not consistent, some areas are softer than others, which appear to be wood, and the other areas where I am trying to drill screws in, appear to be hard a rock, perhaps lead? I first assumed it was concrete so bought a concrete appropriate drill bit and screws, but unfortunately I couldn't make a dent in the material in order to secure the flange. Now I'm hoping to buy a repair flange to secure the new closet flange and install it by securing the repair flange with wood in the gaps around the pipe.
Photos below: old repair flange removed and view of pipe + thick encasement.
I am hoping to avoid replacing the subfloor right now, because I'm unsure if there's asbestos in the linoleum and i'd like to not have to wait a week for results. I am also hoping to replace the flooring along with other flooring in the home at a later date. Further, it seems that unless I can drill into material encasing the pipe, I won't be able to get away without using a repair flange anyway.
Any ideas on what the material is? Is it lead from the old cast iron flange? Unfortunately, if it is lead, I'm not comfortable enough removing and pouring new lead.
Any thoughts?
