Ten Great Tips for Installing a New Toilet

As I have stated in previous articles, my husband and myself do all of our own home repairs ourselves and last year we found a crack in the bowl of our toilet. The water was leaking from this crack and causing water damage to the floor. Rather than calling in a plumber and being charged a fortune, we decided to tackle the installation of a new toilet ourselves. If you are thinking that it would be cheaper to just fix the crack, this is often a mistake and can coast more in the long run. Changing a toilet out is a relatively simple procedure that can be achieved with ten easy tips.

Materials and Tools Needed:

• Crescent wrench
• 5 gallon bucket and Plastic cup
• New Toilet (this will come with all the hardware needed to install)
• Beeswax Ring (you may need to purchase this separate)
• Pipe Wrench
• Medium Size Pliers
• 2 5/16 inch bolts with nuts
• Metal Washers X 2
• Hacksaw

Tip One: Turn off all of the water to the bathroom and flush the water out of the toilet. There will be some water remaining after you flush the toilet; you will need the 5-gallon bucket and plastic cup to remove the water that has been left.

Tip Two: Using the pipe wrench or pliers, disconnect the ballcock valve that is on the bottom of the toilet and the connections to the toilet tank.

Tip Three: Using the crescent wrench and remove the two nuts that hold the toilet in place.

Tip Four: Now you are ready to remove the broken toilet by removing the tank first then the toilet bowl and discard.

Tip Five: Now that the flange is exposed (this is the mounting base) you will want to toss out the old mounting bolts.

Tip Six: Replace the old bolts with 2 5/16 inch bolts, inserting them in the existing holes. You will want to position these straight across from one another. Also in this step, you will install the beeswax ring you have purchased mounting it firmly in place.

Tip Seven: Now you will install the new toilet bowl centering it onto the wax ring making sure that both bolts come through, now apply as much pressure as you can, pushing the toilet into the floor. This will create a seal by the squeezing of the wax ring. Add new washers and nuts onto the bolts and tighten them. Remembering that over tightening them will cause the new toilet to crack.

Tip Eight: Install the new toilet tank by inserting 2 5/16-by-3 inches bolts through the openings to mount the tank. Apply the washers then nuts to the mounting bolts and tighten. Replace the rubber gasket over the drain tube, this where the tank connects to the bowl. Set the tank onto the bowl assuring that the drain opening is centered and the bolts thread through easy.

Tip Nine: Holding your tank level, apply the metal washers and nuts that came with the toilet, this will hold the tank stationary. Now it is time to install the toilets new flush valve that came with your new toilet. Remember that when you thread this piece on that they thread in reverse. Bolt the toilets lid onto the toilet bowl.

Tip Ten: Install the new water line from the toilet to the wall, turn on water and check for any leaks in the line. If there are no leaks, tighten the bolts at the base of the bowl, but remember not to over tighten them. Now that everything is in place, you will want to cut the bolts down that are sticking out of the base of the toilet bowl, by using a hacksaw and then place the plastic covers over them and put on the tanks cover. Now you have just successfully replaced a toilet.

References for this article came from toiletology.com and toilets.com