Slighly OT: toilet spacer

Grout!

--Winston

I think the ideal spacer material would be something that's not porous and non-absorbent.

If the selected solid material used for the filler spacer is slightly undersize for the footprint of the base, an application of anti-fungal silicone caulk would be appropriate at the joint space.

The surfaces of the floor and base should definitely be very clean before the silicone caulk is applied. Cleaning with a couple of cleaning products followed by acetone or lacquer thinner, or at least denatured alcohol to try to eliminate any residue or film left by other types of cleaners.

Plywood should be fine. I use the water base kitchen and bath caulk because it's easier to clean up. Karl

Hi David,

They make wedge-shaped plastic shims for this purpose, though they might be a little thin for a quarter-inch gap. Of course you could stack a couple of shims. When my BIL did his bathroom he had the same problem except that the gap between toilet and floor was about 1/8". Shoved half a dozen shims into the gap around the toilet and cut off the excess sticking out.

The Lowes here in Parts Unknown, KY, and the Home Despot in Atlanta both had 'em.

Best -- Terry

I'll second Winston , tile grout works very well for this . A shim at the back and two at the front corners to level , fill the spots wjhere the shims were after it sets . My toilet's been on a grout bed for years .

Hi David. I had the same problem during our remod. I used tempered "masonite" cut to the footprint of the toilet with clearence for the horn and flange. Sealed the outer edge with clear silicone. Matches the brown of the tile grout and lasted the better part of 20 years. Replaced the toilet last year and the masonite was as solid as the day it was installed. The footprint of the new toilet was larger than the old so the orig. 'shim' was not reusable. Got another half sheet of the same stock, made and installed another 'shim' and we are back in 'business' . Best of luck! rgentry at oz dot net

I was going to suggest a cheap teflon cutting board (there are some that are about that thick or even thinner).

But I like both the grout and Masonite suggestions better.

Hey David,

Term "tile" is kinda loose and generic now-a-days, but if you meant true "tile" as in 6" or 9" (or greater) square or rectangular pieces of ceramic, why not just do a second "layer" in a suitable pattern and raise the floor height in the vicinity of the toilet base in that way. You can stack or 1/2 stack the Beeswax rings to accommodate the extra height if it is necessary (which for 1/4" difference I doubt it is), and have a nice matching hygienic solution.

Take care.

Brian Laws>

Joe the Plumber is releasing a book soon.

Likely as not there will be a chapter on " 'Snakin Palin " . LOL

JC

Is his advance more or less than $250K?

We have some two step shims that ISTM were for setting out the tile. Issue is how do you ensure they don't 'walk' away.

I can't see grout as strong enough to do the job. It's holding up the fixture and your 300# party guest.......the contact area is a narrow rim around the edge.

Plywood strikes me as WAY too porous. This is ground floor slab and moisture shall leak in. Masonite might work if we sealed it somehow.

I like the cutting board if only they were big enough for one to do the job...

It's ceramic tile. It's an intermixed pattern of big (2") and small (1") diamonds. I guess mastic sticks to the smooth front as well as the back...but I was thinking something less brittle would be better.

I would probably go with starboard.

My dad needed about 2" more height, due to his knee replacements, so he cast a concrete "step" on top of the underlying original ceramic tile using a sheet metal mold(metalworking content!). They make a non- wax bowl seal replacement now that uses a big o-ring to seal down in the drain pipe and rubbery plastic to seal to the toilet, no leaks even if there is slight movement. Anyway, no leaks in the 5 years or so he lasted afterwards.

Stan

On Mon, 8 Dec 2008 11:44:14 -0800 (PST), the infamous snipped-for-privacy@prolynx.com scrawled the following:

Next time, remind him that they now make taller toilets for old folks and knee/hip replacement owners and they fit ADA requirements. Examples:

Otherwise, for minor waves/angles/height discrepancies, float the floor (self-leveling mortar) to the desired height.

-- At current market valuations (GM is worth less than Mattel) the Chinese government can afford to buy GM with petty cash. --Bertel Shmitt on kencan7 blogspot

Back of the envelope:

Figure a 0.25" lip around the horn with the shape normalized to a rectangle measuring about 6" wide by 18" long. Contact area around the periphery is over 11.7 square inches. Multiply that by the 3000 PSI compressive strength of cured grout.

I figure that would answer for static and dynamic forces plus safety margin, even after dinner at Pedro's.

--Winston

Call a plumbing supply house and ask for a toilet spacer. they make them to get a toilet above the replacement flanges that sit higher than the originals. Usually 3/8" or so of faux marble/plastic.

stuart