Originally Posted by
Joe Griffin
Note: Most home inspections I perform involve at least two baths. About 90% of those have at least one toilet which is loose. This leads me to believe that the plumbers initially installed them correctly, but they loosened up over time. Either that, or we have really incompetent plumbers installing these toilets. These also involve new construction as well. The design we currently have needs to be improved on. Why else do we have so many loose toilets around the country? The same can not be said of sinks or tubs!
"Either that, or we have really incompetent plumbers installing these toilets."
Close.
From my experience seeing many thousands of plastic floor flanges installed the answer to the loose toilets is quite simple:
The floor flange *IS NOT* (in so many of the installations) anchored down at all. I don't care if the floor flange is cast iron, if the floor flange is not anchored to the floor, there is no way for the toilet to be any other than "loose". Neither cast iron pipe nor PVC pipe is going to hold a toilet in place.
The floor flange is the transition connection between the structure and the DWV piping. The piping is sealed and is attached to the rigidly secured floor flange (should be rigidly secured any way). The water closet (toilet) is then securely attached to the floor flange. The wax ring is the sealing gasket between the two. It does not matter if the pipe is cast within a concrete slab or sticking up through a hole cut in a plywood or OSB sub-floor, the pipe IS NOT designed nor intended to secure the toilet in place. That is the job of the floor flange, and the floor flange can only do that job when it is in turn properly secured down.
My guess for all (or at least most) of you loose toilets is: floor flanges not anchored to the slab or sub-floor.