How to Remove a Toilet

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The Replacement Process is Straight Forward

Here is a novel idea to help reduce your bathroom re modeling costs by simply doing some of the renovation work yourself. Most home improvement projects whether you are tiling your floor or resurfacing your lavatory walls will require you to remove your toilet.

If you are confident and you have consulted a plumber, then the actual time it will take to remove your washroom toilet will be approximately thirty to forty minutes depending on if you encounter some stubborn anchor bolts.

Whenever you renovate your bathroom, as always, safety should be a main concern, so be sure to turn off the water supply and any electricity going to your bathroom. Removing a toilet is actually quite easy and straightforward; it’s putting the new toilet back on the wax ring that should be done by a contract professional or someone with really steady hands.

Read more: Bath Renovating For Dollars!

Before you begin to renovate, you will need a plastic bag, bleach, some rags, penetrating oil (such as WD-40), duck tape and some wood slats. The renovation tools you will need include:

  • 1 – Plumbers plunger, bucket, and tape measure
  • 2 – Adjustable wrench, Allen wrenches, and a pipe wrench
  • 3 – Hack saw, Phillips, blade screwdriver, and a putty knife
  • 4 Groove-joint pliers and locking pliers to round off your renovation checklist.

To proceed with your bathroom renovation plans it’s usually best to remove your bathroom fixtures anyway so that they are not damaged or subsequently in your way which gives you more room to work with you’re remodeling.

Read more: How to prevent mold in bathroom with and without fan

Anchor Bolts and Ring

Ok, lets renovate, first pour a quart of bleach into your toilet tank, flush and let your toilet refill.

Next close the shut off valve and flush again, make sure you hold down the handle until all the water is out of the tank. Grab you plumber’s plunger and push the rest of the remaining water out of the trap and stuff the bowl with the rags you acquired. The water supply line can then be disconnected with your wrench or grove-joint pliers.

Remove the anchor-bolts caps and loosen and take off the anchor bolts with an adjustable wrench. If the bolts won’t come off easily then you may have to cut them off with your hack saw. Once that is done, you need to break the seal of the wax ring that seals the toilet trap snugly against the closet flange in the floor.

Read more: How to Remove an Old Vanity in Your Washroom

To do this you need to rock your toilet lightly back and forth as you lift it off the ring. Now that your toilet is moved to another room, all that remains is the wax ring on your bathroom floor.

Using a plastic bag as a sort of gloved sleeve, grab the inside bottom of the wax ring and as you are pulling it out, with your free hand, turn the bag inside out to stuff the ring inside the bag and neatly dispose of the ring.

To clean up the remaining gunk from the flange, use your putty knife to scrape away the residue. Next stuff you remaining rags into the drain and seal it with duck tape so that it will not dislodge while you go about your business renovating your bathroom.

Read more: A New Ventilation System Can Make Your Bathroom More Comfortable and Attractive

Installing a Toilet in Your Basement or Spare Room Without a Standard Plumbing Drain

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Quick and Easy Toilet Plumbing

So the in-laws are coming to stay for the summer and there is no toilet in the basement or perhaps you would like to make it more convenient for a senior or handicapped family member but you don’t have the time or the inclination to rip up the basement floor or floor boards to put one in.

What do you do? Well the people over at Saniflo have just the solution you are looking for. All you need is a water and electric power supply.

If you need to put a bathroom where conventional plumbing makes it difficult or even impossible, Saniflo lets you put a toilet in any room in your house without the standard plumbing drains.

That’s right, you heard me correct, no floor drain needed! Saniflo requires no floor drain so you don’t have to break through the basement floor and the great thing is if you change your mind or want to move it to a different room, the whole process is reversible.

The way the toilet works is that when the toilet is flushed the toilet paper and excrement is sucked into the back of the toilet into a box where the waste is mulched and then the resulting broken down sewage is pumped through a three-quarter inch line into the houses main waste stack.

Read more: How to Convert Single Bathroom Sink to Double Sink

Works Anywhere You Need it

The process is called Maceration which refers to softening or breaking into pieces with liquid. With an improved design and flushing system, the Saniflo systems pump is quite capable so you can locate the toilet as far as 9ft below the sewer level or up to 150ft away.

Another added benefit is the small foot print of the system, the Saniflo toilets can be installed under the stairs or even in a closet if space is an issue.

The down side is the cost of The Saniflo system which can cost anywhere from $600-$1000 based upon the toilet model you choose.

Factoring in the installation, when everything is said and done can cost as high as $2000 but for the added convenience and flexibility of the system, the pros outweigh the cons if you are looking for a system that can be easily installed in your spare room or basement within a day.

Related terms:

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