What do I do about a large gap under my toilet?

Question

I had a new toilet installed, and the plumber left it up quite high because it would take too long to grind the flange down (I didn't want to pay him for more time!). He recommended laying down ceramic tile to raise the floor up to the level of the toilet, but I don't think even ceramic tile will do that. It is a gap of about 1/2 inch. He put round spool-like things under the toilet to stabilize it. I took these out to lay down the vinyl tile I had bought, and the toilet rocks a lot without them, so I put them back under it. Can I just leave those under there, and put something around the base of the toilet to make it look finished off? Or is there a better product out there to stabilize the toilet and fill this gap?

Answer 1

I agree with Ron G. Just make sure that you buy 2 new wax rings and put them on before you reset the toilet.

Answer 2

I hope you did not pay him ,if you did you got ripped off and should turn him in to the local BBB.Did you check him out to see if he has a license?

  

Answer 3

You should have paid him to install it right. any monkey can install a toilet incorrectly.

There is a product called the toilevator that may fix your problem, but you will need to reinstall the toilet. http://www.dynamic-living.com/product/to...

Other solutions, such as filling the area with tiles or plaster would also require you to pull the toilet.

Your only other option would be to make some 1/2 shims. I would use High Density Poly Ethalene (HDPE) because it comes in white and is the easiest to clean. Most plastic cutting boards are made of HDPE.

Answer 4

Grout,  mix up ceramic tile grout on the thick side.  Fill the gap with the grout, leave it dry for 2 days before you use.  

Answer 5

the old trick for toilets flanges that are to high is to set the toilet in a bedding of plaster of paris , it can be smoothed out to match the shape of the toilet, you just need to work fast as it set very rapidly.

Answer 6

Pull the toilet. Redo the flange. It is installed so badly that it justifies this. You have already disturbed the wax seal with the rocking so you have not much to lose. The plumber gave you a very bad story on the 'too long to grind the flange' bit. A plumber should be familiar on how to do a job correctly. No grinding of flanges. He just got the height wrong. You are going to pull the toilet anyway to do the tile.

Answer 7

You can use those spool things as well as you may want to get some shims (small pieces of angled wood that you put in the gap) to  level it out.  Once everything is stable and not moving, cut off your shims at the base of the toilet so that nothing is sticking out and then use caulking to finish it off around the toilet.  1/2 inch is a pretty big gap to fill but your only other option is to  grind down the flange yourself or have him come back and do it for you.  Either way will work fine.