If you’re doing a renovation to your bathroom, you may find yourself replacing your toilet. Since this is another one of the areas that this blogger has NO idea about, it was obviously a great question to ask our on staff Contractor. Here’s what he recommends. First thing you’ll need to do is make sure the wall stop or valve works that is feeding the toilet. If this is a valve that hasn’t been turned in a few years then it may take a little finesse. Turn the valve off and flush the toilet to get all the water out of the tank and bowl. This may take a few flushes. If the valve or wall stop is not turning off all the way try turning it on and off a few times. If it still isn’t working, you may need to go the main water valve and turn it off there. Additionally, if this is the case, while you have the main off you may want to consider changing the wall stop. Once you have the water off simply remove the caps at the base of the toilet and remove the nuts that hold the toilet to the flange then lift the toilet off and discard. Once you have the old toilet removed make sure the floor or closet flange is in good shape and clean off all the old wax. The new toilet will need to be assembled by attaching the tank to the bowl which is easy to do following the manufacturer’s instructions. Install the mounting bolts to the closet flange and then place a new wax ring on the flange. Pick up the new toilet and carefully set it on the wax ring making sure the mounting bolts are protruding through the holes in the base of the toilet. Slowly press down on the toilet to evenly compress the wax ring until the toilet is sitting tight to the closet flange. Make sure the toilet is straight and tighten the nuts on top of the base. Install the seat and connect the water line and you are done.
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Contributed by:
Randy Ritzenthaler