I have a toilet flange in a second floor bathroom that is sitting more than an inch above the tile floor. I tried throwing a wax ring on the toilet, placing it on the flange, and using shims to level/secure it. It flushes fine, but it's not air tight. The toilet is sitting directly on the flange and I'm assuming all the wax got squished out, so no seal. Also, it took 3 shims stacked on top of each other to level the toilet base 3/4" off the floor and isn't a very secure solution. So I'm considering a few options:
1. Buy a thick sheet of plastic/pvc, trace and cut around the toilet base and drain, and use that to raise the toilet up above the flange so I can get a seal. Should be way more stable than 4 sets of shims I'm currently using. Thick bead of caulk around the toilet to hide it?
2. Previous owner had set the toilet on a thick bed of grout to raise it up. Considering redoing that.
3. Tear out the flange, elbow, and cut drain pipe, then replace it all the right way with flange at correct level. This requires tearing out some drywall in the first floor ceiling to do that.
Bonus: the flange is currently secured to the subfloor by angled screws since the hole in the floor is about the size of the full flange instead of just the pipe. Flange seems perfectly stable, but it bothers my OCD a little that it isn't resting on the subfloor. Fixing that would require tearing out the tile floor, and I really don't want to do that. Or I'd probably have to add some 2x4s on their sides spanning between the joists to secure the flange to.
Which option would you choose? Any better ideas?
Photo of a toilet:
http://bikinisandbrocolli.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/show-day.jpg
1. Buy a thick sheet of plastic/pvc, trace and cut around the toilet base and drain, and use that to raise the toilet up above the flange so I can get a seal. Should be way more stable than 4 sets of shims I'm currently using. Thick bead of caulk around the toilet to hide it?
2. Previous owner had set the toilet on a thick bed of grout to raise it up. Considering redoing that.
3. Tear out the flange, elbow, and cut drain pipe, then replace it all the right way with flange at correct level. This requires tearing out some drywall in the first floor ceiling to do that.
Bonus: the flange is currently secured to the subfloor by angled screws since the hole in the floor is about the size of the full flange instead of just the pipe. Flange seems perfectly stable, but it bothers my OCD a little that it isn't resting on the subfloor. Fixing that would require tearing out the tile floor, and I really don't want to do that. Or I'd probably have to add some 2x4s on their sides spanning between the joists to secure the flange to.
Which option would you choose? Any better ideas?
Photo of a toilet:
http://bikinisandbrocolli.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/show-day.jpg