Replacing toilet with waste into concrete floor

ovolactohippo · 10 Mar 2018

I'm in the process of replacing my bathroom and next step is the toilet. It's the only toilet in the house so have to make sure I'm 100% confident / have all the tools and bits ready before I take the old one out!

I was expecting to have a clay socket coming out of the floor that the very old current toilet connects to. However it appears that it's actually a flexible plastic that's visible above the floor. I've attached a picture and wondering if anyone has an idea of what lies beneath / what difficulties I might encounter in taking the soil out and replacing with a new pan connector.

I'm aware my toilet will be out from the wall as it's close coupled and am going to box out to the cistern which will hide some piping anyway!

just pumps · 10 Mar 2018

Dig down on one side deep enough to show exactly what is there at the moment, you may find a few inches will be enough and a swan neck pan connecter will take the pan towards the wall.

ovolactohippo · 10 Mar 2018

just pumps said:
Dig down on one side deep enough to show exactly what is there at the moment, you may find a few inches will be enough and a swan neck pan connecter will take the pan towards the wall.

I'm not worried about the pan being out from the wall, I've already planned for that so all good there and no need to move the waste at all.

Looking at what you can see on the surface is it possible to leave what's there in place and use a pan connector directly into that or do I need to dig down around it?

just pumps · 10 Mar 2018

ovolactohippo said:
I'm not worried about the pan being out from the wall, I've already planned for that so all good there and no need to move the waste at all.

Looking at what you can see on the surface is it possible to leave what's there in place and use a pan connector directly into that or do I need to dig down around it?

IF it is a flexi then no I wouldn`t leave there in. Do it once and do it properly.

If your are happy with where the pan is then all`s good, I was just saying the use of a Swan neck would take the pan towards the wall without moving the pipe in the floor.

JohnD · 10 Mar 2018

you can still get a few pans that are designed to fit into a floor socket. Measure the distance between the centre of the floor socket and the wall (without the skirting). This dimension is very important.

When you dig out the old tiles it's quite likely you will find that a plastic adaptor, with rubber seals, has been inserted into the neck of the soil pipe. This is fine, though unless it is in very good condition you might want to fit a new one. Cost is trivial.

ovolactohippo · 10 Mar 2018

just pumps said:
IF it is a flexi then no I wouldn`t leave there in. Do it once and do it properly.

If your are happy with where the pan is then all`s good, I was just saying the use of a Swan neck would take the pan towards the wall without moving the pipe in the floor.

Sorry, I think I might have been misleading in the first post. The plastic that the toilet is currently connected into that is above the floor feels pretty solid, but there is some give in it at the top where I can press on it if that makes any sense. It's not a completely rigid plastic but it's pretty thick and solid other than that from what I can see - initially I thought it was rubber at the top but as far as I can see its just the plastic itself has a little flex in it. It's not what I'd think of as a flexi pipe (although I've no experience of these).

foxhole · 10 Mar 2018

The pipe looks like its into a pan connector partially tiled in, you will need to pull it all out and replace, should not require digging.

ovolactohippo · 10 Mar 2018

JohnD said:
you can still get a few pans that are designed to fit into a floor socket. Measure the distance between the centre of the floor socket and the wall (without the skirting). This dimension is very important.

When you dig out the old tiles it's quite likely you will find that a plastic adaptor, with rubber seals, has been inserted into the neck of the soil pipe. This is fine, though unless it is in very good condition you might want to fit a new one. Cost is trivial.

That sounds like it makes sense as to what the plastic is above the floor. Would the replacement would be something like this:

https://www.screwfix.com/p/mcalpine-dc1-bl-drain-connector-black-110mm/4255v

Thanks both for your help

just pumps · 10 Mar 2018

foxhole said:
The pipe looks like its into a pan connector partially tiled in, you will need to pull it all out and replace, should not require digging.

Being the only toilet I would have a little dig to see exactly what I needed before pulling anything out or at the very least have a traffic cone ready

JohnD · 10 Mar 2018

look at Twyford E100 BO for example. One of the better-looking modern WCs. Twyford Refresh also available, and Alcona which is not so elegant but might be cheaper. I am cautious of the budget imports, modern low-water use WCs do not always flush well.

p.s.
A white connector would look better.

In the E100 the connector is hidden by the pedestal base. Easy to clean.

foxhole · 10 Mar 2018

just pumps said:
Being the only toilet I would have a little dig to see exactly what I needed before pulling anything out or at the very least have a traffic cone ready

Bucket.

ovolactohippo · 10 Mar 2018

just pumps said:
Being the only toilet I would have a little dig to see exactly what I needed before pulling anything out or at the very least have a traffic cone ready

Definitely want to know i can finish the job when I start it!

foxhole said:
The pipe looks like its into a pan connector partially tiled in, you will need to pull it all out and replace, should not require digging.

Would be good if that's the case. I'm hoping the old pan will come out relatively easily from the waste so that I don't cause any damage!

ovolactohippo · 10 Mar 2018

JohnD said:
look at Twyford E100 BO for example. One of the better-looking modern WCs. Twyford Refresh also available, and Alcona which is not so elegant but might be cheaper. I am cautious of the budget imports, modern low-water use WCs do not always flush well.

p.s.
A white connector would look better.

In the E100 the connector is hidden by the pedestal base. Easy to clean.

I had a look at some of these options a while ago but decided to go with a standard close coupled toilet because of the extra choice and because the toilet is in a recess which is perfect for boxing in behind with storage above

Hugh Jaleak · 11 Mar 2018

The McAlpine DC-1 is to connect a 110mm soil pipe to an existing clay drain, it isn't suitable to connect a pan without a short section of 110mm pipe in the socket. If you dig out the old connector, and find there's a clay drain underneath, you need something like this https://www.screwfix.com/p/mcalpine-macfit-mac-8l-90-wc-long-pan-connector-white-90-112mm/95284

ovolactohippo · 12 Mar 2018

Hugh Jaleak said:
The McAlpine DC-1 is to connect a 110mm soil pipe to an existing clay drain, it isn't suitable to connect a pan without a short section of 110mm pipe in the socket. If you dig out the old connector, and find there's a clay drain underneath, you need something like this https://www.screwfix.com/p/mcalpine-macfit-mac-8l-90-wc-long-pan-connector-white-90-112mm/95284

Thanks, that's really helpful. Planning to get it done this weekend hopefully

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Replacing toilet with waste into concrete floor

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