I had my first experience installing a ceramic tile floor in one of my bathrooms. All went fairly well. A real learning experience. However, when I went to reinstall the toilet, it seems not to be flush to the ground and wobbles a little bit. I've tightened the bolts to the flange, and it does get better. I'm unsure how much more I can tighten the bolts. Is there any other suggestions for my situation?

 

I wouldn't go any tighter on the bolts. I'd think you might break the flange or break a new tile. You need to determine what it's rocking on. Maybe the fixture is sitting on a slightly raised tile. I would loosen the fixture and slide something thin, like a piece of heavy paper under the edge to see where it's not hitting the floor. Maybe by rocking it you can get that paper to go under the fixture at all points. That would suggest that it's rocking on the flange or something. Did you put in an extended flange or a spacer or something?

When I installed my shower base, they recommended a sheet of tar paper underneath it to take up the tiny variations that would be likely. Maybe a sheet of tar paper cut to the shape of the toilet would work well.

 

bigfat, Welcome to the DIY Forums.
They make spacer shims especially for this problem. Put a level in both doirections across the bowl and insert the shims firmly. If you allow the toilet to rock you stand a good chance of a leak or worse yet, a broken toilet bowl. Good Luck.

 

Since I have a similar problem, I thought I would fix it per your ship instructions etc. When I put the level on the bowl, I discovered that the front edge is significantly higher than the back. at this point I have removed the plaster of paris filler and the wooden shims I found underneath the front edge from a previous attempt. If you were me, (the toilet doesnt leak) would you just loosen the bolts and raise the back with shims to get it level, or remove the whole bowl and start over with a new ring etc?

 

WLM13, If you do not move the bowl around too much you can just move the shims and should be fine. Good luck.

 

I may not be able to get the back high enough to level it without longer bolts, Im going to have to remove the water supply tube too. Im trying not to disturb the ring too much. Thanks for your help!

 

I can't see a way to remove/replace the bolts without disturbing the seal. Maybe I am missing something here.

 

lol you're not missing anything. I know that if It gets to the point of bolt replacement the seal will need to be changed. From the look of it, its going to be close. I just want to do it right.

 

It was worse than I thought. I removed the toilet completely to try to see just what I had. I have some of the tiles falling into a hole in the flooring (the cement poured for the tiles was cracked and what I couldnt remove fell into the hole. Since the 3" dia copper pipe is angled toward the wall, I guess most of the junk went down the interior stud wall ) It looks as though the flange is soldered to the top of the copper pipe. If I repair the floor and the tile, how high does the flange have to be above the floor? It is about 1" right now from the floor to the top of the flange. Can I slide the flange where I want it, or does the pipe have to be cut if it needs to go lower?
"

 

The BOTTOM of the flange should be LEVEL with the surface of the FINISHED floor. This way the wax seal will do it's job.

 

Unbelievable....that makes the floor the main means of support for the toilet...NOT the flange and copper pipe...and I have no support there...at least on one side...but you didnt say anything about moving the flange, or cutting the pipe...