Toilet Wrestling

[Tom Bender]

Had occasion to remove and replace a toilet this week. My first time but it didn't look too difficult on You Tube. Big guy, lightweight 2 piece toilet, just line it up and set. But mine is a heavy 1 piece fixture in a tight spot, and I'm not a big guy.

Trial Setting
Could not get the bolts to stay standing while I tried to get it into position.
Placed it with the bolts removed. Put 3 pieces of blue tape on the floor; left right and front, to show where it had to land.
Made some wood blocks to set it on then rocked it down one side at a time. Success!

Now with the wax ring in place
The wax knocked the bolts out of position.
Stuck straws down thru the holes in the fixture and over the bolts to keep them lined up.
Rocked it down from the 2" blocks to the 1" blocks on one side at a time then to the floor. Success!

Notes
The blue tape worked great, I use it for everything.
Did not have any straws in the house so made them with paper and tape.
8 blocks worked great, 6 would be ok.
If you can find a Sumo Wrestler, he will have the skills to do all this without the props.
Or you could hire a plumber.

[George Bokros]

I just installed a new toilet. I put brass nuts on the bolts tightened to the flange to keep then straight up and used some plastic tubing I had to use to aid in aligning the toilet with the bolts.

[Jim Becker]

Quite often when we are working alone, some creativity and thoughtfulness is required to deal with heavy or awkward items. That was a good solution and yea, even small one-piece potties are heavy!

[mike stenson]

When we bought our house a couple years ago, it had 30 year old (pepto bismol pink) 2 piece, high flow, toilets. Since they were of that age, and the water here is quite hard.. they needed to be replaced (other than the color, which just wasn't good), since I had no interest in snaking the toilets out to flow again properly. One was in a space about 1' wider than the toilet.

So we selected some nice, two flush, one-piece toilets. I've probably set at least 1000 toilets in my life, and I'm not a small guy. Those one-piece toilets are awesome for cleaning but they still suck to install.

The wood blocks, that's a great idea. I was a masochist and just handheld the things. Well, until we hit the one that had a gap left and wouldn't sink down... Then I finally got smart and found a plumber who did side work, took him an hour of chiseling out concrete and setting a new drain pipe.

[Bill Dufour]

A. elongated bowl toilet feels about twice as heavy as a standard one. Cut the straw in 1/3 2/3 not 1/2 lengths so you only have to line one up at a time. I like the wood block idea.
I use the wax ring with rubber funnel. I just put it on the pipe and let gravity do it's thing.
Bill D

[Stan Calow]

Yeah, its harder than it should be. I had a plumber quote me $250 to re-seat a toilet. No thanks.

[Tom M King]

I just don't assemble the tank to the bowl until after the bowl is in place. I straddle the bowl, grab it with one hand on each side, and ease it down over the bolts.

One thing that has been changed for the better is closet bolts. You can now get nice ones made from stainless steel. Ones that may look like brass are often just brass coated steel, that will rust. The nice stainless steel sets even come with different lengths in the package, so you can use the right ones, and not have to cut, or snap off the bolts.

I also like the screw on caps better than the snap on ones.

[Mel Fulks]

The wax rings have worked for a long time,but the new seals made of medical rubber are much better. They were in the
local stores for a while but now only a local plumbing specialty place has them. Easy to find on line. It's not unusual for the King of the house
to ruin his first seal.

[mike stenson]

I just don't assemble the tank to the bowl until after the bowl is in place. I straddle the bowl, grab it with one hand on each side, and ease it down over the bolts.
.

Ya can't disassemble 1 piece toilets. Ok, you can but they won't work afterwards ;)

[Mel Fulks]

A friend with rental property reccomended the yellow auto body putty smoothers for perimeter shims.

[Jim Becker]

I just don't assemble the tank to the bowl until after the bowl is in place. I straddle the bowl, grab it with one hand on each side, and ease it down over the bolts..

OP was doing a one-piece, so that time honored technique wasn't able to be used.

[Tom M King]

Sorry, I missed that. I do them all the same way, with the weight hanging straight down. Any method is a good method if you don't hurt yourself doing it.

[Todd Mason-Darnell]

Another trick is to install the wax ring on the toilet first and then put it down on the bolts.

Also, the new medical rubber rings are great.