Why Install a Toilet

The installation of a toilet is a quite easy job for a homeowner with a couple of wrenches, screwdrivers and a few shims, if proper plumbing is in place. Toilets are generally sold with all the necessary materials and instructions guide for installation. Toilets are easily available at any home improvement stores or plumbing supply centers. There are many kinds of toilets in the stores. A gravity flush generally varies between $150 and $300, whereas a pressure flush system may even cost double or even triple.

What Tools You Need

While installing a toilet, we need to have a set of tools as well as the required materials too. These include mainly the putty knife, wax bowl ring, flange bolts, silicone caulk, caulking gun, water supply tube, level and a plumber's putty with wood shims. Firstly, before starting the installation of a toilet, turn off the water supply and remove the old toilet. Use a putty knife to scrape the remains of the old wax gasket from the floor flange. Make sure that the place for the installation is made clean and free from water damages or needs any repairs to the floor.

Install The Toilet

Take a new wax bowl ring with a plastic collar and fit it over the floor flange with a gentle press into the place. Now turn the new toilet bowl upside down and try to fix wax ring over the horn on the bottom of the bowl. Take a bead of silicone caulk and run it around the base of the toilet. After creating a seal with the caulk, turn the toilet bowl with right side up and lower it on the top of the flange. Now place the toilet bowl on the actual position and use the shims to level it.

After placing the toilet bowl on firm position, place nuts on the bolts and tighten them with a wrench. Just make sure that the toilet bowl is tight enough and does not rock, but do not over tight it to avoid the cracks in the toilet bowl. Now attach the flexible supply tube with the water supply and tighten the coupling nut to avoid leakage. In case of a one piece model, attach flexible supply tube to the tank on the left. But in case of the two piece model, the tank is attached to the bowl by inserting the tank bolts into the tank.

On placing the tank on the toilet bowl, guide the tank bolts into the holes in the toilet bowl. Place a nylon washer onto each bolt and tighten the nuts onto the bolts. Check that the tank is leveled. Now attach the flexible supply tube to the tank and make sure that the tank's handle is connected to the flapper chain inside the tank. Now, slowly turn on the water so that tank gets filled up and check out for any leaks and thus tighten the nuts that appear to leak. Finally, seal the space between the floor and the bowl with caulk of your favorite color.