Installing a toilet flange

[FGH]

Hi All:

New to the forum.
Here is my situation: Finishing a bathroom in our basement. Our concrete slab has hydronic heat tubing running through it. In the bathroom, I tiled the floor w/pocelain tile right up to the toilet drain stack. I am ready to install the toilet but need to know the best way to install the flange. I am real leary drilling into the tile & concrete because I don't know exactly where the heat tubing is run.

Questions:

What is the best flange type to use? (PVC rough in)
Suggestions on securing it to the floor?
I assume it can be installed on top of the tile?

Thanks in advance
FGH

 

[phishfood]

Is the pipe that is roughed in a 4" pipe? If so, a 4"x3" closet flange will glue inside of it. Use a reciprocating saw to cut the pipe off flush with the floor, and glue the flange down. It is BEST to tapcon the flange down to the floor, but a dirty little secret for you. Many times, with the 4" pipe through the concrete floor, the flange doesn't get screwed down. And, for the most part, there is never a problem.

 

[Plbgbear]

ditto what phish said. Lots of times the flange does'nt get anchored to the floor. Just make sure you have a good glue joint and you should'nt have a problem.

 

[FGH]

What should I do if the flange barely goes in the waste pipe? After I cut the waste pipe flush to the floor, I tried fitting the flange. Barely went in 1/4". It feels like the inside wall of the waste drain is a little irregular. Can I sand it with fine grit sandpaper or emery cloth? I definitely want to test seat the flange before I get happy with the PVC cement.

FGH

 

[phishfood]

If it only goes in 1/4", you might have trouble getting the flange to sit down flush to the floor. But if you have a claw hammer close, you could try gluing the flange in and stepping on it. If it doesn't go down all the way, you can use the hammer to pry it back out, and then use a coarse 1/2 round file to open things up a little bit.