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December 12, 2008
New Toilet Comes Up Short
Q: Ed, I'm from Canada and we really enjoy your column up here as well! My situation is that I'm replacing one of my old toilets, and when I removed it, I found that the rough drain hole is 16" away from the wall. My new toilet has a drain that is a 12" rough. My present solution is to pad out the wall a few inches so the new toilet won't extend so far into the room. Any other ideas before I do all that work?
Jack, Canada
A: Greeting from New England, Jack, and hello to all my readers in Canada!
Good news: They do make special-order 14" rough drain toilets, and that was probably the type of toilet you removed. I suspect your old toilet did stick out from the wall an inch or two since your drain is "roughed-in" a little long, even for a 14" rough toilet.
Installing the 12" toilet on your 16" drain is not recommended since now you can end up with a 4" gap from wall to toilet tank. Also, the padded wall will be a lot more work than simply ordering a new 14" rough toilet.
Fortunately, most manufactures do make toilets in 10", 12" and 14" models, so the style and color of the new toilet you picked out should not change at all. Also, as long as a toilet is in its original packing and has not been installed, most home centers should give you full credit towards the special order toilet.
Sorry you had a such a "rough" break on this job, Jack!
Ed Del Grande, the author of Ed Del Grande's House Call, was born and raised in a family-owned plumbing business. With more than 25 years of experience in every aspect of construction, he holds current Master licenses in pipefitting, fire protection and plumbing. If you have a question for Ed, send him an e-mail at eddelgrande@hgtvpro.com.Posted by Ed Del Grande at December 12, 2008 2:39 PM
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