If you can't do it right...

Just don't do it.

I replaced one of the toilets in the house today. The original one always annoyed me because it had a hair-trigger seat and cover. It just loved to wait until you were in the middle of your business and then slam shut. On top of that, it had recently started rocking around on the base.

I removed it this morning and found that the closet flange had fractured on one side due to the toilet not being shimmed level at original installation.

This is what a closet flange should look like:



Now, there are several ways to repair a failed flange. Unfortunately, because of the way this one was concreted into the floor, none of them were applicable to my situation.

Here is a picture of the flange after I'd repaired it. (That's rust and leftover wax-gasket, by the way...)



What I ended up doing is purchasing a 1/4"-20 UNC drive-in anchor and a 1/4-20 Coupler nut. I hammerdrilled a hole for the anchor, set it with about 3/8" of threads above the nut and attached the coupler nut. That allowed me to attach the toilet to the floor using a socket head cap screw I had hanging around. I shimmed the corners of the unit so there is no longer significant stress on the remaining flange bolt.

Here is a picture of the final installation.



Now to wait for the first test.. Maybe I should go out and get some Taco Bell. Yeah... That oughta do it...