Do-it-yourself toilet installation

For a long time, our fellow citizens have a deeply rooted tradition to carry out most of the repair and construction work, if possible, by hand. This applies both to the construction of a garden house and to the renovation of your own apartment. Indeed, in order to paste over the walls of your home with wallpaper or paint the doors, it is not necessary to invite a team of painters. However, in the minds of many of our fellow citizens, a certain fear of the plumbing filling of our apartment is firmly entrenched..

We used to send SOS to the housing office in the event of a tap leak or clogged sewer pipes and wait for Afoni’s visit. Fortunately, at one time this visit cost three rubles or a unit of “liquid currency”. But now that the cost of installing plumbing equipment is approaching the cost of the equipment itself, it makes sense to consider expanding your repair qualifications. Let’s, without wasting on trifles, start right away from the serious. With toilet replacement.

Supply and outlet plumbing communications

To begin with, let’s figure out the principle of plumbing in a typical apartment. Let’s imagine the system as a whole. From the moment the water comes in until the moment it leaves our apartment.

First of all – supply pressure pipes. They are usually made of steel. Although recently copper is becoming more and more widespread. Copper pipes are much more expensive, but incomparably more durable, since they do not rust. Steel pipes are produced non-galvanized, and therefore prone to corrosion (the so-called black), and galvanized. Even freshly made black pipes can be easily distinguished by their distinct longitudinal welds. In galvanized pipes, an anti-corrosion layer with a thickness of at least 40 microns is applied both to the outer and inner surfaces..

Pipes are distinguished by the nominal diameter (DN), i.e. by the size of the inner diameter. Depending on the thickness of the walls, water pipes are divided into light, ordinary and reinforced. To connect them, couplings, tees, transitions and other fittings with threads are used. Pipes of the same diameter are connected with straight lines, and pipes of different diameters – with transition couplings. When turning the pipeline, angle couplings are used. Branches are carried out using tees. For the installation of pipe crossings in one plane, crosses are installed.

Now let’s turn to the drainage pipes. They are made from gray cast iron. The outer and inner surfaces of the pipes are covered with a layer of petroleum bitumen. This layer provides anti-corrosion protection and reduces the friction of water against the inner surface of the pipes. Considering the need for careful sealing, the connection of sewer pipes requires special attention. The cylindrical part of one pipe is inserted into the socket of the other, the gap between them is caulked with resin strands (tow) and coined with a cement-sand mortar.

Siphons are installed at the entrance to the sewer pipes. They are mounted at the points where plumbing equipment is connected to the drainage line. Siphons are a kind of hydraulic valves that block the access of gases from the sewer network to the room.

Having mastered the principle of operation of the supply and outlet plumbing lines, you can go to the main topic of this article – installing a toilet.

Toilet and installation

There are three main ways to fix the toilet to the floor:

1) you can simply fix it on a cement or tile floor with screws screwed into the dowels;
2) the second method is as old as the world, somewhat more complicated, but more reliable. The toilet is attached to taffeta, a wooden board recessed into the floor recess. Taffeta is made from well-rolled, durable wood (for example, oak). Anchors are installed from the bottom of the taffeta to ensure its reliability in the floor. The simplest anchors can be nails driven in a checkerboard pattern and protruding from the taffeta by 20-30 mm. The recess in the floor is filled with a cement-sand mortar, in which the taffeta with anchors is embedded, flush with the floor. After the mortar has set, the toilet is fixed with ordinary screws. The screws must be lubricated with grease or automotive graphite so that they can be easily turned away later. In both the first and second cases, rubber washers should be placed under the screw heads to prevent damage to the toilet seat;
3) you can install the toilet with epoxy glue. First of all, it is necessary to clean the glued surfaces from dirt and degrease them thoroughly. The surfaces should then be roughened with corundum stone and degreased again. A layer of resin 4-5 mm thick is applied to the supporting surface and the toilet is pressed firmly against the floor.

In the second and third cases, for complete setting of the solution or epoxy resin, an exposure should be given for at least 10-12 hours. So, you may have to visit neighbors or the nearest paid establishment several times..

In order to avoid embarrassment, it is necessary to carefully connect to the branch line. The part of the toilet that is directly connected to the drain is called the outlet. The outlet can be straight (vertical) or oblique (angled).

It has external grooves, which should be smeared with red lead diluted in drying oil, after which the release should be tightly wrapped with a resin strand. In this case, the strand should not reach the end of the release by 3-4 mm. Otherwise, it may fall into the pipe and cause a blockage. Further, the outlet is inserted into the socket of the sewer outlet, previously cleaned of the old sealant, and the annular gap is sealed with flagella made of linen yarn. After that, the gap is stamped with a cement-sand mortar. To prevent the caulking from chipping, it is useful to wrap a fresh seam with a bandage and coat it with the remaining solution.

Now the last operation remains – connecting the cistern. If the tank is attached directly to the toilet shelf, then the connection of the pipe to the neck is made only with a rubber cuff. A third of the cuff is put on the branch pipe, the other two thirds are turned inside out and pulled over it, exposing the end of the branch pipe. Then the branch pipe and the neck are aligned, and the turned-out part of the cuff is put on the neck. In some cases, the cistern is attached to the wall at some distance from the toilet. With this arrangement, a pipe is screwed to the tank, the opposite end of which is lubricated with red lead and wrapped in tow. The pipe and the neck of the toilet bowl are connected with a cuff fixed to the pipe with a thin wire. The final touch – feeding the cistern from the supply water pipe and adjusting the water level in it.

ATTENTION: do not forget to turn off the water before starting work! The shut-off valve is located on the supply water pipe at the entrance to the apartment.