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Broken Plastic Toilet Flange Metal Repair Ring Installation Guide
How to fix a cracked plastic toilet flange with a Sioux Chief stainless steel repair ring and Tapcon concrete screws.

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Sioux Chief & Tapcon
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Snapped Plastic Toilet Flange
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Lower Metal Repair Ring
If you have a broken plastic toilet flange, you can either spend a lot of time chipping out the old one with a screwdriver and hammer to replace it with another weak plastic flange or just install a much stronger Sioux Chief stainless steel metal repair ring over the old cracked one.

For this procedure, you'll need a toilet flange repair ring, a masonry 5/32" x 3 1/2" masonry drill bit, a box of Tapcon 3/16" x 1 3/4" concrete screws, a sponge, some water, a towel and an electric drill.

The first two steps are to clean off any wax from the old toilet wax ring gasket and place a towel in the sewer pipe to prevent tools from falling down in to the pipe.

Lower the metal repair ring over the old damaged plastic toilet flange.



 
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Test Fit Closet Bolts
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Bosch Masonry Drill Bit
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Towel - Block Sewer Gas
Rotate the metal repair ring to the correct position.

Insert the closet bolts that will secure the toilet to the floor.

Once you are happy with the positioning of the metal repair ring, you can use a marker or the sharp tip of a screw to mark the spots where you will drill holes and install the screws.

I bought both a Bosch 5/32" masonry drill bit for standard rotary drills and also the Tapcon 5/32" brand brick and concrete drill bit that is supposed to be used with a hammer drill.

I was worried that one of the drill bits would wear out half way through the job and force me to order another drill bit.

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Wet Sponge - Apply Water
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Mark Spot To Drill Hole
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Second Screw Location
The trick for successfully drilling a hole through very hard ceramic tile such as this mosaic bathroom floor tile is to be patient, stop frequently, use a carbide drill bit and use a wet sponge to keep the drill bit cool.

Use an old kitchen sponge and soak it with water.

Avoid touching the electric drill with wet hands or the wet sponge. I recommend wearing some rubber gloves as an extra safety precaution.

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Keep Drill Bit Cool
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Slow & Steady - Tile
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First Screw Secured



 

Start drilling the hole on a slow speed to get through the old plastic toilet flange.

Then drill through the wet sponge and in to the hole that you previously started.

Apply light pressure to the drill and start drilling at a low to medium speed through the ceramic tile.

Stop drilling every 15 to 30 seconds, pull the drill bit out of the hole and place it on the sponge to cool it off.

You will notice the hot drill bit hissing and creating steam when you place it on the wet sponge.

Once you have drilled through the tile and in to the concrete, you can drive in the first Tapcon screw.

To drive in the concrete screw, use medium pressure on the electric drill and go at a medium speed with out stopping until the screw is flush with the metal repair ring.

Sometimes concrete screws can be hard to get going again if you stop with the screw half way in. I've read that another trick for preventing stuck or "frozen" concrete screws is to apply some screw wax lubricant or use as any wax based lip balm.

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Three Screws In Place
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Drive In Tapcon Screw
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Repair Ring Installed
Continue drilling the holes for the other three screws and remember to stop frequently to cool off the drill bit.

Drive in the three other screws to secure the metal repair ring.

Pull up on the metal repair ring to verify that it is securely in place.

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Plastic Flange Repaired
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Sani Seal Toilet Gasket
I highly recommend using the green foam rubber Sani Seal brand waxless toilet gasket instead of those messy wax rings.

I've used the Sani Seal gaskets several times in the past and they are great since you can re-position the toilet many times.

If you are using a traditional wax ring, you only get one chance to position the toilet.

For more, check out my other Home Repair & Maintenance Guides.
 

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