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Ken
 
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Default What's this toilet base thingy?

If you are so inclined, please take a look he

http://www.flickr.com/photos/54844326@N00/17799293/

What's the purpose of that marble base under the toilet?

This is in a bathroom that was added on to our house I'm guessing in
the 1950's. I'm just curious why its there at all. It looks like it
was installed when the bathroom was built, so I don't think there was a
need to adjust the floor height to the waste flange height or anything
like that.

We're gutting and redoing the bathroom (don't you just love those
plastic tiles on the wall?), and my wife wants to keep that marble
base. New floor will probably be 1 inch hexagon tiles, and it seems to
me it will just be extra work for the tile guy to tile around that base
rather than just tiling all the way up to the flange. All plumbing
will be new, including a new flange set in the floor, so the new flange
can be set to whatever height is necessary for the tile thickness.

Ken

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Looks like the tan floor was there with a big old toilet on it. Then
they wanted a new toilet but when they removed the one with the larger
footprint there was a gap in the tan flooring material that was not
covered by the newer toilet. So they improvised and put down a piece
of material to cover the gap.

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Heathcliff
 
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Ken,

The purpose is that your wife likes it! What else do you need to
know???

It's a little hard to tell from the photo, is it flush with the floor
or does it raise the toilet some? If the latter someone might have
done it in part to raise the level. If flush, maybe that was just
someone's idea of a high class touch, or they wanted an extra-stable
base for the toilet.

It will not be a big deal for a professional tiler to tile around it.
They might recommend putting some sort of tile border around it.

-- H

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AutoTracer
 
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One would have needed to support the edges of the stone to prevent it from
cracking since there is no subfloor beneith it. Notching the joists may
have been necessary to prevent it from being too high. Perhaps the original
installation had a nicer floor and the remodel in the 70's removed it in
favor of what you have now.

At least its not round. The tilesetter will deal with it like a wall and
only needs to make straight cuts (may even be able to score and break).

In remodeling and even in original construction, some materials like that
get used just because someone has it and is looking for an application. It
may have had an earlier life as a table top.


"Ken" wrote in message
ups.com...


wrote:
Looks like the tan floor was there with a big old toilet on it. Then
they wanted a new toilet but when they removed the one with the larger
footprint there was a gap in the tan flooring material that was not
covered by the newer toilet. So they improvised and put down a piece
of material to cover the gap.


The toilet itself is relatively new, there is a date stamped inside the
tank in the 1970's, so it was replaced at some point. There are stains
around the edges that show the outline of a previous toilet.

I'm pretty sure that the marble baseplate was there when the bathroom
was originally installed since if you look at the underside of it from
the basement, someone went to a lot of trouble to frame around the
edges of the baseplate with no other subfloor under the baseplate.
They even cut a joist out and attached the cut ends of the joist to the
adjacent joists with headers. There doesn't appear to be any need to
do that (no plumbing was in the way) other than someone wanted the
edges of that baseplate to be supported by framing members.

Ken





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G Henslee
 
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Ken wrote:
If you are so inclined, please take a look he

http://www.flickr.com/photos/54844326@N00/17799293/

What's the purpose of that marble base under the toilet?

This is in a bathroom that was added on to our house I'm guessing in
the 1950's. I'm just curious why its there at all. It looks like it
was installed when the bathroom was built, so I don't think there was a
need to adjust the floor height to the waste flange height or anything
like that.



Whatever the initial reason for it, it's not needed. Why keep it?


and my wife wants to keep that marble
base.


Oh ;o) Well, it may be easier to keep clena that the grout directly
around the stool. You'll have plenty of grout to keep clean with the 1"
mosaic your planning on installing.
  #7   Report Post  
badgolferman
 
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Ken, 6/6/2005, 10:17:28 AM,
.com wrote:

If you are so inclined, please take a look he

http://www.flickr.com/photos/54844326@N00/17799293/

What's the purpose of that marble base under the toilet?


[snipped]

It's a trap door to the Underworld!!! They get you when you are in the
most vulnerable position. You're a fearless man for sitting on that
commode. Since your wife wants to keep it I would be very suspicious
of her and start looking around the house for other signs of Black
Magic.

--
No matter what happens, someone will find a way to take it too
seriously.
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Ken
 
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Heathcliff wrote:
Ken,

The purpose is that your wife likes it! What else do you need to
know???


Well, you're right on that one! I suppose I shouldn't have even
bothered to ask the question. :-)


It's a little hard to tell from the photo, is it flush with the floor
or does it raise the toilet some? If the latter someone might have
done it in part to raise the level. If flush, maybe that was just
someone's idea of a high class touch, or they wanted an extra-stable
base for the toilet.


It slightly raised compared to the floor around it, however, there
appears to be at least two layers of vinyl flooring, so I suppose it
used to be raised even more than the surrounding floor.


It will not be a big deal for a professional tiler to tile around it.
They might recommend putting some sort of tile border around it.

-- H


Thanks for the info!

Ken

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Ken
 
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It's a trap door to the Underworld!!! They get you when you are in the
most vulnerable position. You're a fearless man for sitting on that
commode. Since your wife wants to keep it I would be very suspicious
of her and start looking around the house for other signs of Black
Magic.

--


Ahhh... A good point! My wife likes to experiment when she cooks, so
I'll be extra suspicious when she serves something that is just for me
and not for her or the kids!

Ken

  #10   Report Post  
Ken
 
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Heathcliff wrote:
Ken,

The purpose is that your wife likes it! What else do you need to
know???


Well, you're right on that one! I suppose I shouldn't have even
bothered to ask the question. :-)


It's a little hard to tell from the photo, is it flush with the floor
or does it raise the toilet some? If the latter someone might have
done it in part to raise the level. If flush, maybe that was just
someone's idea of a high class touch, or they wanted an extra-stable
base for the toilet.


It slightly raised compared to the floor around it, however, there
appears to be at least two layers of vinyl flooring, so I suppose it
used to be raised even more than the surrounding floor.


It will not be a big deal for a professional tiler to tile around it.
They might recommend putting some sort of tile border around it.

-- H


Thanks for the info!

Ken



  #11   Report Post  
JimL
 
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Default

On 6 Jun 2005 07:17:28 -0700, "Ken" wrote:

If you are so inclined, please take a look he

http://www.flickr.com/photos/54844326@N00/17799293/

What's the purpose of that marble base under the toilet?

This is in a bathroom that was added on to our house I'm guessing in
the 1950's. I'm just curious why its there at all. It looks like it
was installed when the bathroom was built, so I don't think there was a
need to adjust the floor height to the waste flange height or anything
like that.

We're gutting and redoing the bathroom (don't you just love those
plastic tiles on the wall?), and my wife wants to keep that marble
base. New floor will probably be 1 inch hexagon tiles, and it seems to
me it will just be extra work for the tile guy to tile around that base
rather than just tiling all the way up to the flange. All plumbing
will be new, including a new flange set in the floor, so the new flange
can be set to whatever height is necessary for the tile thickness.

Ken


Tell your wife that the marble base is ugly. It was used to cover
a mistake.


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AutoTracer
 
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If you plan to tile then you are probably going to put a cement board down
first as a substrate. this may bring the floor flush (pun) with the toilet
base. you could tile right over the marble using the mud bed to level any
step.


"JimL" wrote in message
...
On 6 Jun 2005 07:17:28 -0700, "Ken" wrote:

If you are so inclined, please take a look he

http://www.flickr.com/photos/54844326@N00/17799293/

What's the purpose of that marble base under the toilet?

This is in a bathroom that was added on to our house I'm guessing in
the 1950's. I'm just curious why its there at all. It looks like it
was installed when the bathroom was built, so I don't think there was a
need to adjust the floor height to the waste flange height or anything
like that.

We're gutting and redoing the bathroom (don't you just love those
plastic tiles on the wall?), and my wife wants to keep that marble
base. New floor will probably be 1 inch hexagon tiles, and it seems to
me it will just be extra work for the tile guy to tile around that base
rather than just tiling all the way up to the flange. All plumbing
will be new, including a new flange set in the floor, so the new flange
can be set to whatever height is necessary for the tile thickness.

Ken


Tell your wife that the marble base is ugly. It was used to cover
a mistake.




  #13   Report Post  
Colbyt
 
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"Ken" wrote in message
oups.com...
If you are so inclined, please take a look he

http://www.flickr.com/photos/54844326@N00/17799293/

What's the purpose of that marble base under the toilet?

This is in a bathroom that was added on to our house I'm guessing in
the 1950's. I'm just curious why its there at all. It looks like it
was installed when the bathroom was built, so I don't think there was a
need to adjust the floor height to the waste flange height or anything
like that.

We're gutting and redoing the bathroom (don't you just love those
plastic tiles on the wall?), and my wife wants to keep that marble
base. New floor will probably be 1 inch hexagon tiles, and it seems to
me it will just be extra work for the tile guy to tile around that base
rather than just tiling all the way up to the flange. All plumbing
will be new, including a new flange set in the floor, so the new flange
can be set to whatever height is necessary for the tile thickness.

Ken


We have a cultured marble base under our 1995 toilet. The reason it is
there is because we wanted a carpeted master bath. The builder chose to do
it this way. Two layers of vinyl would make it stick up above grade if we
had added two layers later.

Not sure if this is what happened in your case or not but I throw it out for
your consideration.

Colbyt


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Paul Franklin
 
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On 6 Jun 2005 07:17:28 -0700, "Ken" wrote:

If you are so inclined, please take a look he

http://www.flickr.com/photos/54844326@N00/17799293/

What's the purpose of that marble base under the toilet?

This is in a bathroom that was added on to our house I'm guessing in
the 1950's. I'm just curious why its there at all. It looks like it
was installed when the bathroom was built, so I don't think there was a
need to adjust the floor height to the waste flange height or anything
like that.

We're gutting and redoing the bathroom (don't you just love those
plastic tiles on the wall?), and my wife wants to keep that marble
base. New floor will probably be 1 inch hexagon tiles, and it seems to
me it will just be extra work for the tile guy to tile around that base
rather than just tiling all the way up to the flange. All plumbing
will be new, including a new flange set in the floor, so the new flange
can be set to whatever height is necessary for the tile thickness.

Ken


Have you had the toilet up? Sometimes older bathrooms had the drain
centerline closer to the back wall than is required for modern
toilets. You can get an offset flange that moves the drain opening a
couple of inches to compensate, but this raises the toilet and
therefore requires some sort of platform to provide clearance for the
offset flange. If you take the toilet up it will be obvious if an
offset flange has been installed.

This doesn't sound too likely in your case since it seems like you
have easy access to the plumbing so the drain could have been moved,
but I mention it as a possibility.

Another possibility is that someone just wanted the toilet a little
higher. These days you can get ADA toilets that are 2-3 inches higher
so they are easier to use for folks that have trouble getting down and
up off the lower height.

HTH,

Paul

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Goedjn
 
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On Mon, 06 Jun 2005 12:21:19 -0700, G Henslee
wrote:

Ken wrote:
If you are so inclined, please take a look he

http://www.flickr.com/photos/54844326@N00/17799293/

What's the purpose of that marble base under the toilet?


No grout lines.
I suspect that it's easy to clean, keeps
condensation and dribbling from other low-volume
water sources (Drunk men, small children, buckets
from somewhere else...) away from the surrounding
flooring where it would otherwise soak in and stink
and/or rot, and it's a dead-smooth surface to rest
the toilet base on so you don't have to worry
about making a grout-bed or using shims.

--Goedjn




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Posts: 1
Default What's this toilet base thingy?

replying to Paul Franklin, Suzyq wrote:
The toilet €śslab€ť ( 2 of which we own and LOVE) is a common thing in
Rochester area and NY in general. It may have been code in early days of
indoor plumbing but is so important when setting a crapper on wood flooring.
They are actually quite attractive and functional. Easy to clean and designed
to capture €śspills€ť as a by product of 3 males in the house, or
condensation. When we renovated our 1810 federal home which already had one of
these marble slabs I insisted they be replaced!!

--
for full context, visit https://www.homeownershub.com/mainte...gy-657813-.htm


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