Removing a toilet is a job most homeowners can do in under an hour with a wrench, a bucket and a pair of gloves. The part that goes wrong is never the lifting; it is what people find underneath, and what they do about it. This guide walks through the removal step by step, then tells you honestly which four things mean you should put the wrench down and call.
To remove a toilet: shut off the supply valve behind it, flush and sponge out the remaining water, disconnect the supply line, pry off the bolt caps and remove the two nuts at the base, rock the bowl to break the wax seal, lift it straight up and set it on cardboard. Stuff a rag in the open drain. The whole job takes 30 to 60 minutes. Stop and call a plumber if the floor around the base is soft, the flange is cracked or below the floor, the bolts are rusted solid, or you are moving the toilet to a new location.
- Turn the water off first and confirm it is off: the tank should not refill after a flush.
- A toilet weighs 60 to 120 pounds. Lift with a helper or remove the tank first on a two-piece model.
- The wax ring never goes back on. A new one is a few dollars; a reused one leaks under the floor.
- The flange, the ring of metal or plastic the toilet bolts to, decides whether the new toilet will seal. Check it before you buy anything.
- A toilet that rocked before removal was already leaking under the floor. Expect to find a damaged flange or a wet subfloor.
What you will need
- Adjustable wrench or a 1/2-inch socket for the base nuts
- Flat screwdriver or putty knife for the bolt caps and the old wax
- Large sponge, a cup and a bucket
- Old towels and a square of cardboard or a tarp
- Rubber gloves, and a rag big enough to plug a 3- or 4-inch drain
- Penetrating oil if the bolts are old
- For reinstalling: a new wax ring (or a waxless seal), new closet bolts, and a new supply line
Step 1: Shut off the water and confirm it
The shutoff valve is on the wall or floor behind the toilet, usually on the left. Turn it clockwise until it stops. Then flush. If the tank starts to refill, the valve is not holding; turn it further, or if it will not close, shut the house off at the main. In older Houston homes these small valves have often not been turned in years and will weep or seize. If it weeps, plan to replace it while the toilet is off; a plumber calls this an angle stop and it takes minutes with the fixture out of the way.
Step 2: Empty the tank and the bowl
Flush once with the valve closed. Hold the handle down so the tank drains as far as it can. Sponge the last inch out of the tank and the bowl into the bucket. The less water left, the less you carry across the bathroom. A wet-dry vacuum does this faster if you have one.
Step 3: Disconnect the supply line
The supply line runs from the shutoff valve to the fill valve under the left side of the tank. Loosen the nut at the tank end by hand or with the wrench, and have the towel ready for the cup of water that comes out. If the line is old braided steel or, worse, the chrome-plated rigid type, do not plan to reuse it. A new braided stainless line costs little and is where most post-reinstall leaks come from.
Step 4: Remove the tank, if it is a two-piece toilet
This is optional but makes the lift safer. Inside the tank, two or three bolts run down through the tank into the bowl. Hold the bolt head with a screwdriver inside the tank and loosen the nuts underneath. Lift the tank straight up and set it on the towels. One-piece toilets skip this step and simply weigh more.
Step 5: Expose and remove the base bolts
Pry off the plastic caps at the base on each side. Under them are the nuts on the closet bolts that hold the toilet to the flange. Turn them counterclockwise. If a bolt spins with the nut, hold the bolt head with pliers from above. If the nuts are rusted and will not move, soak them in penetrating oil for ten minutes; if that fails, a hacksaw blade between the nut and the porcelain cuts the bolt. Protect the porcelain with a piece of cardboard.
Step 6: Break the seal and lift
Straddle the bowl, grip it at the sides near the floor and rock it gently side to side. You will feel the wax seal let go. Lift straight up, not at an angle, or the bolts will catch. Set the toilet on the cardboard on its side, away from the work area. The underside will have old wax on it; that is normal.
Step 7: Plug the drain
The open pipe in the floor is the sewer. It will release gas into the bathroom and it will swallow anything that falls in. Stuff a rag in it immediately, large enough that it cannot fall through. Leave a tail of it hanging out so it cannot be forgotten.
Step 8: Scrape the flange clean
Scrape every trace of old wax off the flange with the putty knife and wipe it down. Now look at what you have. The flange is a ring, usually PVC or cast iron, bolted or glued to the drain pipe, with two slots for the closet bolts. In a healthy installation it sits on top of the finished floor, or no more than a quarter inch below it, it is round, and it is firmly attached.
Step 9: Inspect the floor
Press on the floor around the flange. It should feel solid. Look for staining, soft spots or swollen wood in the subfloor, and for cracked or loose tile. A toilet that rocked, or that leaked at the base, has usually been seeping into this spot for months.
Step 10: Decide what happens next
If the flange is sound and the floor is solid, you are ready to reinstall: new closet bolts in the flange slots, a new wax ring pressed onto the toilet's outlet (or onto the flange, depending on the ring type), lower the toilet straight down over the bolts, press it to the floor without rocking, tighten the nuts evenly and gently (porcelain cracks), reconnect the supply, turn the water on slowly and check the base dry after several flushes.
If any of the four things below is true, this is the point to stop.
The four signs to stop and call
1. The flange is cracked, broken or rusted through
Cast iron flanges in homes from the 1950s to 1970s rust until the bolt slots break away. PVC flanges crack when a toilet has been over-tightened or has rocked for years. A new toilet set on a broken flange will not seal, and the wax ring will leak under the floor from day one. The fix is a repair ring, a replacement flange, or on cast iron sometimes a cut and a new fitting. It is a plumber's job because the drain pipe is involved.
2. The flange sits below the floor
If a new floor was tiled over the old one, the flange can end up half an inch or more below the finished surface. A standard wax ring cannot bridge that gap. There are extender kits and extra-thick rings, and there is a point where they stop working. A plumber will tell you which you have.
3. The subfloor is soft or wet
A spongy floor around the drain means water has been getting into the wood. Setting a toilet on it is setting a toilet on something that will fail. The floor needs opening and repairing first, and in a slab-foundation Houston home a wet area around the flange can mean the drain itself is leaking under the concrete, which needs a camera inspection, not a wax ring.
4. You are moving the toilet, not replacing it
Moving a toilet even a foot means moving the drain and the vent, and in a slab home that means cutting concrete. It is a permitted plumbing job in Houston. The removal steps above still apply, but what follows is not a DIY project.
Reinstalling: the three mistakes that cause leaks
- Reusing the wax ring, or setting the toilet down, lifting it to adjust, and setting it again. Once the ring is compressed it is done. If the toilet has to come back up, use a new ring.
- Over-tightening the base nuts. Snug plus a quarter turn. Porcelain cracks silently and the leak shows up a week later.
- Leaving the old supply line and the old shutoff valve. Both are at the end of their lives if the toilet is.
How long it takes, and what it costs to get wrong
Removal is 30 to 60 minutes. Removal and reinstalling the same toilet with a new ring is one to two hours. Discovering a broken flange adds a trip to the store and, for most people, a phone call. Getting it wrong costs a wet ceiling in the room below, or in a slab home, a stained floor and a smell that does not go away.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to remove the tank to remove a toilet?
No, but it makes the lift safer. A two-piece toilet with the tank removed weighs about half as much. One-piece toilets cannot be split and need two people.
Can I reuse the wax ring?
No. A wax ring seals by being compressed once. Lifting the toilet breaks that seal and the wax does not recover. A new ring costs a few dollars; a reused one leaks under the floor where you cannot see it.
What is the ring the toilet bolts to called?
The closet flange, or toilet flange. It connects the toilet to the drain pipe and anchors the closet bolts. Its condition decides whether the toilet will seal.
Why did my toilet rock before I removed it?
Either the bolts had loosened or the flange underneath had broken. In both cases the wax seal was no longer tight and water was escaping under the floor with each flush. Expect to find a damaged flange or a wet subfloor when you lift it.
Do I need a permit to remove or replace a toilet in Houston?
Replacing a toilet in the same location does not need a permit. Moving it to a new location changes the drain and vent and does need a permit and a licensed plumber.
How much water comes out when I remove a toilet?
About a cup from the supply line and whatever you could not sponge out of the trap, usually less than a quart. Towels and a bucket handle it.
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