How to tell if an old toilet flange needs replacing when retiling
When retiling a bathroom, homeowners often uncover old plumbing and struggle to know whether existing cast iron flanges and pipes are safe to reuse or need replacement. Without clear guidance on evaluating their condition, it is difficult to know how to safely proceed with installing new wax rings and bolts.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1scraping off old wax ring detritus
- 2asking online recommendations for how to proceed with installation
- 3Leaving old non-leaking pipes alone
- 4Cleaning off oxidation manually
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.