I'm renovating the basement of a 50 year old house. I'd like to add a bathroom, as the nearest toilet is on the second floor. There is a cast iron soil pipe sticking up about 4 inches out of the concrete floor, and it has been sledgehammered partially closed and stuffed with rags. I believe, though, that it was used once, as an old toilet, no longer hooked up, sits beside it. So, how would you proceed to hook up a modern toilet to this soil pipe? I will not be building a subfloor, just installing commercial vinyl tile flooring.
Answer:
That's actually a clean out and your local building authority frowns on using it for a toilet base. In fact, they get downright nasty about it. I've seen it done but it means attaching a toilet flange to what is left of the pipe, and then building a base for the toilet to sit on. In fact this becomes the sub-floor for the bathroom.
