Toilet platform repair

This last winter our toilet started making some squeaky sounds when someone sat on it. When I looked at it, I found that the plastic trim that covers the platform had cracks on the front. Whenever the toilet shifted a little, these cracks would rub and make the squeak sounds. OK, Why did it crack?

I installed this toilet a few years ago to replace the toilet the previous owner had installed., I didn’t think about it at the time, but when I looked at the toilet, I noticed the front of the toilet stuck out over the edge of the platform. Where it stuck out over the edge, the base was deforming because of the weight being concentrated at that one point (see photos). This concentrated weight also caused the cracks in the plastic platform cover.

With this toilet, the entire bottom of the toilet needs to be supported on the platform (or floor) to correctly distribute the weight loads; either move the toilet and its plumbing would need to be relocated back about 2 inches, or, I’d need to extend the platform out about 2 inches.

Although moving the toilet was the preferred solution, this would require redoing the riser, the toilet flange, and the black tank plumbing. and then repairing the old plastic trim. The other solution was to extend the platform out 2 inches so the front of the toilet was resting on it.

I decided to box in the existing platform and extend it out by a couple inches. I bought a 2×10 8ft long, and trimmed it so it was the same height as the old platform. I then used these to frame in the platform. To extend the front of the platform out, I used two of these 2×10 screwed together. This effectively extended the platform out by about 3 5/8 inches (the thickness of two 2x10s) I then cut a piece of 3/8 plywood for the new top. and screwed it to the new frame. The 2x10s I used had nice rounded edges, so when I trimmed these, I did it so one of these edges would be at the top front of the new platform and give a nice curve that the vinyl floor would adhere to.

I covered the entire platform, top and front, with a piece of vinyl flooring. I ran a bead of white silicon sealant around all the corners to to trim it out.

The base of the toilet now rests entirely on the riser,no more squeaks.

Toilet Platform