Fixture Installation and Replacement

The closet flange is the one thing nobody can quote sight unseen. Until the toilet is off the floor and the old wax is scraped away, nobody knows what shape it is in. Cast-iron flanges crack at the bolt slots. Plastic ones warp. A flange sitting below the finished floor because somebody tiled over the original level cannot compress a wax ring, which is usually why a reset toilet rocks and weeps at the base.

None of that is hard to fix. A repair ring, a spacer stack, or cutting the pipe back and setting a new flange level with the finished floor. It is an extra part and extra time, and we would rather say so on the day than pretend the possibility does not exist.

Supply stops are the other one. Older multi-turn stops often will not close after twenty years untouched, or they close and then weep from the packing nut. A dead stop gets replaced with a quarter-turn ball stop while the fixture is off anyway. In a house the main goes down for a few minutes. In a condo, isolating a riser is building management's call and needs notice.

Rough-in matters on toilets. Twelve inches from the finished wall to the centre of the closet bolts is standard, but ten and fourteen inch rough-ins exist and older Toronto houses turn them up regularly. Measure before you buy.

A faucet is a body, a cartridge and a finish. The body rarely fails. The cartridge is a wear part, and whether you can still buy it in five years is the biggest difference between a fixture that lasts and one that gets thrown out. Moen, Delta, Kohler and American Standard standardize cartridges across long product runs, so a worn one is still a shelf item years later. Several cheaper big-box lines have no serviceable cartridge at all: the valve is moulded into the body, and when it drips, the fix is a new faucet. A cheap faucet is not cheap, it is deferred.

Shower valves deserve separate thought because they live inside the wall. A pressure-balance valve holds the hot and cold ratio steady when somebody flushes elsewhere in the house. A thermostatic valve holds a set temperature and lets you control volume separately, which is what you want with a rain head and a hand shower on one system. Choose for what the shower will eventually be, because changing it later means opening the wall.

For accessibility, comfort-height toilets sit noticeably taller than a standard bowl and make a real difference to anyone with knee or hip trouble. Single-lever handles beat cross handles for limited grip strength. Grab bar blocking has to go in while the wall is open, so raise it at the quote stage.

Plenty of customers buy their own fixtures, often because a designer specified a finish or the piece came out of a showroom. We install them, and the terms are simple. We stand behind our labour and the materials we supply. The fixture carries whatever the manufacturer offers, and a cartridge that is defective out of the box is a return between you and the retailer.

Unbox everything beforehand and check the parts list is complete. Missing mounting hardware, a rough-in valve body sold separately from the trim kit, and a tub filler needing a different drain assembly than the one in your floor are the three things that turn a booked morning into a second visit. Send us the model numbers ahead and we will flag anything obvious.

• Toilets, including comfort-height, one-piece and wall-hung units
• Kitchen, bar and prep sinks with faucets and garburators
• Vanities, tops, bathroom faucets and pop-up drain assemblies
• Tub and shower valves, trim kits, diverters and hand showers
• Freestanding and drop-in tubs with their filler and drain assemblies
• Laundry sinks and laundry tubs
• Frost-free sillcocks and outdoor hose bibbs
• Filtered drinking-water taps and instant-hot units