boltsfloorplumbing-fixturetoilet
My mom has an older toilet. When is became loose, in order to tighten the bolts she had to hire someone to go under the house.
We just got a new toilet. I was hoping to install it as a d.i.y project. In this case, will someone need to go under the house in order to install the new floor bolts that came with the purchased toilet? Or should we be able to place them from inside and tighten them?
The caps come with a washer-type thing that they clip into:
Your toilet clearly does not have these clips. Using silicone is most definitely not the correct way to attach these, so maybe the installer lost the clips or just has never installed a toilet before?
It's normal to cut the bolts to length, as the length needed depends on the thickness of your floor. The nice way to do this is with a tool that has a cut-off wheel (eg, Dremel), the not-so-nice way is a pair of cutters since it leaves the edges sharp, but if the cap is attached correctly it shouldn't matter.
Here's what it looks like normally (via Handymanhowto), the clips are clear in this case:
As long as the wood that you use to construct your bed frame is strong enough in its own right to be used as a bed frame you should have no problems supporting the frame from both ends by bolting into the concrete wall.
Bolts that are 1/2" in diameter should be plenty strong in shear to support a bed frame mounted in this manner. Three or four equally spaced bolts per end would give you an even distribution of support for the frame at each of the concrete walls. If you can penetrate the walls by two to three inches and install good quality anchors there should be no problems with the bolts staying tight and in place. Using a drop-in internally threaded anchor type should provide you the ability to use standard threaded bolts that can then be removed easily with the anchor staying in place in the wall. If you look at the RM-12 type you'll need 5/8 inch holes in the wall that are a minimum of 2" deep. This type of anchor also includes the need of a setting tool to expand the anchor into the concrete before installing the threaded bolts. The RM-12 offers a 3/4" thread depth.
For best application of the bed frame it would be recommended to build it to fit to the shape of the walls so that the end pieces can be solidly bolted up to the wall. If you elect to stay with the rectangular frame and then I would recommend that backer be placed behind the end piece where each bolt is located. Obviously a wedge piece, as you surmised, would be the best as a full length backer. If you do go with just backer blocks or the wedge one way to get a nice look would be to add an additional facer trim board as shown below. If the gap out of square across the width of the bed is only 1" you will never notice it once you get a matress and bedding up on the deck.
Best Answer
A typical toilet has a flange that's bolted to the floor and stays there.
Bolts are then turn upside down, with the head down, and the toilet sits on these. The threaded end faces up and the nut goes onto it.
So, a typical toilet install is closet bolts that have threads facing up. No need to go under the floor, be it a 3rd floor bathroom, a 1st floor bathroom or a basement bathroom.