How to Fix the Floor if the New Toilet Footprint Is Smaller Than the Old Toilet

The toilet footprint is the floor space that the toilet bowl covers. When you remove an old toilet, an outline of the toilet base often remains, sometimes as an outline of caulk or as staining. Not all toilet footprints are the same size, and a new toilet with a smaller footprint allows the former toilet's footprint to show. Depending on just how stained or damaged the floor is after you remove the old toilet, choose the best method to remove the old toilet's footprint.

Things You'll Need

• Putty knife
• Rag
• Mop
• Cleanser

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Instructions

1. • 1

     Scrape the ring of caulk left by the old toilet from the floor, using a putty knife. Apply the proper cleaner to the floor area, depending on the flooring material, and scrub it with a rag, or mop it clean.

   • 2

     Refinish the bathroom floor in the area of the old toilet's footprint, if you are unable to remove the footprint by cleaning.

   • 3

     Remove the bathroom flooring where the old toilet's footprint has left stains that you can't get off. Install new flooring, making sure that it goes around the closet flange.