How to Build a Cabana Toilet

Ensure your cabana has running water and sewer line hookups. If not, hire a plumbing professional to run the lines for you. She can ensure the sewer lines are angled properly and that everything runs below the frost line in your area.

Remove the cap covering the toilet’s drainpipe. Insert the toilet flange into the drain and screw it down into place. Align the floor bolts perpendicular to the floor, positioned at the 3 and 9 o’clock positions as you face the wall.

Unpack the toilet and installation kits. Most toilets come in two pieces. Work with the bowl portion first. Flip the bowl upside down. Put the wax ring from the installation kit onto the toilet horn, then screw the sleeve into place on top of it.

Roll the plumber’s putty in your hand until you have a snake-shaped tube of it about ½-inch thick. Apply it to the toilet’s bottom edge. Add more putty until the bottom of the toilet is completely ringed with it.

Turn the toilet upside down and hold it up off the ground. Move it over the toilet flange, keeping your eye on the floor bolts. Put the toilet down on top of the flange so that the floor bolts thread up through the holes on either side of the toilet’s base.

Straddle the toilet bowl and use your weight to push it straight down. Compress the wax ring and the plumber’s putty. Attach a washer to each floor bolt, followed by a nut. Tighten the nut with the adjustable wrench. Cover the exposed ends of the floor bolts with the trim caps.

Turn the toilet tank upside down. Place the spud washer over the flush valve in the center of the tank bottom. Flip the tank right side up and lower it onto the bowl. Center the spud washer over the water inlet opening on the bowl.

Watch the holes for the tank bolts as you settle the tank into place; they need to line up with the holes for them on the bowl. Once they are aligned, place rubber washers on the tank bolts, then slide the bolts home through the holes. From the underside of the tank and bowl, put washers and nuts on the ends of the tank bolts. Tighten the nuts with the ratchet wrench.

Attach one end of the water supply tubing to the water shutoff valve on the wall or rising from the floor. Attach the other end to the fill valve on the toilet tank. Tighten the coupling nuts on the shutoff valve and fill valve with the adjustable wrench until the supply tubing is held firmly in place.

Put the toilet seat into place on top of the bowl. Thread the seat bolts through the holes in the back of the seat and the holes in the back of the bowl. Place the mounting nuts on the bottom of the bolts and tighten them by hand or with an adjustable wrench.

Install a ballcock and flush lever according to the manufacturer’s instructions, if these come as part of your toilet interior parts. If not, purchase a toilet tank flush kit at a home improvement store and follow the directions that come with it to install it.

Place the lid on the toilet tank and turn the water shutoff valve to the on position, so the tank fills with water.