Toilet Rough-In - what gives????

I simply do not understand what is being passed off as toilet rough-in these days. Shouldn't the back of the tank be flush against the wall with a correctly measured rough-in (closet bolts to wall)??? Why am I getting a 1 and half inch gap behind the toilet tank?? Seems this is the case with many different mfg. these days. Thanks Gene An allowance of 12-13 from the center of the drain pipe to the finished wall is normal. In some instances you will have a gap behind the toilet. Better to have a gap and be able to wallpaper or paint behind it than to have it jammed. Yeah but it looks rediculous to have a 2.25 inch gap between tank and wall. Seems like they are pawning off excess inventory 10 in. rough in toilets as 12 in. rough-in. I've noticed this phenomenon in some American Standard, Gerber, Glacier Bay, and Waterridge units. Now I have to buy an etagiere for $100 to cover up this unsightly gap. This is nuts.... All offsets are plainly marked on the box, so it would seem buying the toilet may have been just as much a problem as someone pawning it off. 10 offset toilets are almost a specialty item. Measure from your bolts to the wall and see if it is 12 or 14. The rough in could have been off a little as well. I have never had a problem with any of the brands you mentioned leaving a 2 gap behind the tank. Larry, Maybe you should abide by your own signature line a tad more and actually read what other people are saying. I can read specs off a box - when they say it is a 12 rough-in, I expect the toilet dimensions measured from floor bolt to the back of the tank to be about 11 3/4 - 12 inches. I don't expect that to measure 10 inches if the box says 12 inches. What I am finding is that many of these so-called 12 toilets are actually 10. Even the the floor person at Home Depot agreed with me when I put the measuring tape to some of the display models they had. Most were off though it seemed that Kohler tended to have the proper measurement on their models. Hope that clarifies the issue for you. Gene Gene: I was reading what you wrote, but it seemed you were blaming the manufacturer for producing inferiorly short toilets, and pawning them off as full size units. Like I said, I have installed my share of them, in different brands, and have never had the problem you are describing. HD may have put up the 10 back set units on their displays on purpose to save room, not sure. So measuring them isn't the same as measuring one in the box, which is advertised as a 12 back set. Sorry if I came on a little strong, but manufacturers are bound by standards and blanketly blaming the industry for a abnormality isn't fair. OK, I'll defer to your experience that there is no toilet industry conspiracy going on. But when I buy a 12 in toilet and it measures 10 in - that is a problem - no??? Anyway, I think I'm going to try leaning the tank backwards toward the wall a bit to see if that hides the gap a bit. Though it'll probably look worse cause the top of the tank will not be level. We'll see.... Did some research on this by looking up the specs on differnt mfg websites. What they all show is that a 12 in rough-in toilet on average leaves about a 1 inch gap behind the tank. So if you want the tank to actually be flush with the wall you would have to measure about 11 inches from wall to flange bolt. I have a Crane in my home that sets out 1 1/2 from wall and rough in is 12 from finished drywall. On another job I just installed a American Standard Cadet 3-12 Rough in, and it sets out 1 3/4 from 12 finished drywall. Both of these rough in's are dead on 12. Looks like hell doesn't it? Born 40 years to soon. Best info given: IT VARIES BY MANUFACTURER I looked all over the Web to find any useful info about toilet rough-ins. I'm posting this in hopes that it may help some future soul. I just renovated my bathroom, adding 3/8 paneling. This, of course, was just thick enough so that the toilet no longer fit! It's 10.5 inches from the drain center to the wall. I knew that some 12 models give as much as 2 clearance in the back. I already had the bowl in place with a new wax seal. If only I could swap to a tank that wasn't so deep to the wall! I'm dreaming, right? The cardinal rule seemed to be, tanks and bowls of different brands are not compatible. Even the salesperson at HD insisted this fact. But my measurements indicated otherwise. That $30 Glacier Bay tank at HD sure looked like it would fit on my American Standard Cadet, and it sure looked narrower front-to-back, though I couldn't measure it in the store. So, I bit my lip and bought the darn thing, took it out to the car, opened and measured it. Sure enough, 3/4 less depth from the tank bolts to the back than my present tank. Tank holes were in the right place, gasket looked the same. Well, to make a long story even longer, brought it home and it fits perfectly! Glacier Bay tank, American Standard bowl, didn't have to buy a 10 rough in toilet. New tank clears the wall, just fine. Manufacturers don't publish the tank clearance dimensions. Cross compatibility info? Good luck with that! Just one lone poster here to say that I tempted fate, rolled the dice and won! :-)

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