Why was a wooden Taffeta placed between the toilet bowl and the concrete floor in the USSR? Is it stupid? Not so simple

  • Jul 31, 2021

A lot has changed since the days of the Soviets, even toilets are installed differently. Now the "white friend" is mounted in several ways. With the help of screws and dowels, through specials. holes directly to the concrete floor or to the tiles.

Or excluding the intermediate stage in the form of drilling holes in the floor. Straight to the plumbing sealant. Here's my article on this: link.

What is taffeta and why is it needed between the toilet and the floor?

According to some building code, in every Soviet apartment, toilets were placed on wooden pads. But even now, sometimes these remnants of the past are found and they can be found in some new buildings:

This gasket was installed by the developer five years ago. WHY? Why not put the "White Friend" right on the tile? It turns out there are reasons for this, now I'll tell you about them:

  • The wood smoothed out uneven surfaces, ineptly laid tiles and poor-quality casting of the soles of the faience product. These moments were very common during the Soviet era.
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  • It was difficult to find good fastening of toilets to the floor, it is easier to "nail" a wooden block to the floor. And only then attach the toilet to the tree. Previously, nails with rubber, homemade carved caps were used for this business.
  • In new buildings, taffeta is used to smooth the surfaces because the quality of the tiles is low. And the toilet bowls are the cheapest, respectively curves. Plus, for construction sites, this product protects the faience from the sloppiness of installers (hitting the floor during installation).

Conclusion: The taffeta between the toilet and the floor is necessary to securely attach the "white friend". Thus, he did not shake and does not bother the owner in the "X" minutes.

Why is taffeta not used now when installing toilets?

  • The quality of the casting of the toilet bowls is good, laying the tiles exactly is not so difficult with the current possibilities.
  • Instead of gaskets, it is enough to use a sealant, thereby strengthening the toilet bowl and eliminating the ingress of moisture under the bowl.
  • Mounting kits are supplied with the sanitary ware.
  • And most importantly, taffeta is afraid of moisture, the wood absorbs it perfectly, rots and collapses. Naturally, toilets are a place of high humidity and a wooden lining does not belong there.

From SW. Timofey Mikhailov