Installation How-To: Installing a Geberit system in a 2x4 wall

Walk through the installation steps for a Geberit 2x4 in-wall system for a wall-hung toilet. Steps include prepping the wall, attaching the supply and waste piping, hanging the toilet bowl, and attaching the flush actuator plate. (Note: refer to the installation instructions provided with the system for complete details. An Installation Planning Guide covering a wide range of scenarios is available for download at geberit.us.)
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[@ruffxm]

The installation is identical in a 2 x 4 wall. The discharge pipe gets centered in the sill plate. Being the actual width of a sill plate is about 3-1/2", the discharge pipe will JUST fit. A metal screw plate is suggested to protect the discharge pipe.

[@bradg8351]

Howdy Rick. He did mention in the video that it was a 2X6 wall

[@tjanson]

Where's the video for a 2x4 wall.... lol

[@rickgroth3437]

Sorry folks, that's not a 2x4 wall. What's up ?

[@daveross8]

Geberit… can you address this, why would anyone purchase the 2x4 version and then install it in a 2x6 wall? If you have to install the waste pipe 3.5” from front edge of sill plate that won’t work in a 2x4 wall. Do you have a different video of the 2x4 wall install?

[@ruffxm]

@@daveross8 The installation is identical in a 2 x 4 wall. The discharge pipe gets centered in the sill plate. Being the actual width of the sill plate is about 3-1/2", the discharge pipe will JUST fit. A metal screw plate is suggested to protect the discharge pipe.

[@FairweatherHandyman-sc6js]

Two MAJOR omissions which are conspicuously absent from both this official installation video and the official paper instructions that accompany the carrier designed for 2x4 walls are the following:
First, while it's true that a 3.5" diameter hole (the O.D. of 3" Sch 40 PVC is 3.5") bored through the bottom plate of a nominally-dimensioned 2x4 wall (if possible, install the carrier in a wall framed with "native" or "rough" dimensioned 2x4 material - keep reading for why - plenty of walls that meet this spec east of the Mississippi) - will allow a 3" PVC riser to fit within the shallow confines of such a wall, WHAT ABSOLUTELY WILL NOT FIT is the Fernco 3" x 3" hub-to-hub jacketed coupling which, at least in the U.S.A., is supplied with the carrier. Thus, and this is the crucial part missing from the discussion, the connection with the riser needs to be made BELOW THE FLOOR (assuming you're working with a basement or crawlspace situation or on a story above the ground floor). Plus, this requirement (not an issue if working in a native-framed wall - like with 2x4 framing that measures at or close to 4" wide) has knock on effects, the most crucial one being that depending on the thickness of the floor and whatever might be beneath it and what bowl is selected, there may not be enough available length with the supplied ABS water closet bend to permit it to extend down below the level of the floor once the extended length of the carrier's legs is taken into account. With some (if not most) carrier/bowl combinations, and especially when coupled with the desire to have an 18" or 19" rim height, the situation can occur where the supplied ABS bend is not long enough. What then, right?!
Second, the flip side of this is that if your selection of bowl and rim height doesn't result in this conflict occurring (another associated factor, of course, is what extra layers your wall may be sitting atop of, thus only adding to this problem) and you DO have enough length in the supplied ABS closet bend, what you will likely overlook is the ability to take advantage of being able to slide the ABS bend down into the hole you've cut through the bottom plate of the wall (and all the layers of flooring and subflooring that the plate may be sitting on) BEFORE you permanently bolt the carrier into the framing and install the water supply line. If, like me, this doesn't occur to you until late in the install (and the instructions certainly are utterly silent about this) and you don't accomplish these steps in this order you will find yourself needing to hack up the back of the nice hole in the bottom plate (and all the layers of material beneath it) that you drilled in order to provide enough clearance to slide the closet bend into place AFTER the carrier has been installed.
That Geberit fails to so much as mention these crucial pieces of info (furthermore, I watched several install videos produced by other parties before accomplishing my first install, some involving 2x4 walls, and not one mentioned these pitfalls either) is stunning. In fact, I would argue that these omissions rise to the level of negligence. I'm mean, c'mon, this is hardly their first rodeo - they've been producing these toilet systems for many decades, I can't be the first person to raise the alert.
In my case, given the make and model of bowl I chose to pair with the 2x4 carrier - a Geberit-approved model, the Duravit ME Compact (which is the lowest profile/shallowest bowl I could find - the ideal choice for a tiny bathroom) - and the existing situation I found myself working within...
...which consisted of a 3/4 bathroom addition, c.1993, in a late-18th century home, the latter's flooring structure consisting of 1" native planks as a subfloor, 3/4 thick maple strip flooring on top of that (the interior nominally-dimensioned 2x4 wall that I mounted the carrier in sits on top of that maple flooring) but then, in the bathroom, more layers consisting of a layer of 1/4" lauan, a layer of sheet linoleum (glued down) and the new finished floor, soon to be LVP)...
...the supplied ABS water closet bend not only needed to extend down below all those layers of framing and flooring (again, the Fernco coupling will NOT fit in a nominally-dimensioned 2x4 wall so the connection to the riser MUST happen below the floor) but, because of that, the riser should have been cut to length (in my case I only needed to remove 3-1/2" from it) and inserted down through the floor BEFORE I permanently installed the carrier. As further background, because of the above scenario and a desire to achieve a 17" rim height, I didn't need to extend the carrier's legs at all (other than on one side, minutely, to adjust for plumb - one of the studs I used was existing/old work).
Now, I didn't think that far ahead - my mistake - but a simple heads-up from Geberit about this scenario (which I'm sure plenty of others face) would have been so easy to do and so much appreciated. Said another way, since this is literally the last step in the install process, an early warning about the need to address all these considerations is essential.
Most egregious, of course, is the absence of any warning that the Fernco boot will not fit in a 2x4 wall. This conspicuous omission - especially for a product designed and intended to be installed in a 2x4 wall (!) - is just beyond the pale. At the very least, a warning about this should appear in all the marketing and product descriptions detailing the 2x4 carrier as well as on the first page of its instructions, if not also on the cover (as well as on the outside of the box that encloses the carrier). It should also be at least mentioned in the above video.
My guess is that a large subset of buyers of Geberit's 2x4 carriers, at least in this part of the world, consist of installers who will have never seen one of these toilets systems in person before, much less will reliably think through in advance all the points I've raised. Thus, a little guidance from Geberit on these crucial elements affecting the install in an old-work scenario would be much appreciated.
I hope this helps the next first-timer.