Bedding down toilet pan

[Paul Giverin]

I'm fitting a new toilet to a newly converted downstairs loo. I've laid an engineered wooden floor on top of the concrete floor and I'll be screwing the pan through the wooden floor into the concrete.

A friend of mine had a toilet pan fitted to a tile floor and he said the installer laid it on a bed of tile grout which stops the pan rocking and it also formed a neat seal between the pan and the floor. I'd like to do something similar with my loo but I don't know if tile grout would adhere to a varnished wooden floor. Any ideas/suggestions?

TIA,

[Andrew Gabriel]

Silicone would probably work better on such a surface. I saw a pan being replaced in a public loo. The chap stood the pan on the floor but on about 4 tile spacers, presumably to make sure there was a gap all round. Then he siliconed around the base, which would have gone right through the gap. He must have come back later and removed the tile spacers and siliconed over the resulting holes, as there was no evidence of them afterwards.

[Nigel Molesworth]

I've tried: silicone, tile adhesive, tile grout, 1:1 mortar. So far, the only thing that has lasted more than a year is grab adhesive.

[Steve Firth]

I use sealant, not silicone but the Evo Stick "Nail and Seal" which uses the same formulation that is used beneath the waterline on boats. When set it doesn't have the horrible jelly consistency of silicone and it's excellent for this purpose. Am alternative is to use a polyurethane sealant which also sets hard but is much more expensive.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Most people use silicone. In fact just silicone is enough to adhere a pan to tiles..unless you get violent in teh middle of...

[Chris Bacon]

And what is "grab adhesive"?

[Paul Giverin]

I presume he means a "liquid nails" type product.

[Nick]

Is that right? I've been meaning to screw my pan to the floor where it's been sitting for the last 15 years without falling over. It's a concrete floor with vinyl on top. I couldn't face drilling holes in the concrete and trying to put some kind of fixings in without breaking the pan. I think I will try just silicone sealant.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Do read the post where the guy propped it up a bit first to make suree the sealant was in a layer underneath.

IIRC I just drew a pencil line round mine (on tiles) and ran a fairly generous bead inside the line, and then plonked it down on top and cleaned up the excess.

[Nigel Molesworth]

You say that in a way that implies you really don't know?

[Chris Bacon]

I've never heard Gripfill etc. called "grab adhesive". That they have a high "initial grab" does not excuse sloppy terminology from Screwfix (or anyone else). You could have been talking about Evo-Stik Impact adhesive or similar, which has a higher initial grab strength.

[Chris Bacon]

He did. Bloody stupid terminology. Impact advesive has a higher initial grab strength. Pritt paper glue is pretty grabby, too.

[Nigel Molesworth]

Try Google "grab adhesive". I agree it's a poor term, as there should be a prefix such as "quick", "power" or "instant".

It's a bit like the phrase "going through it with a toothcomb". Total nonsense, but everyone seems to say it now.

[Chris Bacon]

Aha. A "fine-tooth comb" rather than a "fine toothcomb", mumble mumble snort snore...