Paint for inside a toilet bowl?

[Michael Rozdoba]

Our local council plumbers managed to scratch the inside of our toilet bowl when plunging it. The result in the nice white porcelain is multiple dark brown 'skid marks' at the bottom of the bowl. You can guess what guests think.

I know the council should fix it, but getting them to do anything properly takes multiple complaints & about six months, if you're lucky.

I figured I'll just empty the bowl next weekend when my wife's away, paint it over & make do with that. Anything as long as the brown marks are covered.

Question is, what kind of paint can I use & from where? Obviously I need something with an enamel or gloss finish, which will adhere to porcelain & is suitable for use under water & subject to bleach & the like. Any ideas?

Would that stuff for patching enamel baths be any use?

Cheers,

[Phil L]

You can't paint porcelain, but it will come clean with enough scrubbing and a multitude of chemicals....any paint you use would be lucky to last a week

[Owain]

Recorded delivery letter to the chief executive, with a photo of the damage, giving them 14 days to replace toilet or you will get it replaced by tradesmen and sue in the small claims court.

Then get it replaced by tradesmen and sue in the small claims court.

If it's scratched that deeply then it may not be waterproof any more, and may crack apart suddenly.

Owain

[The Medway Handyman]

Don't bother with paint, it aint gonna work. Wait till its fixed, in the meantime;

Any brown marks are likely to be caused by a limescale build up which give bacteria somewhere to breed. Bleach won't remove limescale, it just removes the colour. Get a toilet bowl limescale remover - Tesco do one & so do all the other stores. Or try Cillit Bang Stain & Drain.

[DIY]

As others have said, paint won't work in that situation. It is very difficult to scratch the glaze on porcelain - you may find that the discoloration will come off if you use a scouring pad and toilet cleaner. If the glaze has been damaged then the only fix is a new toilet bowl. Those toilet plungers with a metal backing disk are an absolute menace.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Bang in some caustic soda..that will bleach out the brown

Don't attempt to paint it. Waste of time.

[The Natural Philosopher]

More likely to be rust on the surface.

But limescale that is now stained is possible.

In general to clean a toilet first of all tip brick acid in it. That gets rid of the lime. Then flush and tip caustic in it. That gets rid of most organics, and oxidises any stains.

Our belfast sink is now a little chipped and gets stained regularly. Caustic brings it up nicely and dead white all over.

Till the next teabag anyway.. ;-)

[Peter Andrews]

Sueing the landlord/owner of the toilet is probably not an option!

Peter

[NRH]

Sure the plumbers did it, uh huh.

Maybe you'll clean your next toilet regularly, Mr. Learning-Curve.

[Roger Hunt]

Why is it that whenever I do any work in the bathroom, anything that's dropped (screw, bracket, drill bit) always lands in the toilet bowl somehow, even from yards away?

[Clive George]

You've got a Southern-hemisphere toilet bowl. The problem is the coriolis-effect induced swirling is going in the wrong direction, causing the pan to be magnetically charged so it attracts all those bits (*). If you had a proper Northern-hemisphere one, it would work the other way round - but these may well be more expensive.

(* This works in a similar fashion to the magnetic water conditioners - except of course in reverse.)

cheers, clive

[Martin Bonner]

Why on earth not? If he had council plumbers round, it's almost certainly a council house. Even if not, the plumbers are required to perform their work with reasonable skill. If they don't, then the council is liable.

[Roger Hunt]

Clive George wrote

Am I to deduce from this that a Northern hemisphere porcelain throne might eject stuff equally regularly?

[Clive George]

Well ours has been known to...

(not since the water board put a valve in between the sewer and us, but we've not really had a proper test since then)

cheers, clive

[Owain]

It is if they damaged it and have a duty to repair it.

Owain

[Roger Hunt]

Clive George wrote

Eewwww ... gross. (I hope the water board did not charge for this service, and I hope you didn't have to wait too long for action.)

[Clive Mitchell]

In message , Roger Hunt writes

Punish it with fireworks....

[Clive George]

Took a while - it only happened when it was flooding. But no, didn't need to pay for it.

cheers, clive

[Roger Hunt]

Clive Mitchell wrote

When I was at skule it was quite normal to be having a quiet penc (and pvttvr) in the toilet block, and at any time under the cubicle door might roll a milk bottle containing a fizzing banger. (We were horrible.)

[The Medway Handyman]

Brick acid will remove the glaze & ruin the finish.