Our new potty is currently freestanding and needs fixing down.
I hate those crappy plastic fixings they come with so was wondering, would it be sufficient to lift it a little, fudge some silicone under it and drop it back down?
It's a back to wall jobbie so could also do the same between it's rear and the cabinet it's up against.
I'm just being lazy but it's been in and out about 5 times while i've been doing the bathroom and I CBA doing it again.
I used some gripfill-type stuff, covered it with cling-film, and put the bowl onto to it. Then carefully aligned it.
Mistake in this approach was how long it took for the stuff to set! Days to be firm enough to remove the WC and cling-film. But, eventually, it was firm enough and had successfully formed a lump. Then put a little silicone down and put the WC back on top.
Sounds over the top - but trying to get the WC nicely aligned on silicone-only didn't seem viable. Maybe with some bits of wood wedging it in place so the silicone doesn't squidge out?
If the WC had sat in exactly the right position without any messing around, a thin bead of silicone directly onto the floor might have done. But that was not going to work in the situation.
Yes.
put wedge of (white) silicone down, and three matchsticks to support pan just clear of floor
Drop pan on and clean surplus with white spirit or add more with gun.
When set fill pan screwholes with more white silicone
Hmm
Metal rods into the floor with a hole drilled through each, then you can use quick-release pins like they have to hold down the bonnets on rally cars. :-)
The mind BOGgles.
That's what the installer of my new bathroom says he's going to do. But apparently you have to use the right type of silicone. He's used silicone to fix the 8 x 4 wall panels and swears they'll never budge.
Bill
Yes - someone told me to do that and it works.
The way I did it:
1) Lift slightly and clean under with solvent (alcohol or better) floor must be 100% clean.2) Pack bog up on 3-4mm wedges
3) Squeeze plenty of strong good quality silicone in except where packers are (I applied a ring and dropped the bog down onto it, but you probably cannot do that).4) Cut silicone back leaving 3-4 mm undercut and clean rest off.
5) Do not touch the bog for 24h. Best leave for 48h.6) Remove packers. Bog will sink down slightly and may feel a little wobbly but will be fixed.
7) Silicone with finish colour all around injecting extra where packers were. This is why you undercut the load bearing coat earlier.After a week or so, it will firm up and any perceptions of wobbliness (which is very slight) will vanish.
That's pretty well exactly what we did recently (we used packing tape on the bog instead of cling-film) and used plastic packing pieces to set the level (it needed packing up 3mm on one side).
As you say, it took longer than one might imagine to set hard but as the packing pieces were taking the weight it didn't seem to go anywhere.
We haven't done the last silicone bit yet either and not sure we will need to as it does all feel pretty solid.
Cheers, T i m
Ahhh - then ignorance is bliss ! I looked at all those multistage operations, special silicone, etc., and thought "well I didn't do any of those." My two bogs have never given me any bother - I pencilled round to give me a line, slapped on ordinary silicone, bunged the bog on, cleaned up and that was it. I possibly left it 24 hours but can't remember.
Unless the floor is uneven (why should a floor be uneven?), I am left puzzled as to why all the additional wedges, filler, etc. are needed. I do have my doubts that your bog-standard plumber will go to all that bother, and just how often do you hear of a bog coming loose ?
Rob
The loo in my workshop is bonded to the tiles with silicone. I placed the bog in-situ, drew round it with a marker pen, removed the bog, put a generous squidge of sanitary rated silicone within the drawn line, replaced the bog and cleaned up the extruded silicon with a Fugi to give a clean edge. Obviously I made sure that the tiles and loo were cleaned first. It's been fine for the last four years, so I reckon the method works ok.
AWEM
Part of the above was not because the floor was uneven - I'd laid it perfectly flat in that area - but because the base of the bog was not flat and it rocked :)
I agree - unless the floor is uneven. Ours had a plug of concrete which had held the old WC in place - I assume since it was built. That plus it was not the right shape to hold the new WC right and was somewhat rough around the edges. Also although the floor is in all other ways nice and flat, the bowl rim would not lie truly flat without doing something.
If I were to do it again, I might cut off the plug with a diamond angle grinder disc. Then flatten and true to the rest of the floor. But had neither an angle grinder nor a diamond disc all those years ago.
All the stuff sold around here seems to be rated for 35 years or more, so perhaps that just means he'll be long gone by the time that they do? Also assuming, or course, that the surface to which the sealant is stuck doesn't fail long before then - can't see wood or tile being a problem, but PB might be (e.g. cistern against wall) if the paint layer ever lets moisture through.
Personally I'd use sealant to seal and mechanical fixings (better than those supplied if crappy) to minimise stress to the sealant bond.
Weird. My toilet is screwed to the floor with screws with hex heads so easily tighted with a spanner.
JGH
I'm not the only one to do it that way then.
It worked for me.
Mike
Last one I did I used car body filler. Ten minutes, job done and rock solid
Same here - stainless steel with softish washers cut from the spare bit of outlet adaptor. Same for cistern to wall.
Certainly easier than trying to get a screwdriver into place with the pan/front of cistern getting in the way.
JGH
Polyurethane foam. Lift the pan a smidgeon, squirt some water underneath from a spray bottle, then squirt foam underneath. Don't overfill it with foam as you'll find out why overnight and it will be towering over your head in the morning. Assuming you don't put too much in, just leave some weight on the pan overnight - get a neighbour to sit on it. Trim off and put a bead of silicone around the edge. You can also fit the cistern to the wall this way, but personally I prefer a pair of mechanical fixings beforehand and put a squirt of foam in behind to steady it up.
I don't know why anyone uses anything other than silicone to glue stuff together.
When I moved into this house the bodger who had lived here prior had used silicone to 'caulk' around an architrave, I had a real job budging it and silicone has since become my glue of choice.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.