Grouting before toilet installation

[newreno]

Thanks to some great help from this forum I've managed to finish tiling the walls in my bathroom. Really satisfying feeling and I'm pleased with the result. Just the grouting, siliconing and the floor to do now.

We had plumbers come in and take the sink and toilet off the walls so that I could tile behind them. They're coming back on Tuesday to replace both. The tiles are big so there are no joins that need grouting behind the sink, but there are some joins behind the toilet. It's a hanging toilet and I've cut neatly around the outlet etc. When the toilet's on the wall it'll cover some of these joins. Do they need to grouted before the toilet goes back in or can they just be left? I'd then grout up to the toilet edge when I do the grouting, but there'd never be any grout behind the 'hanging' part of the toilet.

I'd like to leave the grouting until the end if possible and do it all in one day...

 

[Chalker]

If its a wall hung wc, you would be best grouting behind as there is a lot of pressure on the tiles. They need all the help they can get hope there is a full bed of adhesive behind! If you can fully grout before, its much easier than after the sanitary ware is fitted. Plumber not coming until tues, so plenty of time.

 

[Qwerty]

I would grout now personally, but as you say, it will be hidden so up to you at the end of the day.

 

[newreno]

Yes, I was extra cautious about getting a good adhesive bed behind. I also made extra sure that the tiles behind the toilet were completely flush so that a good seal could be created once the toilet was installed.

I'm back at work tomorrow but could sort it tonight/tomorrow evening. Could I get away with just doing the tiles behind the toilet for now, leaving the rest for later? I'm not too worried about grouting around the sink before installation as the tiles are 600x600mm and the sink is slap bang in the middle of one (I used the centre of the sink as a datum line).

I just don't want the plumber coming on Tuesday and saying 'Can't do it now. Needs to be grouted first.' I don't have the experience to know if that's likely... The point about the grout giving extra strength for a wall-hanging toilet is a good idea, but it'd be good to only do it on those tiles for now if this won't cause any plumbing issues.

 

[thompsonbrown]

As chalker says, you have till Tuesday. Why not grout behind wc?

 

[newreno]

As chalker says, you have till Tuesday. Why not grout behind wc?

I would've preferred to all the grouting in one go and wasn't sure if it was necessary behind the toilet since it'll be hidden. If it wasn't necessary then I might just have left it. Looks like it adds some strength though, and I can probably also get away with mixing up a small amount of grout and just doing behind the WC.

Thanks lads.

 

[thompsonbrown]

In my opinion its better than no grout. Good luck Mate.

 

[Chalker]

You could just grout behind the toilet for now and do the rest later. But is he fitting anything else? Like shower mixer, screen, towel rail etc. if he is, he could fit these in one visit. If you crack on it will take you 2 -3 hours to do the grouting. It will be better too if the plumber needs to drill near the edge of a tile.

 

[newreno]

He'll be fitting the shower enclosure and a towel rail at some point, but on a future visit. I asked him whether he could fit everything on his next visit when he came to take the sink and WC off the wall, but he said he couldn't fit the shower and rail until the floor was done. I would've made time to do all the grouting if he was fitting everything on Tuesday, but I'd rather enjoy a bit of the weekend now since it's not essential. The stuff about not fitting the shower and towel rail until the floor's in sounded a bit strange, but I guess it's something to do with not making the shower usable before there's a proper floor in place.

I'm not worried about the two visits thing though because I'm not paying for it. It's a rental property where we get a few months rent free for doing renovations, and it's down to the landlord company to pay for all of the plumber's visits. They're okay with multiple visits if necessary as we can't legally be without a sink and toilet in the bathroom.

Looks like next weekend will be spent doing the floor and then I'll finally have a usable bathroom. I'm not looking forward to the floor though as it's really out of level. There's a new chipboard base that's been put down and there are obviously no bumps etc. in that, but the floor falls away gradually over the length of the room (which I've already had to factor into the wall tiling). The room's also full of corners. Nightmare for a DIY-er but I'm enjoying the work.

 

[newreno]

Okay, grouted behind toilet + a few other small areas to use up excess grout. Looking smart. Thanks for the quick replies lads

 

[newreno]

I texted the plumber to tell him I was ready for the reinstallation if he had time today, and he came this afternoon to replace the toilet and sink. Unless I'm missing something on a professional level, he was a straight up, back-to-the-wall idiot... Bit of a rant ahead... What makes it worse is that he was from a (relatively) large and respected company.

First thing he does on coming into the room is flush the replacement toilet that he'd put in. Of course it hadn't been connected to the flush over the weekend (he'd just told us to use buckets), so we're left with a stupid amount of water all over the chipboard floor and leaking under the floor-level wall tiles. Before I can say anything, he's grabbed a handful of my fresh towels from the hallway and started mopping up. SERIOUSLY?! I should've noticed something was up on Friday when he didn't bring a breeze block to stand the replacement toilet on over the weekend to make up the right height to the outlet pipe. Apparently the tiler always provides this... Does that happen in the UK? He ended up bodging it up with some of my off cut tiles...

He makes a quick exit as soon as the work's done and I don't check it straight away because how hard can it be for a plumber to replace a toilet? Well, let's just say he struggled. I'd cut neat holes with diamond bits and the wet saw for the flush inlet pipe, but he didn't account for this when he hung the toilet. There's obviously some play in how high the toilet can be hung on the support beams, but he hangs it right at the lowest point. You can now see the flush inlet hole down the back of the seat. The gap's about a centimetre high over the seat edge. Not as if you could miss it!! I managed to put it right myself by undoing the bolts and rehanging the toilet about two centimetres higher up, but again: SERIOUSLY?!

I'd have a major problem if I was paying for the work, but ultimately it's the landlord who's coughing up. But German workmanship... Jesus........ Unless I'm just missing something or my expectations are too high...

 

[m3fitter]

I would grout prior to, as if you mis aim on a Friday night, the wee wee could reactivate the adhesive and the tiles could fall off !!:yikes: lol ! sorry i'm being stupid, you'd have the seat up ! ;-)