Removing sink/toilet cistern from walls

B

Bill Struth

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Good morning everyone!

I'm getting the bathrooms tiled, but the tiler wants the toilet cisterns and sinks off the walls before he starts the job. It seems fairly straightforward, but how do I do it?

Any advice is greatly appreciated!:)
 
Never heard of that before. Will the piping be long enough after the units are replaced?

You could have a look [broken link removed] for advice or here.
 
He's being lazy or possibly looking to get the extra work for a mate of his. ideally tiling is done before these fittings are installed but its not much of a difference to do it afterward apart from the extra cutting involved.
 
I'd agree with the tiler. I think it looks much better to have full tiles going behind the sink/cistern rather than tiles cut around them.

Taking the cistern off is not that difficult. It is normally held on by two screws that can be removed. However you have to turn off the water beforehand. Same with sink, turn off water, hot and cold, and keep bottle trap on to seal the waste.

And you need to ensure that the pipes have enough slack to fit after the tiles have been put on.

If you're not happy with doing it, any good handyman/plumber should be able to.

Don't know how much extra it is, but if it was my house I'd definitely take them out, tile, and fit them back (and have done so in the past).
 
By the way, sorry if I state the obvious, but when I said turn off the water, I ment turn it off at the mains, or the tank, not the taps themselves.

Another trick is to leave another tap running after you turn off the water as there is normally a small trickle past the tap. If you have them, use blanks to close off the pipes as they might be open for a few days, depending on the tiler.

And (sorry for the stream of consciousness), it may be possible to just undoo the screws holding the cistern and sink to the wall and move them out a few inches. Be sure you can support them sufficiently in this position. This might give the tiler enough space to put in the tiles and you don't have to undo the taps/cistern feed at all. This of course depends on the type of cistern (close coupled or not, and sink (pedistal or not))

hope it helps.
 
There are loads of lads (plumbers) now fixing the sinks to the wall using no more nails but that is usually after the tiles are fixed.

Prop the sink, remove the screws and get the same size screw but a longer version to replace.
 
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