Toilet problem

hkt7383

Hi

Im just having my bathroom tiled at the moment. My tiler who I had in unscrewed my toilet cistern from the wall do that he could tile into th ebhind to avoid having cuts. Tje problem is when i now use the flush the water not only goes into the toilet bowl but also leaks out from the bottom out onto the floor. HELP! I take it this has happened because he moved it forward slightly (depth of a tile).. how easy is it to solve..

thanks

EasilyAggravated

hes not connected the pipe to the back of the toilet properly. push it back on as far as it goes

hkt7383

hi.. sorry - what pipe? as far as i can see the water is going down from the cistern into the pan but then comes up from behind where there is a gap in the top of the toilet base pan where the cistern sits on it.. hope that make sense..

robowen

is it a close-coupled toilet ? if a toilet has been in one position for a while, the rubber / foam washer that the cistern sits on becomes 'hard or fixed' in one position and needs to be flexible. try removing the cistern and replacing the washer.

rob

hkt7383

thanks.. i still dont understand though why the water is backtracking up the gap at the back end of the top surface of the toilet base from where it spills out.. i dont even understand why there is a gap there at all as i thought the only gap in the surface was the hole for the connection from the cistern to go into...

p4u1_2

It sounds like the leak is between the cistern and the bowl when you flush the toilet. This being the case the problem is almost certainly due to the "doughnut" washer that fits between the cistern and bowl to effect a water tight seal. Over time they become moulded to how the toilet is arranged and so when disturbed can often leak.

A good plumbers merchant will be able to supply a new one, make sure you take the old one with you, and make a note of the make of the toilet as different manufactures use slightly different arrangements. To replace you will need to separate the cistern and bowl, clean the mating surfaces and put it all back together. You may also find that due to the tiling you may need to move the bowl a fraction, hopefully it is screwed down to the floor and not stuck down in anyway. You may also find that tightening the fly-nuts under the cistern a little will help. The think not to do, IMO, is use a silicon sealant. This is nothing more than a bodge and is a nightmare to remove when the job needs to be done properly.