Repairing a toilet without smashing all my bathroom tiles! Ideas anyone?!

daisydays

Could someone offer me some plumbing advice please? I have a low level toilet and cistern and am having trouble flushing it. It can take up to 6 hard pushes of the handle to make it flush and sometimes, if I top the cistern up with a few extra inches of water from a bucket, it seems to flush much more easily.

I called a plumber round and he told me I need a new diaphragm but the only way to replace it is to remove the cistern from the wall to get to the pipes. Unfortunately, all the pipes, and even half the cistern, have been tiled over by the person who lived here previously, and so the only way to get to the pipes and remove the cistern it is to smash the tiles. To make matters worse the tiles are no longer stocked, and I can't replace them with different tiles as it would really look wrong. The whole bathroom is tiled and they seem to be quite expensive tiles too, so I'm at a loss as to what to do?:(

Any ideas on what can be done? Or am I well and truly stuck?

Thanks in advance.....................

1984ReturnsForReal_2

If the plumber is right & it is the most common flush valve he will need to remove it. Which would mean access to the bottom of the cistern.

No way around it.

frank.hopper

Sorry! it's a common problem with DIYers and dodgy tilers. If your tiles are white you might be able to re-instate the 'boxing in' with upvc panelling, done properly it can look OK.

27col

Sorry, but you will have to bite the bullet and remove the tiles. The syphon has to be removed to replace the diaphragm. Although there is a type of siphon which does not have to be removed. I assume that you do not have one of this type or the plumber would have spotted it. You may find that the tiles are not as difficult to remove as you may think. Then they can be easily cleaned of the adhesive. and reused.

brig001

If topping it up makes it flush OK, can you just adjust the float valve (ballcock)? There is usually an adjusting screw near the valve itself depending on the type. If you are not sure, attach a photo, or link to a similar one in Screwfix or somewhere.

27col

Yes, that might work for a while. But if the diaphragm is holed or torn it will only work for a while, until the hole gets bigger.