Lowering a Cistern Without Drilling New Holes in Tiles

[robnights]

Hi, I'm going to be removing tiles from under a close-coupled toilet, and replacing with lino, so the floor (and therefore toilet) will be 1-2cm lower.

Is there any way I can do this without needing to move the screws holding the cistern to the wall? (I'm not confident drilling into tiles)

I.e. are there any adjustable brackets I could use to adjust the height of the cistern, or additional pieces of kit to fill the new 1-2cm gap that will appear between the pan and the cistern?

Thanks!

 

[oldbuffer]

You have a number of options:
1. Take the plunge and drill new holes. Unless the tiles are porcelain, i.e. they are ceramic tiles, they are easy to drill:
1a. Put a piece of masking tape over the place where the new hole will be.
1b. Mark the screw hole centres with pencil.
1c. With a sharp centre punch, make a tiny indentation through the tape into the tile glaze. Go very easy and don't crack the tile.
1d. With an electric drill and a 4mm (or thereabouts) carbide masonry drill, and with no SDS or hammer action, drill through the glaze and the soft body of the tile.
1e. Replace the 4 mm bit with the one you need for the eventual hole. 6 mm for red wall plugs, 7 mm for brown one.
1f. Again without hammer / SDS action, drill through the tiles to the wall.
1g. Put hammer / SDS on and drill the wall to the required depth.
2. If the tiles are not ceramic they are likely to be very hard, and the only thing that will safely touch them is a diamond drill.
3. Its a bit (to my mind) of a cowboy way, but you could stick the cistern to the wall with silicone sealant or an appropriate adhesive. Most of the weight is taken by the cistern resting on the bowl in any case.
4. So far as I'm aware there are no brackets specially made for this sort of thing. You could try a mending plate (e.g. Screwfix 16050). Put a screw through the non-countersunk side into the existing hole. Put a 6mm countersink bolt through the countersunk side coming away from the wall, and secure the cistern with a washer and nut on the bolt. You should really fit a plastic or rubber washer between the inside of the cistern and the metal washer and do the nut up firm.ly but not tight enough to crack the cistern.

 

[Tigercubrider]

Bear in mind that if the bowl is on the tiles, it may have a lump of cement of something inside the base.
Removing the tiles will obviously drop the bowl, and change the angle of the waste pipe.
The filler will also need replaced, and if it doesn't have an overflow connected to the bowl, the overflow needs replaced.

how about cutting a "washer" spacer to replace the floor tiles? you could slip wedges under the bowl as you remove the floor, jacking up the loo.
Then slide a filler piece in, flooring up to it.

 

[robnights]

Thanks so much for the replies, these are a great help. I'll see what the situation is when the toilet is removed

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

TC's idea seems the simplest solution, but the spacer will need to be waterproof really.