How to remove tiled boxing to get to the cistern (dodgy bathroom install)?

[Adam]

To cut a long story short, our new downstairs bathroom didn't quite go to plan and resulted in me telling the bathroom fitter to stop working on it and I'll find someone else to finish the job. The tiling is poor and the pipework isn't looking too clever. I'm now in the process of figuring out how I can salvage it without spending thousands starting again.

The last straw was him about to seal the toilet down when it wasn't fixed to the floor. It was loose and I didn't see how a bit of sealant would hold it in position so that's when I lost trust in him and told him to leave. He said the pipes ran under the floor so there was no way he could fix it. I'm not sure if that's true or not but I'll get my pipe detector out to check.

I asked very early on how we get to the cistern if there was ever a problem. He said if I got a suction pad the top of the boxing will come loose allowing me to get at it. I now need to turn off the water and remove the waste so I can look at how the toilet can be fixed. I have a suction pad but I don't want to attempt to lift the tiles if he has lied to me (which I suspect he has).

Images:





Does anyone have any thoughts as to whether it's worth trying to remove the tiles? I was thinking scoring the grouting away first. If the tiles break it's not the end of the world as they are readily available. I also need to get some more grout to finish the job so again happy to replace some more of it.

 

[Adam]

That's grouted in, no way a suction pad is going to remove that without removing the grout first..

Also, how the hell do you use that sink without sitting on the toilet??

I have a bosch multitool with a grout removing tool. I was planning to remove the grout then try to lift it. I presume it's stuck to the boxing although no idea what material that is made of so I'm also concerned I'll damage that too. Without getting to the pipework I'm not sure how the toilet can be fixed in to position. The cistern has water in and the flush is connected via the black flush plate.

It's only a very small closet bathroom for downstairs, so space was always at a premium. The other issue is that the toilet is too far over to the right side of the picture so your knees hit the radiator. The whole thing is a bit of a mess really.

 

[Adam]

I've kept quiet on this so apologies for the lack of updates.

I withheld some cash when I told him not to bother coming back but it's become clear that isn't enough to complete the job properly so I am looking at going down the legal route to reclaim some of the money I paid him. I sent a letter last week with 19 outstanding issues/things I'm not happy with. He has an answer for each of them but it's either a lie or his version of events which don't make a lot of sense. I've given him until the end of the week otherwise I'll be going via moneyclaim (small claims court) to try and reclaim as much as I can.

It's got very ugly unfortunately and a month or so on and I'm still without a useable bathroom downstairs. As you can imagine I am very fed up and spent far too much time on this. The tilers I have got in have either said it all needs to come out and start again and the plumbers have said the boxing at least. I need to figure out what to do next!

 

[Adam]

Update: The threat of the small claims court allowed us to reach a settlement. I was well prepared to go to court and am confident I would have won given the evidence I have and the poor quality work but reclaiming the money can be tricky so I opted for a settlement around 50% of what I would have claimed for at court.

I had the boxing ripped out:









As you can see, the isolation valves are both at the bottom of the boxing so I'd never have been able to get to them if I took the top off like he suggested. The toilet was actually leaking from the cistern and waste, the waste used a flexi pipe that was poorly installed (I think it was the same one from the old bathroom) whereas the cistern sat at an angle in a fixed position. I'm so glad I put an end to this job and am having it done properly.

The plan now is to have a Grohe cistern frame installed with a wall hung toilet. I should have done my research initially and looked in to this rather than leaving it to my wife. Quite honestly I couldn't be bothered at the time with so much other stuff going on and left it to her. The result is weeks of stress and wasted time, never again.

Something else that gave me the hump was how he left the old isolation valves sticking out of the tiles, god knows how many years they have been there. This gives me the chance to have them replaced and done properly. He managed to cover them in adhesive then made a mess of the waste pipe which he tried to fix by using spray paint. Crazy. You'll also spot the packers holding the basin flat against the wall. He told me it had a manufacturing fault and part of the basin sat proud hence the big gaps. The basin actually wobbles. I'm hoping a proper fixing kit will solve this.



The rest of the bathroom has some less serious issues but my focus is on the toilet and the pipework for the time being.

 

[Adam]

Wowza. Spray paint on the pipework is a new one to me.

Yep that and the toilet not being secured and clearly leaking was the final straw and led to me firing him. No pride whatsoever.

 

[Adam]

Can you explain how you are looking at getting it done so that you do have access to everything? I have a very nicely done en suite which is tiled all over. I also always wondered about access if ever there was an issue. I think it would literally also have to be a rip the tiles out job.

Yes using one of these: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzRLl0j5wCU

Anything serviceable is accessed through the front panel. Some of the pipework is still concealed but the frame holds it all in place so it's firmly pushed in to the toilet and doesn't move around. You use them in conjunction with a wall hung toilet.

The smallest 0.82m frames are around £150 so pretty reasonable. Seems like a good solution to me.