www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk

Hi, I have 2 tiling questions that I would like some help on before starting please.

I am new to tiling, and have just done the walls in the bathroom. I continued existing tiling already there and am very pleased with the results, considering it was my first time! I am now about to start tiling the floor and the boxing in I've done behind the toilet, and have a couple of questions please:

1) Having boxed in around the back of the toilet, ready for tiling, the hole I cut in the plywood for the pan connector (joining either side, as per the guide on this site) is ok. Not amazing, but ok. However, creating the hole in the tiling I know is beyond my skill and available tools.

So, is there some equivalent of a 'pipe collar' as you get for radiator pipes for the pan connector? I'm guessing not, but does anybody know of something I can use to a similar effect? I was thinking something flexible I could cut to size and wrap around myself. Just anything to cover my cutting work!

2) I have a similar issue with the piping underneath the basin. It is covered by a plinth, but becuase the shower is at the side I will see it every time I shower and it will drive me crazy. They are too bunched up for individual pipe collars (iso valves too low as well), and one is the waste pipe anyway. I am going to try and plan to have 2 tile joints at the pipes to make it simpler for cutting. I was then going to use silicone sealant to seal the gaps, and try and find something to cover it up with to make it look neat. Any ideas?

Picture of behind the sink is below.

1) Not aware of collars as we don't use them. You must be able to get smoke collars to fit though or make a collar out of two sections of PVC. Fascia board would do it.



2) You cant set the floor out so that the joint coincides with the pipes unless it leaves an acceptable finish to the whole floor area. For example, imagine a 250mm rip at one end of the bathroom and 30mm rip at the other end, it would like dog 5hite. You need to set the floor out for best fit and then where the pipes are, mark there position onto the tile, drill holes and cut tile through centre of holes. Unless of course, you want to disconnect the pipework and then you can drill out and slip the tile over the pipes.

Thanks. I haven't planned the tiles out yet. I was going to try and see if having a grout join there would still look ok for the rest of the bathroom. But agreed, I won't sacrifice the overall look of the bathroom floor for it.

Thanks for the suggestion on the pan connector. I knew there wouldn't be a bespoke product like pipe collars for my needs, but hoping someone else might have come up with an ingenious alternative in a similar situation to me.

I guess the issue is pipe collars and such like are for DIYers and the experts don't need to use them!!

This help ??

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Plumbin ... 706/p31272

Ah yes that's it! I've been searching for pan connector collars. This should fit I think. Thanks.

djjohnnyb wrote:Ah yes that's it! I've been searching for pan connector collars. This should fit I think. Thanks.

Might still need a bit of sillycone...