Grinding back of a toilet

[Robert9999]

Is it possible to grind away a small part of the back of a normal (porcelain?) toilet?. Without a diagram it is difficult to explain why I want to do this.

I have had a new modern toilet installed using the existing hole in the floor of my bungalow bathroom as the waste exit. This has meant siting the toilet so far from the back wall that there is a 40mm gap behind the cistern. A piece of wood has been screwed to the wall there so that the cistern could be screwed to it.

I have already used an outlet pipe in the shape of a question mark to try to bring the toilet backwards as far as possible. The only way to get it closer to the wall is to grind away a groove at the back of the base of the toilet itself. Because the back slopes forward this would not need to be very tall or deep.

Can this be done? I assume that a diamong grinding disc will be needed. Is there much danger of cracking the whole toilet? (By the way, getting it out and put back should be no problem.)

Thank you for any help you can give.

 

[chappers]

yes it can but I wouldn't really recommend it, one mistake and you could crack the whole thing. You would be better off digging out the existing and fitting a felexi mutiquick to that below the floor level

 

[Richard C]

You would be better off digging out the existing and fitting a felexi mutiquick to that below the floor level

You could do that but it’s not ideal, a flexi would be a last resort fitting for me. Assuming the floor is concrete; short of digging up the entire floor, my preference would be to build a false wall.

This is a common problem in older houses where under floor soil pipes are set further away from the wall to suit the then standard toilet pans/cisterns. I would not take even a diamond grinder to porcelain, your just asking for trouble.

 

[JohnD]

there are still a few WC pans made with the downward trap, I found one in a makers catalogue once but have lost the details

 

[skenk]

Joiner/bathroom fitter I work with has done this on a few customers' jobs. No problems so far but you wouldn't catch me taking a 'grinder to someone's posh new bog!

 

[Robert9999]

Thanks for the advice. I have chickened out of doing the grinding. Wife would play hell with me if anything went wrong. (I was intending to do it when she was out shopping all day.) I'm sure that if I suggested it beforehand she would hit the roof!

I have found a way to disguise the wood at the back. Using white plastic conduit cover (for electrical wiring) I have made a surround at the back that is almost the same colour as the cistern.

It also looks semi-convincing as part of the cistern itself. (Perhaps this is me trying to delude myself that I've done a really effective job.) I wish I had the courage to do the grinding, because if it worked it would be a brilliant solution.