So let’s start with the good news.
We finally have some actual, factual, running water in the house in a bathroom fitting that… can have the water left on and which allows us actual water we can use – both hot and cold – in the house.
It’s quite exciting.
Today I washed tools in warm water. Woot.
I also did a lot of grouting that I forgot to take a picture of, and I laid some hexagonal tile (ARGH!) that I also forgot to take a proper picture of.
Ah well.
Now, the reason I’m laying hexagonal tile at this point (rather than waiting until we refinish the bath during which process there’s a lot of slooping paint around) is because I’m hoping to fit the toilet. It’s cold outside (there’s no kind of atmosphere), and I’m enjoying using the portaloo even less now it’s at the front of our property, right next to our neighbour’s fence.
So… yeah. Privacy, not a big function.
Obviously, there’s also the enjoyable expense of paying for sewage and then paying again for having a portaloo outside so we’re not using the sewage.
So, yeah, I’ve been trying to get the toilet fitted…and spent some time staring at the toilet today having identified a bit of a problem. See, our toilet position is a bit special. Because of where the beam sits in our house, we had to put our toilet 14″ from the wall (rather than the US standard 12″). This, as I’ve whinged about mentioned previously is remarked on briefly in my plumbing book as “you will have a smaller range of toilets available”.
It took a very, very long time for us to settle on a toilet that we didn’t hate, and that didn’t look cheap and nasty, and that actually got reviews that suggested it might actually flush. We also had to get over the very irritating extra cost of a 14″ rough-in toilet. Anyhow, it arrived, we looked it over, and then plonked it back in the box.
Well, today I got it out of the box and started staring at the newly identified problem.
Unlike most toilets that we looked at the Toto has an adaptor which allows you to shift the toilet further back (but actually fits the same toilet). It’s quite a neat solution. However, the toilet also has the back almost completely enclosed. The sides are enclosed in a way that’s not dissimilar to our toilet for the micro-bathroom, but we didn’t realise when we bought it that it also encloses much of the back.
And because of where the pipes come out of the wall (because I was assuming a toilet similar to all the ones I’d see in the store)… they foul the toilet.
Now, I think the conclusion is that I’ll disconnect and blank off the hot water supply (originally for a hot/cold bidet), and then use a 2″ nipple and add a 90 degree turn (which should mean the turn happens immediately outside the wall with the actual beginning of the bend happening inside the wall. This should put it close enough to the wall that it’ll clear the toilet. Just.
It’s annoying that I didn’t realise this… earlier. A lot earlier.
When I could have moved things.
Without taking off a bunch of tiles.
So I think this is the best, non-destructive approach I can come up with.