Master Bath Floor Tile

 The floor was holding back my bathroom. After painting the cabinets, changing the hardware, putting in granite and changing the light fixture, the floor just looked ridiculous. After finding a small leak under the house from under the toilet, I decided since I was going to have to pull the toilet out anyway that I might as well get after the floor while it was out.

Here is the vinyl flooring.

 So I started by pulling out the baseboard.

 Then I got to taking the toilet out. Here is how that works:
1. Turn off the water at the wall (behind the toilet near the floor)
2. Flush the toilet
3. I held the "flapper" (red) up to let as much water run out as possible.
4. Sponge out the rest of the water
5. Undo the bolts under the tank that hold the tank to the bowl

 6. Then pull it off. I just put it in the bathtub for safe keeping.
Nobody wants to pull the tank out just to paint!

 Now to get the water out of the bowl.
1.Pour about 1 gallon of water into the bowl and it will automatically flush itself and there will be just a little water left in the bowl.
2. Sponge out the rest. Hopefully your toilet isn't disgusting. Wear gloves anyway, of course.

  

 Then undo the bolts at the floor and pull the toilet up. Besides being heavy, it isn't hard. Here is what you will find. The remnants of the wax ring. While it looks gross and all, it is just a brown colored wax.

Then clean it up. I scraped up as much as I could and then cleaned up any residue with mineral spirits. I also cut away loose vinyl and some old leveler that was chipping away. Plug the hole with some rags so as not to have sewer gasses escape and so that nothing will drop into the pipe.

For some reason I can't find photos of the when I pulled the vinyl up. That part can go any way for you depending on how long it has been there, how it was laid, what kind it is etc.

For me, the top vinyl layer came up but the backing didn't budge. And it turned out my backing was not felt, but fiberglass. Word to the wise. It was not fun. I spent a lot of time laying out tile and figuring out how to lay it with the least amount of waste and making cuts around the toilet hole easier. Plus I considered how it would look from the doorway and the view from when you are sitting on the toilet. Lots to consider. But it was worth taking the time to do it.

Then I snapped two chalk lines to help me keep the rows even. I put them where it made the most sense for me. There were instructions online about finding the center of the room, blah blah but it was all greek to me. So I did it my way and it worked just fine.

The grey around the toilet flange is leveler. There was a little bit of a dip around the flange so I fixed that up.

Next: Tile goes down!