Fishing for ideas to help remove pic related. It's concrete under the toilet bowl, the contractor wasn't very smart and now I need to get rid of it before reinstalling.I'm currently drilling small guiding holes and carefully chiseling it out, or using a hammer and a splitter.The bowl isn't crazy expensive or anything, but I can't find it in that color anymore and I really wouldn't want to break it.
>>2809650Your best bet is probably to try to break it up by scoring a line into it with a dremel. Use a diamond wheel, a face shield, and a spray bottle to keep everything wet, and you can then score lines into the concrete. That should allow you to gentle chisel into the lines and neatly break off anything without risking damage to the porcelain. That assumes the expanding concrete didn't somehow structurally damage the toilet. This would be faster and more precise for you.
>>2809673updoot
>>2809650For once, the answer may truly be muriatic acid. I've seen acid-damaged porcelain, so I know it can happen, but a weaker acid will be safe and will certainly attack the concrete. Phosphoric acid is the one they usually use in toilet bowl cleaners.
>>2809650Breaking it out. Ideally I would put water in and freeze it, but if you don't have an empty deep freeze... hmm, how about dry wood jammed between cement and base and then wet to swell?You could also try heating the cement. All of these are to separate the cement from the porcelain instead of breaking it up.Then if necessary do either of those and then gently with the hammer and chisel and hope it at least loosened them.
>>2809650At some point you will need to weigh the time you've already spent vs. the cost of a new toilet
pressure washer with a 0 degree tip and shoot it into the voida few thousand psi will separate them probably
>>2809703This toilet holds sentimental value.
>>2809720F
>>2809720bury it in your yard after a short ceremony and get a new one
>>2809650keep doing that+>>2809680
>>2809703>>2809720thanks for the ideas. and I know. The only issue isn't really the cost, but the fact that they don't make it that color anymore.
>>2809742also, some pride might be involved as well.
>>2809680I looked into some removal acids for this, but I thought muriatic acid was just for post-construction deep cleaning and kinda only for surface grime. Since I'm already going to the store, to get a lighter hammer, a new splitter and (small) chisel, I'll grab a bottle of that as well.. Leroy Merlin's site didn't tell the formulation on the various removers, so I'll just read the labels on the store while keeping phosporic acid in mind. My idea is to finish drilling the guiding holes, and fill them with acid just to weaken it a bit. Don't need it to work all the way through, simply hoping to make my job a bit easier with that.
>>2809703and with the new stuff I'll get, plus the man-hours, i'll pretty much match the price for a new one. In white though. But you can't put a price on your pride, so there's that.
>>2809720This is some crazy hoarder shit
MURIA C I DTIC
>>2809755bro if you throw away a high flow toilet you're a fucking moron. I bought a literal antique lowboy toilet for my first house and it was the most kino shitter I've ever shat on.
air hammer. if it breaks the toilet it breaks the toilet.
>>2809751your target area should be the edges of the concrete, best case you can get a small gap between the concrete and the porcelain and the acid will wick in through capillary action. One thing about acid is that it is deactivated by its own action on another substance, so it will lose acidity as it works, and you'll need to add fresh.I'm not sure how the clay substrate of fixture porcelain reacts with acid, so watch out for any chips in the glaze. If you find one, and the acid fizzes when it touches the clay, I'd stop using it.
>>2809786That would be a different reason than sentimental faggot value
>>2809650why remove it? will you be installing it on a glass floor?
>>2809853you must be a millennial if you're not sentimental about hi-flow toilets.
I do not understand what the concrete is sticking too. The glazing process specifically smooths toilets out to stop things from catching/sticking. >>2809733huh, not bad the concrete is porous and the firing process for toilets makes them not. couple days in the garden.
>>2809937Millennial here. House was built in '92 and has all original toilets. I'm taking these bastards with me if I ever move. Wide comfy seats, flush like a champ. Best shitters ever.
>>2809673https://www.harborfreight.com/4-12-in-turbo-rim-wet-or-dry-cut-diamond-saw-blade-57534.html?campaignid=19231710173&adsetid=146037544924&product=57534&store=268&gad_source=1cut score cut the 1/4" or WTF you need to reinstall with angle grinder, not "demel"
>>2809680M U R A T I C A C I DURATICACID
>>2809650>I'm currently drilling small guiding holes and carefully chiseling it outYou might want to drill some holes around the periphery of the concrete in the base first. That way, if a crack propagates through the concrete when you chisel it, the holes might stop it.Then work your way in as you are doing now.
>>2809650Why? Why would anyone do that?
Water, Blowtorch, Ball Peen Hammer. Nearly all modern formulations of concrete and mortar rely on the basic properties of limestone, aka calcium carbonate. If you heat it past its refractory point, the chemical changes form, becomes brittle, and can be more easily dislodged with a hammer. Apply water beforehand to basically steam crack it along the way.
>>2809943The bottom of a toilet is like the bottom rim of a mug, all matte and porous. No glazing there.
>>2809650Toilet bowl : $99 with wax seal from Home Depot $10 back Rakuten for Father’s Day Broken dremel blades: $29.99 Chisel that’s now trash: $14.99 A day of your time : $per hour you make x amount of hours spent
>>2809943>The glazing process specifically smooths toilets out to stop things from catching/sticking.my toilet bowl has a dozen skidmarks
>>2809720Get a medium-high GPF prison toilet from grainger. I'm only half joking.
use a crowbar?Avoid trying to use anything that would shock the ceramic which is more brittle than the concrete.
>>2809787>if it dies, it dies
>>2809680fluoroantimonic acid is better. Use gloves and maybe an N95... It eats porcelain, so be quick!
>>2809720the nostalgia of shitty moments.
sorry guise, I was very occupied last week and couldn't even touch this and I also might have forgotten about the thread. Today I decided to come back to this but that was me actively procrastinating all the other shit I must do.I went to Leroy Merlin's brick and mortar store, friday the 7th, and didn't find any of the stuff that was on their site and all the remover bottles they had had absolutely no useful info whatsoever, so I didn't get anything there and after going to 4 other construction/hardware stores on my back I figured that getting what I need online would be much better. And I'll be getting those today.Today, I simply drilled the guiding holes, was really scared of getting too greedy and drilling too much or hitting an air pocket or some place where the concrete was less denser and going through inadvertently, but I was very careful and managed to not shit this part up. I'll pour some cement remover over them to weaken the concrete, and I think I won't get muriatic acid nor fosforic acid (which proved to be a bit hard to find anyway) but some decent one that I asked for recs that seemed to be good and wouldn't insta kill me, my cat, or the plants in the backyard -- the formulation: "acid minerals".This will also be on the slow burner, I'm not sure when I'll be able to come back to this. I doubt I'll update you again with my success or failure in this little endeavour before this 404's, so be warned that you might never know if anon fucked up his trusty old shitter.and since everyone keeps bringing this up:>THEY DON'T MAKE THIS COLOR ANYMORE, and it matches my sink. This is /diy/, I WANT to do this, I can afford a new and better toilet, but I'll try to fix this old shitter up before looking into it.also he's my fren, he put up with a lot of my crap over the last 15 years. I can't just let him go. All the shit he's seen, you wouldn't believe.
>>2813965I can't know where the bowl starts to fall off, but I had 10,05mm of depth in the shallowest part. The further I went in with the drill was 9mm -- which was cutting it fucking close. I was bit cowardly on many of them, but they seem to be good enough for now.
>>2809880>glassbecause it won't be level otherwise, won't seal properly, unless I redo the same mistakes of my moronic contractor, pour even more concrete under it and fuck things even more and leave yet another problem for future me?
>>2813496I'm looking into milder acids, not stronger. All it needs to do is to weaken the dried concrete a bit to make my job easier. The chisel will still be the chosen champion for this. Also, I'm not a pro, I don't have a hazmat suite.
>>2813048 >A day of your time : $per hour you make x amount of hours spentThis is such a common fallacy. Unless you do it for a living, your "off" time is worth a lot more than what you usually make when working. Your "off" time is however much you're willing to get paid to stop you from enjoying your activities. Spending time with your kids, going fishing, travelling. How much would it take you to remove yourself from such an activity and instead spend time on a mongolian basket weaving forum asking questions on how to dissolve self-leveling concrete without affecting the porcelain.
>>2813965Grinder with diamond rim wheel will get rid of the bulk of concrete in no time. A diamond cup will do that even faster. Wet the concrete thoroughly and place a wet rag on top. Wait a few hours before starting, so that the concrete is soaked and you won't get nearly as much dust.
>>2813980I literally did this today for de-stressing, to take my mind out of other issues.This afternoon, doing this, was the first moment in over 2 weeks I was able to relax for a bit. I enjoy doing this handyman stuff and I find it soothing while also being productive, I don't have kids and fuck fishing. It's boring as hell. If you do this for a living, I can understand your point, but that's not my case and I'm not in a hurry at all. I have other bathrooms at my disposal. I can take my sweet time with this and although I really don't wanna fail, but if do, oh well, at least I tried.
>>2813996you should bring the project toilet into a different bathroom and work on it while you poop in a different toilet
>>2809650What is replacement cost?
>>2813982Grind outdoors of course.
