Easy Installation from RAK
08/08/2012
Featured in Plumbing, Heating,& Air Movement Plumbing Journal Wednesday August 12th 2012
The fitting of sanitaryware should be a straightforward task for most professional installers, but a hassle free job can’t always be guaranteed. So why take a chance on an unfamiliar brand? Our regular product tester Mark Middleton puts an RAK Ceramics close coupled Metropolitan WC and basin with pedestal through its paces as part of the installation of a contemporary shower room.
To the untrained eye, one loo might appear much the same as another, but any installer will tell you that when you come to the installation, this is certainly not the case! The first thing I noticed with this job is just how well packed the sanitaryware was. Believe me, I’ve had to come back to jobs many times because items have arrived chipped or damaged. Each and every RAK WC is also water tested in the factory so you won’t have any problems with leaks or faults.
When I started to install the WC there were some very handy L-shaped floor fixing brackets made of what looks like heavy duty nylon so they should be very robust. These have the advantage over normal brass screws in that you can position the WC and then mark out your brackets, pre-fix the brackets and then, using the screws and nylon bushes supplied, fix the pan to the brackets which are side mounted (these in turn should reduce the build up of dirt associated with vertical fixings, creating a more hygienic finish).
Tried and tested
After fixing the pan to the floor I moved on to fitting the cistern which, measuring just 300 x 390 x 140mm, is extremely compact. It also comes with the benefit of an internal overflow. Another very handy feature of this range is that all of the cistern fittings are factory fitted and tested with a pre-set water level. The cistern flush connector is also made of high quality rubber, rather than the usual foam, so should give a long and trouble free service life. I noticed that the cistern is also a dual flush and that it has a very wide operating range in terms of the type of water supply that it can be connect to – from just 0.15 bar/5psi to 6bar/90psi. There is no cable operating the flushing process, but a much improved direct fitting mechanism allowing easy flushing, so you can remove the cistern lid without cable obstruction.
The soft-close seat was a breeze to fit. In fact, I don’t think that I have ever fitted a toilet seat so quickly. Two minutes is now my record time!
Finishing touch
Now to the basin, which again seemed to be very good quality and looked hand finished. This particular installation comprised a pedestal basin with monobloc tap. The fixings supplied with this basin are one of my favourite types because they give a very solid and robust fit. The basin is put in situ and the holes marked. Two bolts are then screwed into the wall (in the case of stud work I would recommend the use of a baton installed behind the tiles, or for retro-fitting use a sturdy plasterboard fixing). The basin is then put on the pedestal and the nylon bushings are fitted seer the bolts and then clamped with nuts and washers. Another handy tip is to put a couple of blobs of silicone behind the basin sticking it to the wall at well—this is never going to more and is also a great way of strengthening an installation on to stud work.This particular basin has an integrated overflow which is commonplace and benefits from a very good access to the tap fixing point from underneath. The only downside that I could find was that the pedestal has no independent fixing points, but this can be alleviated by siliconing the pedestal to the basin and floor which always makes for a neater job anyway.
The use of a monobloc basin mixer complemented this basin well and of course I made certain to use isolating valves and non-return valves to comply with the water bylaws.