When painting, it’s important to always pay attention to how to paint behind toilet and to the surrounding areas. This is especially true when painting around a toilet – you don’t want to accidentally get paint on the toilet seat or floor! Here are a few tips for how to paint behind a toilet:
How To Paint Behind Toilet
To paint the area behind your toilet, you only need a few simple tools, a little preparation, and a little time.
To paint the wall behind your toilet, I’ll show you how to do some prep work, use a brush, and use a small roller. You won’t waste any wall space or get paint on your toilet.
Three Different Approaches
Mini Roller Method
The simplest way to paint behind a toilet is with a small roller. I think this is the best way.
It takes less than five minutes and doesn’t need any special tools to get a texture that looks like the rest of the bathroom walls that are behind the toilet.
To start, thoroughly clean the area right next to the toilet.
This should come as no surprise. I’ve been painting bathrooms for almost 20 years, and I’ve done a lot of work. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen people leave their bathrooms in a mess before I came to paint them.
If the toilet isn’t clean, you’ll be able to reach around it on your hands and knees (basically “bear hugging” it), but only if it’s clean.
Keep in mind that if you don’t clean the trim behind the toilet before you start, your tape won’t stick. All of the trim on your house gets dirty, and if it isn’t clean, your tape won’t stick.
Prep Off The Toilet & Trim
When I’m painting behind toilets, I like to take off the lid on the water tank first. The tank lid is about an inch above the tank, and the space between it and the wall is often too small. Because the toilet lid is so easy to open, there is no reason to keep it closed.
In between the tank you’re going to paint and the wall, there should be enough room.
Tape three 1.5-inch strips of painter’s tape to both sides of the toilet tank. Make sure that the first strip of tape goes around the water tank’s back edge.
In this case, you won’t need any tape on the top of the toilet.
For safety, I like to put a small drop cloth over the wall above my toilet when I’m painting.
Tape the trim behind the toilet with a five-in-one tool or a small mud knife. Then, press the tape down hard.
NOTE: Another way to drain the toilet’s water tank is to cover the tank with a garbage bag from top to bottom. Wrap a few strips of tape around the entire tank to keep the bag in place (and prevent it from hanging off and becoming entangled in the paint). Here, you don’t just tape a few strips of tape to your water tank.
Brush Around The Water Inlet Pipe
The rollers can’t get close enough to corners, edges, and pipes. With the 2′′ cutting brush, cut around the wall pipe leading to your toilet. Cut around the pipe that comes out of your wall and goes to your toilet with the 2′′ cutting brush. Most of the time, I brush about six inches in all directions.
You should also paint a coat on the trim, working your way up about 6 inches with your brush.
Brush 6 inches of paint on the trim and around the waterline.
Use Your Mini Roller Behind The Toilet
These are simple tools that anyone can use to paint behind a toilet.
You don’t need to buy a special paint tray for your mini roller. You can just put it in the same paint tray as your standard 9″ roller (I love the Handy Paint Tray personally).
If you’ve ever tried to paint behind a toilet, this method has never let you get the job done right and quickly.
De-Prep And Cleanup
After painting behind the toilet, peel the tape off the sides of the water tank and cut.
It might be time to paint the toilet. Clean up right away if you did. Because the paint won’t last long on a porcelain toilet (at least a week), remove it right away.
The Stick And Rag Method
The miniature roller method doesn’t always work. That’s why it’s good to have a plan B.
What If The Toilet Is Too Tight To The Wall?
No matter how difficult it is to clean a toilet that is only an inch away from the wall, don’t give up. There are other ways to clean your toilet. Even in the smallest parts of your bathroom, there is a simple way to get to them.
The toilet’s water tank is often covered with plastic by many painters. The plastic bag is then placed between this tank and the wall. Simple trash bags can be used to do this.
Wrap some tape around the bag and the toilet to keep them together. You don’t want it to move as you paint.
Repeat the process with a painting stir stick or a piece of thin wood. Tape a piece of rag to the top.
Following that, paint one side of the stick covered in rags with a coat of paint (or brush the paint onto it with a paintbrush). Make sure you don’t get the rag too wet with paint!
Following that, move the stick back and forth between the water tank and the wall until it is completely covered in paint. Do this until the paint is completely dry.
You have to do a lot of work with this method, but it will work in a pinch. In any case, the texture of a toilet isn’t important.
If you want to use a rag and stick to paint behind the toilet, I’ve found that you need to let your last coat dry completely before you use this method, because there’s a lot of friction in a small space. Since it is not possible to apply very thick coats of paint, a third coat of paint may be needed.
Removing The Water Tank To Paint Behind A Toilet
There is no way to get the paint into the space behind the toilet as well as you’d like.
A small roller or a flat stir stick might not fit between the toilet and the wall, so I wouldn’t paint the wall behind the toilet. Nobody will notice that you didn’t paint the whole thing in such a small space.
Is It Possible To Remove Your Toilet’s Water Tank?
In these cases, the only way to get to the wall is to remove the water tank and get full access to the wall.
Turn Off The water
To start taking the water tank away, turn off the water to the tank. A valve should come out of the wall behind the toilet. After that, flush the toilet to make sure the tank is empty. It’s time to remove the water hose from the water tank on the left bottom side of the toilet.
Take The Tank off
With two plastic blots and plastic nuts, most of the water tanks are then attached to the bowl with the help of these tools. Plastic bolts and nuts should be on both sides of the water tank if you touch it from below. A tank can stay afloat only with this.
As you unscrew the nuts and bolts, you can get them out of the car. When the tank is at this point, you should be able to gently lift it away from the bowl. I put it in the bathtub so that if it leaks while I’m working, I can clean it up.
Paint Your Bathroom Wall Behind The Toilet
It’s time to paint the wall behind the toilet. This should be simple, with the remaining toilet bowl placed far enough away from the wall so that it won’t get in the way of your painting.
Replace And Reattach The Water Tank
When the painting is done and the bowl is dry, just put the water tank back in place, making sure that each plastic bolt goes into the right hole in the bowl. To make the tank more secure to the bowl, put the nuts back on the bolts and connect the water line to the left bottom of the tank.
Finally, turn on the water and flush the toilet to make sure everything is working right.
Final Thoughts
If you’re careful, the process of how to paint behind the toilet is not that difficult. You can take your time and be sure to get a good finish by using the right tools and methods.
Be sure to let each coat of paint dry completely before applying the next one! And remember, you don’t have to paint the entire space behind the toilet- a small roller or stir stick might not fit, and it’s not that noticeable to the naked eye.
Thanks for reading!
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