How to choose a toilet – Buying guide

Many homeowners are willing to spend hours looking at different TVs or stereos trying to choose the best model for their home but don’t feel the need to spend as much effort on selecting a toilet. Even though this plumbing fixture is not fancy and you don’t hear a lot of people talking about their amazing new toilet, it’s very important to put some time and thought into selecting it. After all, each member of your family will be using it at least several times a day for the next 20 years or so. But how do you select a good toilet? We will explain it in this article.

Step 1: Determine the size

Every bathroom is different, so you should make sure that the toilet you choose can fit in the space you have available. If it doesn’t, this can cause a lot of issues and require pricey modifications. The best solution is to measure the space you have available while your old toilet is still in place. You will need to measure the distance from the bolts that hold your toilet in place on the floor to the wall behind it. In most bathrooms, this distance will be 12 inches, but it could also be 10 or 14. If the old toilet has already been removed, measure the distance between the wall and the center of the drainpipe. 

Step 2: Choose the type of toilet

There are many types of toilets you can choose from. Let’s take a look at some of them:

Two-piece toilets

Two-piece toilets are the most common choice you will see in most homes in the USA. These toilets consist of the bottom part and the top part (water tank) which are connected together with several bolts. These models are affordable but a little hard to clean.

One-piece toilets

In these toilets, the bowl and the tank are seamlessly fused together, which makes the fixture much easier to clean.

Wall-hung toilets

These toilets are an excellent choice if you’re working with a small space or if you want your bathroom to look extra sleek. Plus, they make it much easier to clean the floor and the toilet itself since it’s attached to the wall rather than standing on the floor like a regular toilet. However, the plumbing for these toilets is different from conventional fixtures, so you will likely only be able to install a wall-hung toilet if you’re building a home from scratch or carrying out an extensive renovation. 

Step 3: Choose the flush system

Modern toilets use several different types of flush systems. The type of the system can influence how well the water cleans the toilet during the flush, how much water your toilet uses, etc. Here are the most common flush systems:

Dual flush

Dual flush toilets have two flush buttons. One button causes the toilet to flush with half of the volume of the water in the tank. This is used to flush liquid waste. The second button uses the entire tank to flush solid waste. This system can reduce your water usage by up to 67%. 

Gravity flush

This is the conventional flush system installed on most toilets. It uses the weight of the water to generate the force to remove waste from the toilet. These systems are cheap to purchase and repair.

Pressure-assisted flush

These systems are generally used in commercial settings, as they use added pressure to make the toilet bowl cleaner. Plus, they reduce the chance of the toilet getting clogged.

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