How To Select The Right Toilet For Your Home: Tips From A Professional Plumber | Carrollton, TX
It may sound taboo to talk about it during mealtime, but the toilet is arguably an important plumbing fixture in the home. Unfortunately, many homeowners will never consider upgrading their toilets until they’re sick or tired of frequent repairs.
Normally, most houses are constructed and sold with toilets already installed, which explains why most individuals don’t know how to purchase a toilet.
So how do you choose the best toilet that suits your needs? Don’t worry; this blog will help you learn how to go about it.
Want to enjoy sitting on that throne? Continue reading to discover more, and always remember to consult a certified plumber when in doubt.
Know Your Space to Ensure Perfect Fit
Before embarking on the toilet shopping spree, you may have to contact a qualified plumber near you to help with taking basic measurements. You may want to do it yourself, but a trained plumber will ensure your chosen toilet fits your space. Toilets are designed for “rough-in” dimensions.
Standard toilet rough-ins for modern homes come in sizes ranging from 10 and 12 to 14 inches. Ideally, the measurement from the finished wall to the center of the flange bolts at the base of your toilet will help you determine the rough-in toilet size.
You’ve to ensure your new toilet rough-in measurement is the same or smaller than your old toilet. However, if the space is accommodating, you don’t have to go for a toilet of the same size.
Compare Flush Ratings
Your toilet is something you’ll live with for a decade or more. Thus, it would be best to compare the flush ratings of various toilets before making your decision.
Toilets experience traffic almost daily, meaning they should flush as expected. You can determine a toilet’s flush performance by looking at its MaP score, which can tell you the amount of solid waste in grams that a toilet can remove in a single flush.
Although not all toilets will be MaP tested, the good thing is that many dealers and manufacturers do list MaP scores on the fixture’s packaging or their website.
A higher MaP score means the toilet can flush more, and the opposite is true. For the typical tank-type toilets, a minimum MaP score of 350 to 600 grams is recommended, though some models can handle up to 1000 grams.
Note: With many toilet options available today, ensure you only go for known brands. If you’re confused about what to do, it would be wiser to seek help from a professional plumber in Carrollton, TX.
Consider Efficiency
Another factor to consider is the amount of water the toilet you intend to buy will use. A bathroom is undoubtedly the main source of water use in homes, accounting for about 30 percent of all indoor residential water consumption.
The early toilets in the United States used 3.5 to 5 gallons per flush (GPF). In 1994, congress passed a new legislation, requiring toilets to meet the new water-saving standard of 1.6 GPF.
While these new “flow-rate” toilets got a bad rap for their inability to flush waste effectively and vulnerability to clog, today’s toilets are built for efficiency and performance.
The pressure to save water is still on; now, you can get high-efficiency toilets that use 1.28 GPF. Better still, there’s the ultra-high efficiency with as little as 0.8 GPF. Contrary to what you may think, the newest toilet models don’t allow you to use less water to flush, and their flushing efficacy has advanced too.
If your concern is saving water, you may opt for a dual flush toilet with separate buttons for solid wastes and liquids. That is, you can choose between a higher or lower flow rate.
Again, the EPA’s WaterSense label can help you buy a more efficient toilet. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), getting a certified plumber to install WaterSense-labeled toilets in your home could reduce your toilet water use by almost 20 percent, translating to about 13,000 gallons of water savings $140 cost savings annually.
Siphonic or Washdown?
The two major toilet functionalities come with their pros and cons. Siphonic toilets are the most common versions you’re likely to come across.
These toilets rely on gravity to drain waste down the toilet. Some of their advantages are that they’re virtually odorless, use less water, and flush silently. But the downside of Siphonic toilets is that they use a long, narrow trapway which clogs easily.
Washdown toilets only use the force of rushing water to push waste through the toilet, no siphon is created. A unique feature of these toilet varieties is their short, wide trapway, which is why they rarely clog.
However, unlike their siphonic counterparts, washdowns have lower water spots, and because of this, “skid marks” and odors are quite common with these toilets.
If a plumber installs a washdown toilet in your bathroom, you may flush it several times to remove sticky waste. They also produce a lot of noise when flushing. But it all depends on what you want.
Understand One- and Two-Piece ToiletsThe most popular two toilet types are two and one-piece toilets. Two-piece toilets have a separate tank and bowl, making them easier and cheaper to install, resulting in cost savings.
If style is your priority, you can contact a plumber to install a one-piece toilet to achieve a sleeker, modern look. Also, it is easier to clean and less prone to leakages as there’s no tank gasket.
Pay Attention to Height
Toilets come in all sorts of heights to meet the needs of different users. The Americans with Disability Act (ADA) requires that toilets have a bowl height of between 17 to 19 inches, higher than the standard height is 15 inches.
Installing a toilet whose height is 19 to 20 inches may sound fantastic for tall people, but your kids may be disadvantaged. A reputable plumber in Carrollton, TX can guide you on the right toilet height, depending on your needs.
Get Help from the Plumbing Experts at bluefrog Plumbing + Drain of North Dallas
Now that you’ve known what to look for when selecting your toilet, the next thing you probably want is to have it installed.
At bluefrog Plumbing + Drain of North Dallas, our licensed plumbers are ready to help you. Besides plumbing installations and repairs, we also offer electrical services to households and businesses in Carrollton, TX, and its neighborhood. Call us now!
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