Toilet buying guide: flush power, height, and rough-in

A toilet is the one fixture in the house that has to work every time, and most people buy one in a hurry after the old one cracks or starts rocking. Twenty minutes of homework before you go to the store keeps you from bringing home a toilet that does not fit the space, flushes weakly, or scales up in our water within a year.

Measure the rough-in before anything else

The rough-in is the distance from the finished wall behind the toilet to the center of the closet bolts that hold the toilet to the floor. Measure from the wall, not the baseboard. Most homes in Lee and Collier County built after the 1970s have a 12 inch rough-in, the standard nearly every toilet is built for. Some older homes and tight condo bathrooms have 10 inches, and a few have 14.

A 12 inch toilet on a 10 inch rough-in hits the wall. A 10 inch toilet on a 12 inch rough-in leaves a gap behind the tank that collects dust. Know your number before you shop; 10 and 14 inch models exist but are rarely stocked.

While you are on the floor, check the flange. If the old toilet rocked or the floor around it is soft or stained, the wax ring has failed and the flange or subfloor may need repair before any toilet goes down.

Height and bowl shape

• Standard height. Bowl rim around 14 to 15 inches from the floor. Fine for kids, and what most older homes have.
• Comfort height, also sold as chair height or right height. Bowl rim around 16 to 18 inches, close to a dining chair. Easier on knees and backs, and the choice most homeowners here make, especially seasonal residents planning to age in the house.
• Round bowl. Shorter front to back. Choose it only when the door or vanity leaves less than about 30 inches in front of the toilet.
• Elongated bowl. About two inches longer, more comfortable, and what most modern models are.

One-piece, two-piece, or skirted

A two-piece toilet has a separate tank bolted to the bowl. It is lighter to carry, cheaper to make, and the tank can be replaced alone if it cracks. The seam between tank and bowl is one more place for grime and one more gasket that can seep.

A one-piece toilet molds tank and bowl together. It is heavier, usually costs more, and there is no tank seam to clean or leak.

A skirted toilet has a smooth outer wall that hides the trapway. It wipes clean in one pass, which matters in a beach rental or a house with pets. The catch is that skirted toilets bolt to the floor differently and can be fussy on a flange that is off center or slightly high.

Flush ratings and water use

Since the mid-1990s, toilets sold in the United States have used 1.6 gallons per flush or less. Most models now sold use 1.28 gallons, which qualifies for the WaterSense label.

The number that separates strong from weak is the MaP score, an independent test of how many grams of test media a toilet clears in one flush. Scores run up to 1,000, and 800 or higher is a comfortable floor for a household toilet. The MaP database is public, so look up the model before you buy.

Two features make the difference at low volume:

• Trapway size. A fully glazed trapway of two inches or larger passes waste without catching. Cheap toilets narrow the trapway to save material.
• Rim jets and the siphon jet. Water enters through small holes under the rim and a larger jet at the bottom. Bigger, fewer rim outlets scale up more slowly in hard water.

Dual flush toilets save water in a busy house at the cost of a more complicated flush valve; a well-rated single-flush 1.28 gallon toilet is simpler and usually the better choice for a rental.

Hard water, salt air, and what fails on cheap toilets

Much of our tap water is hard, and well water in Lehigh Acres and eastern Estero is harder. Calcium scales the rim jets and the siphon jet until the flush loses its swirl. A model with fewer, larger rim outlets, or a rimless bowl design, scales more slowly and cleans up with a vinegar soak.

Chlorine and chloramine in city water are hard on rubber. The flapper is usually the first thing to go, then the fill valve. On the cheapest toilets the flush valve is a proprietary part you cannot find at the hardware store two years later. Before you buy, check that the flapper, fill valve, and flush valve are standard or that the brand sells replacements. Toto, Kohler, American Standard, and Gerber are examples of brands whose parts are easy to find here.

Watch for these on bargain models: a thin unglazed trapway that catches paper, plastic tank-to-bowl bolts, a fill valve with no adjustment, and a seat with hinges that will not stay tight. On Fort Myers Beach and the islands, ask for stainless seat hinges and bolts; salt air rusts plated steel in a season.

The supply line, the angle stop, and where DIY stops

The angle stop is the small valve behind the toilet. In many homes here it is the original from the 1980s or 90s, a multi-turn valve that has not moved in decades. The first time it is turned it often weeps or will not close, and if it is a gray plastic polybutylene fitting it is past due. Have the stop replaced with a quarter-turn ball valve and fit a new braided stainless supply line at the same time. A new wax ring, or a wax-free seal, goes down on a clean, solid flange.

Setting a toilet on a good flange with a working shutoff is a job many homeowners can do. It stops being DIY when the flange is broken or below the tile, the subfloor is soft, the stop will not close or is polybutylene, or the bathroom is in a condo above someone else’s ceiling. Any of those turn a two-hour swap into a leak that shows up weeks later.

Send us a photo of the old toilet, the rough-in measurement, and the shutoff behind it. We will tell you whether the model you have in mind will fit, what should be replaced with it, and whether anything under the toilet needs attention first.