What do I need to know before I buy a toilet?
Four numbers and one preference. Get these right and the install is uneventful; get one wrong and the box goes back to the store.
| Spec |
What it means |
How to check it |
| Rough-in |
10", 12", or 14". Decides whether the toilet fits at all |
Finished wall to the center of the floor bolts. Not to the baseboard |
| Bowl height |
Standard sits lower; comfort height matches a chair and meets the ADA range |
Floor to the top of the seat. Sit on the one you have and decide |
| Bowl shape |
Elongated is more comfortable; round saves a couple of inches of floor |
Measure from the wall out to the front of the bowl, then to the door swing |
| One piece or two |
One-piece is easier to clean and heavier; two-piece is easier to service |
Preference, not a fit issue |
| Flange height |
The collar should sit level with, or just above, the finished floor |
We check this. It's the one people don't know to look at |
Why does new tile cause toilet problems?
Because the floor came up and the flange didn't. A tile job adds backer board and tile over the old surface, and now the closet flange that used to sit level with the floor is buried below it. The wax has to bridge that gap, and wax is a gasket, not a spacer.
A recessed flange is why a lot of freshly remodeled bathrooms seep at the base within a year. The fix is a flange extender ring or a re-set flange at install time, not a thicker wax ring stacked and hoped for. If your bathroom got new flooring and the toilet went back on the original wax, have someone look before it stains the grout.
Is comfort height worth it?
For most adults, and for anyone with bad knees or hips, yes. Comfort height puts the seat at about chair level, which is the range the ADA specifies for accessible fixtures, and standing up off one takes noticeably less effort.
The honest counterpoint: it's worse for small children, and it's worse for the mechanics of actually going, which is why some people prefer standard height and a footstool. There's no wrong answer and no upcharge in our labor either way. Sit on both at the store before you decide.
What's included in a toilet install?
We shut off and drain the old unit, pull it, scrape the old wax, inspect the closet flange and correct its height if the floor changed, set the new toilet on fresh wax with new bolts, connect a new supply line, level it, and run it to check for leaks at the base and the tank bolts. The old toilet goes with us.
What isn’t automatically included is anything we find under the old one. A cracked flange, a soft spot in the floor, or a shutoff that won’t close are separate items, and you hear about them before we do them. A bigger repair moves over to toilet repair; a bathroom taken back to studs is remodel work.
Do I need a permit to replace a toilet in Red Oak?
Not for a straight swap onto the existing flange. Moving the toilet to a different wall is another matter entirely — on the slab foundations most of Red Oak is built on, the closet bend is cast into the concrete, so relocating a toilet means breaking slab, and that is permitted and inspected work.