Choosing the Proper Toilet for your Home in 2022 - Performance, Quality, and Suggestions

A toilet that serves you right is essential in every home. While choosing the proper toilet for your home, you need its style, size, height, and comfort to suit just right. Here are the things to consider when you’re looking for the best toilet for you, your kid, or the elderly at home:

Consider the Flush Type

The flush types dictate your water use and convenience. There are two types of mainstream toilet flushes:

Dual Flush 

These toilets come with two flushing options. One is for liquid waste that needs a low amount of water. Another is for solid waste, which flushes out more water. 

Most dual flushes are push button based with a larger button for 1.28/1.6 GPF (Gallons Per Flush) and a smaller push button for .8 GPF. Though some people find it confusing at first, it suits everyone after a few times of use.

With every use, the smaller flush uses less water. Using a dual-flush toilet can save up to 67 percent of water. Even if you press both buttons at once it will still release the same amount as pressing the larger button. 

Single Flush

Single-flush toilets have only one type of flush for all uses. Modern single flushes are equipped with either 1.28 or 1.6 GPF. Single flushes use more water overall. Read more below about the differences.

However, these are easier to operate than dual flushes. There is often a single push button positioned on top of the water tank or a trip lever on the side connected to the ballcock. In the high cistern toilets, pull chains are used.

Height Recommendation

Toilet heights are measured from the floor to the seat. Different people find different heights convenient. 

You can choose between two height types: 

Chair Height

These toilets are around 17-19 inches tall with their seats. Some models come with even taller toilets at around 20 inches tall. 

These toilets also known as comfort height toilets or ADA toilets are specifically branded for being comfortable for the user. This is because it lets the user maintain a healthy posture for longer durations. 

Normal Height

A standard height toilet ranges from 14-17 inches from the ground to the seats. This height makes the user arch their backs slightly forward, which is medically proven to be a good position to help provide some extra bowel movement.

However, it is not a position you want to stay in for a long time. This position poses pressure on the spine of the user which may lead to back aches. 

Although, due to a user's height difference, the standard height would provide more comfort for people under 5 feet 6 inches.

Toilet Water Conservation

Saving around 5000 gallons of water per household over a year, 1.28 GPF HETs are comparably the best for water conservation. 

If you use a dual flush with a smaller flush of 0.8 GPF and a large flush of 1.28 GPF you will further increase the efficiency. The water cost of the saved water will pay for the toilet itself in around 4 years. 

Some of the best toilets consume lots of water. According to this blog, household toilets account for roughly 30% of our total daily water usage. Pretty surprising fact! So saving water in every toilet flush should be your footprint priority. Read more below about gallons per flush options for your toilet.

Gallons Per Flush

All models manufactured after 1994 use only 1.6 gallons(6 liters) in ULF toilets while more efficient models can reduce it to 1.28 gallons in HET and 1.1 gallons (4 liters) of water in UHET per flush. 

1.28 Gallons per Flush

lower GPF means the flushes use less water. It saves around a gallon of water per day on average. Moreover, the flush is quiet. 

On the cons, you might find the flush to be not as powerful even though that rarely occurs. Flushing twice however defeats the purpose of saving water. These HETs often have more skid marks on the pan compared to 1.6 GPF. 

1.6 Gallons per Flush

These flushes are powerful enough for any household. The flush comes through a larger valve and is somewhat noisy. It gets rid of all waste in a single go, and flushing twice isn’t an issue. It is also more hygienic as it keeps the toilets clean for a longer time with lesser skid marks.

However, with each flush, it uses excess water which oftentimes is way more than what’s required. Which can stack up to increase the total water cost unnecessarily.

Flange Size

If you don’t want to mount your toilet directly on the floor, then a flange is your go-to option. Here is what to consider:

10" Flange 

This is the standard size for flanges and fixes up according to most pipelines. This site will connect the closet bend to the pipeline without any extra extensions. It has a 3-inch diameter, thus ensuring the bottom joint of waste pipelines that also has a 3-inch diameter.

12" Flange

Also popular as deep flanges, these come with a 4×3 inch joint system. The bottom part connects with the pipeline as it has the same diameter of 3 inches. And the top part of the flange has a 4-inch diameter that will connect to all sizes of toilet basins. Its unit height is

 2 ¼ inches.

Be sure to check out some of our plumbing terms here.

What Is The Best Toilet Height For Seniors?

Many think that comfort seats are the best option for seniors. However, that isn’t necessarily true. The best height for seniors (as per ADA) is the height at which their feet are placed comfortably flat on the ground while sitting straight.

That means that their feet must not dangle from the seats. Seniors who are under 5 feet 4 can suffer discomfort as their feet can’t touch the ground. The worst part of that case is oftentimes they have to hold on to the seats to keep balance.  

The best height for seniors is to consider the user's height and balance it. Here’s a guide to understanding that:

What Should I Choose For My Small Bathroom? 

Considering you have little space in your bathroom you should focus on products that are compact wall-mounted products such as the tissue holder or accessories case. 

Select coupled two-piece toilets or a one-piece toilet rather than high cisterns to save space.

Final Words

Choosing the proper toilet needs customization of your needs. Consider your family members and their age along with what features you need in the toilets. In the long run, hygiene and comfort matter the most. So, prioritize them. Make sure to check our blog section for more useful household and toilet information.