
Of all the decisions we had to make for the addition, the one I took most seriously was: Choosing the toilet. Yes, the toilet. I spend a lot of time on mine, as I have a bladder the size of a walnut. (That's probably more information about me than you want to know, but it's important for establishing the background.)
I also realized that this was not going to be an easy choice. You are probably aware that in 1992 the U.S. government passed the National Energy Policy Act mandating that all new toilets use no more than 1.6 gallons per flush, as a step toward water conservation.
The snag is that the early 1.6 gpf toilets were horrendous. People were having to flush 2 or 3 times just to get the, er, stuff down, and that kind of defeats the whole purpose of trying to conserve water. It got so bad that a black market of the older 5-7 gpf toilets sprang up across the nation. I had a dim memory of reading some article about the situation, with the author concluding that some of the new toilets were definitely better than the others.
Since we like to be environmentally conscientious when possible, I didn't want to use a black-market toilet, but I also definitely did not want a toilet that wouldn't flush. So I turned to the internet and delved into the wild and woolly world of toilet research.
(Incidentally, do you know what some companies use for testing toilets? Tofu turds. I'm not joking. They take tofu of varying consistencies and mash it into little sausage shaped turd substitutes.)
A couple of sources kept referring to one particular website as the mecca of toilet lore, a site run by a plumber named Terry Love, www.terrylove.com. If you want to spend an entertaining evening, I highly recommend this site. He offers a detailed report on what he considers the best low-flow toilets out there, complete with links to a toilet forum that he also runs from his website.
Yes, I said toilet forum. Given that I spend way too many hours on the Piano World forum, I should be more sympathetic to the notion of a toilet forum, but I have to tell you that this forum cracks me up. It is full of people talking about their toilet purchases, toilet experiences (shudder), and photos of their toilets that they have felt compelled to share with the 6 billion people on the planet.
But it's the comments that are the most hilarious. My favorite was this gem by JH, who reported on his purchase of a Toto Ultramax toilet: "These toilets are deadly with solid waste, no 'victory lap' around the bowl. You simply say 'brown buddy, you're going down,' and that's that."
That recommendation clinched it for me, so I initially decided I had to have an Ultramax toilet for myself. So I went to the Toto toilet website and searched for the nearest distributor. There weren't any in Lexington, but there was a dealer in Nicholasville, not too far away. I called up and asked if they had any Ultramaxes in their showroom, and the woman said, "Yes, in fact, we have one installed in our women's room."
WOOT. I couldn't resist the chance to try one out in action, so the next day I sped off to the showroom, where Gina showed me the toilet and was very gracious when I asked if she could excuse me so I could try it out.
I will say this: The flush and refill action on these toilets are awesome. The whole thing took literally no more than 8 seconds from start to finish. I was in toilet love. I absolutely hate getting up in middle of the night, doing my thing, then laying in bed for what seems like hours waiting for the %@$%!& toilet to shut off so I don't have to worry about getting back up and jiggling the %$@#(! handle.
The only thing I didn't like about the Ultramax was the appearance (it was a one-piece unit, very contemporary, which looked nice on the company website but in person seemed a little too edgy to me) and the price (very expensive, around $750). So I asked Gina what other options I should consider. She said that the Toto Drake model was their best seller, and it had the same flushing mechanism as the Ultramax but was a two-piece unit in a more traditional style. She then walked me over to the men's room where they had it installed. I asked her to excuse me once again (I told y'all I had a small bladder...), where I tried it out and verified that it was every bit as satisfying to flush as the Ultramax. Better yet, it was a lot cheaper: With a slow-close seat, it came to something like $425. ("What's a slow-close seat" you ask? It's a seat with a special hinge so that all you have to do is drop it down and it lowers itself carefully and quietly to the resting position. No more unpleasant WHAM! when you accidentally drop a lid or seat down.)
We chose the ADA-compliant "comfort" height model of the Drake, one where the bowl is 16.5" off the ground, which is slightly higher than a traditional toilet. This is one aspect of our desire for following a unversal design strategy in building the addition that I will use and appreciate right away, as decades of running and overtraining have made my middle-aged knees sore much of the time. The comfort height toilets are a lot easier for me to sit down on and get off of, and have I mentioned that I have a small bladder and go to the bathroom a lot? ;-)
The photo above shows what the Drake looks like in white. It also comes in a color (Sedona Beige) that is identical to the biscuit tub and sinks we had ordered, so we are all set to sit.