Is water supply from the floor a bad idea?

[uscpsycho]

I am installing one or two toilets that can accept water supply either from the floor or from the wall. Of course the supplying water from the floor looks better so I'm drawn to doing that.

However, this is for those super fancy smart toilets and I worry if I have a catastrophic failure I may not replace it with another super expensive toilet. Or if I were to move, I'll probably want to take the toilet with me.

Whenever the time comes to replace the toilet, is it going to be a big headache if the new toilet can't receive its water supply from the floor? Should I just supply water from the wall and leave good enough alone? Just wondering if it's not advisable to do this even though I could do it.

 

[Smooky]

It is a pain to clean around when it sticks up out of the floor or the bottom of the cabinet.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Standardairconditioner]

Floor supplies are very old school, for both toilets and sinks, since the copper just shoots straight up with no bends.

You just have to deal with them when cleaning, like going around that small tree when you mow the lawn.

Flexible supply lines make that moot, which is why all roughs are on the wall now.

An elbow shutoff valve allows one to use hard copper supply lines again easily.

 

[uscpsycho]

It is a pain to clean around when it sticks up out of the floor or the bottom of the cabinet.

I believe that the water supply is covered by the toilet so that nothing is visible or exposed. The idea is so you don't see anything sticking out of the toilet.

Like so:

 

[Jadnashua]

One reason that they supply the water from the floor is in cold country, it keeps it out of a wall where it might freeze. A second one might be if the wall is masonry, and running pipe through it is tougher. If that's not an issue, as long as it is placed far enough off center on either a wall or floor supply, you should be able to fit any toilet. In either case, you still need to be able to turn the water off, so it needs at least some clearance to the toilet. It is easier to partially hide coming from the wall.

 

[WJcandee]

Or they haven't actually plumbed those fixtures in in the fake studio-model bathroom that they used in that photo. I guess I'm just not sophisticated enough or finicky enough to think that it makes any difference at all that the plumbing is hidden. Realistically, if you want flexibility in terms of future toilets, you're going to have the supply run from the wall. You can use a Dahl quarter-turn ball valve to minimize its size.

 

[Smooky]

For the skirted toilet in your picture I would let it stick up from the floor so it looks nice.

 

[Standardairconditioner]

The idea is so you don't see anything sticking out of the toilet.

Go 4 it.

It's your toilet.

YOLO.

 

[WJcandee]

The toilet in the picture is for the Couture Collection sold in India, but I guess here is sold as the floor-mount Veil, K-5401. $4000+

For that you could get a great Neorest and a case of Dom Perignon.

The installation instructions for the Veil show that the water inlet is behind the toilet, and it allows 2.25" between the toilet and the wall on a 12" rough, but you need the full 12" rough or the seat will hit the wall when open. There is no inlet shown to the toilet from under toilet. I suppose you could bring the water supply up directly behind the toilet and put an outlet horizontally on the floor, which will make washing the floor a pleasure (not), but the preferred location of the water supply according to the instructions is coming out of the wall, 3-6" off the floor and 5.5-8" left of the flange centerline. Regardless, you're going to have a hose running to the back of the toilet near the floor and a visible electrical outlet on the wall (or floor, goodness help you), with something plugged into it. The water and electricity don't run up into the toilet from below, covered by the toilet. That would probably not be advisable in any event.

Like I said, that photo is to a certain extent a fraud.

http://www.us.kohler.com/webassets/kpna/catalog/pdf/en/1226974_2.pdf
http://www.us.kohler.com/webassets/kpna/catalog/pdf/en/K-5401_spec.pdf

 

[Reach4]

Whenever the time comes to replace the toilet, is it going to be a big headache if the new toilet can't receive its water supply from the floor?

An ordinary toilet can get its supply from the floor -- just not from too near the center line. If there is access from below, the pipe could be moved farther from the center. I know that https://terrylove.com/forums/index.php?threads/what-toilet-will-fit-here-shutoff-in-floor.62597/ was not what you had in mind when you wrote your original post. It's an exaggerated view of what I was picturing.

If you supply the water from the wall in a concealed way, that pipe would also be near the center line. That would be a problem for many toilets.

With these concealed supply lines, are you missing a stop valve to turn off the water to the toilet for maintenance etc?

 

[WJcandee]

With these concealed supply lines, are you missing a stop valve to turn off the water to the toilet for maintenance etc?

Exactly. But they are not concealed, because the inlet on his toilet is right there on the back of it, and they recommend using a flexible hose from the wall to attach to it. The toilet doesn't cover the inlet and electrical outlet.

If one has the bread to blow on two $4000 toilets, one can also pay a Terry-Love/HJ-level plumber to do something special for this install only, which would be an out-of-the-floor pipe that connects directly to the inlet on the back of the toilet, maybe running from an access plate in the wall with a shutoff inside, and maybe an electrician to hard-wire the toilet into a junction box cut into the floor which is connected to a GFCI breaker because you need a GFCI circuit. But you are still going to have a pipe, albeit a small one, going to the rear of the toilet so you don't get the side view in that Kohler photo, and a wire going somewhere, and a plate on the wall and a box on/in the floor.

The photo is BS. Ain't gonna happen.

 

[Dhett]

Mine go through the floor. I live in Canada and go south every winter. I’m an old guy, and the body can’t handle the -40 like it used to. I drain my lines well and have never had a problem. If Some how I miss a line and it freezes, through the floor makes for an easy fix.