Looking for toilet seat with steel hinges with 3/8" through-hole

[Melissa2007B]

My sister is handicapped and has been using a handicapped riser for years, with bars to hold onto. The toilet seat fitted on top of them and had 3/8" holes in it, so I could put a 3/8" threaded bolt through the toilet seat hinge fitting, then down through the riser, and finally through the toilet, with a wing nut on the bottom and flat washers on top and bottom.

This is what the last seat's hinge mount looks like:

The last seat lasted for about 12 years and the hinge just broke about a week ago. So OK, I go out looking for a seat with the same kind of steel hinge mount and hole. Nothing. Meanwhile, she's having to use my bathroom at the other end of the house, with no riser or grab bars - hard for her, and sometimes in the middle of the night.

SO I started searching online. Nothing.

The bright young boys at the big companies that make toilet seats apparently decided on trendy new mechanisms, like easy down seats and seats that stay tight. Whooppee.

So I've been searching online for several days now, while this goes on, and still haven't found anything like this anymore. We even tried drilling out the black hole fittings on a Kohler $40 seat, but the cheap thin plastic hing broke, only 4 days after installing it.

This is crazy. It looks like handicapped people who use risers, cant get toilet seats anymore, that can have a bolt put through the hinge plate and down through the riser?

 

[Jadnashua]

I don't shop for toilet seats all that often, but it seems like it's been years since I've seen much other than plastic parts there. That makes some sense since plastic doesn't rust, and making metal hinges out of something that doesn't is a lot more expensive.

Have you tried going to a medical supply house or searching one online?

A new, ADA height toilet might solve that, since most available seats would fit and then give you the potentially needed height.

How high does the seating need to be?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Terry]

https://www.bemisseats.com/spec-sheets/84-1900/file

Bemis makes a seat with stainless steel bolts and nuts.

 

[Melissa2007B]

I don't shop for toilet seats all that often, but it seems like it's been years since I've seen much other than plastic parts there. That makes some sense since plastic doesn't rust, and making metal hinges out of something that doesn't is a lot more expensive.

Have you tried going to a medical supply house or searching one online?

A new, ADA height toilet might solve that, since most available seats would fit and then give you the potentially needed height.

How high does the seating need to be?

Yes, I said I searched online. For days now. Medical and handicapped supply houses only sell the risers. She already has a ADA toilet under the riser, but has CRPS - Complex Regional Pain Syndrome in her legs and needs more height. I think she has the ADA toilet with a 4" riser on top, then the former seat.

 

[Melissa2007B]

https://www.bemisseats.com/spec-sheets/84-1900/file

Bemis makes a seat with stainless steel bolts and nuts.

That's not the issue Terry. We need to pass a long 3/8" bolt through the seat mount holes, then the 4" riser holes, then the toilet holes, so if a seat has short little bolts, that won't work.

The hospital and handicapped supply places only sell risers. I've searched all the sites on the web, and no one has the through-hole steel mounts anymore. I called a local handicapped supply store and they said that most people are just having to use the risers without seats on top of them, now, which is super uncomfortable. It's either that or ditch the riser and she loses 4" of height she needs.

 

[Jadnashua]

An alternative would be to reset the toilet on a riser rather than raising the seat on top of it. That would take some plumbing work along with maybe some carpentry, not a simple bolt-on solution.

If you were contemplating remodeling, you might consider a wall-hung toilet that could be installed at any height you wanted. Again, though, that would not be inexpensive.

Somebody posted a picture of a really tall toilet...the bowl height is 20", and again, not necessarily a cheap alternative.

https://convenientheight.com/

 

[Reach4]

I am trying to understand. If the seat you buy does not accept a 3/8 inch through bolt, how about using a 5/16 bolt? If the riser has bigger holes, and a 5/16 bolt would be sloppy, you could probably get a bushing to take up the slack.

Another thing to look into to keep things centered are "cone washers".