Rent House toilet

[gvladybug]

We have a rent house in a college town. Right now our son and a couple of roommates are living there. My son would love it if we replaced his bathroom toilet (circa 1970s) that is upstairs with a ADA height toilet. We are remodeling the main downstairs bathroom as it's a complete disaster with fiberglass tub and surround, along with bad wallpaper and very old fixtures. Since our son is over 6' tall I agreed to replace his toilet when we were doing the remodel.

We have loved our Totos at our house --- but given it is a rent house for college students don't want to invest in an expensive toilet.

I have narrowed my search down to two:
1. Kohler Wellworth - at Lowes for $129 (about $140 after taxes)
2. Toto Entrada - online found it for $170 (no tax free delivery)

So there is $30 difference. Not much but it does almost pay for the seat.

I have tried in the forums and online to get a sense of the positives and negatives but couldn't find anything.
I realize it's $30 but in the grand scheme of things if we add $30 here and there it will really add up. Just don't want to regret not checking with this forum in case I missed something in my research.

Thanks in advance.
D

 

[Terry]

Either would work fine.
I would give the Entrada the slight edge.

Shipping toilets can be a problem though. They are heavy, and brittle. Most people that deliver can't pick the boxes up. They nudge them off the back of the vans. I would buy local. Why not support your neighbors and keep broken porcelain out of the dumps.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[gvladybug]

Thanks Terry. This is a SMALL rural college town and there are two plumbing supply companies that service the area. I took your suggestion and called them. One doesn't do Toto and the other was MUCH MUCH higher than what I can find online. So far I have ordered 5 toilets online (3 separate orders) with no issues. Hopefully my luck holds out!
Appreciate the fast response.

 

[Dj2]

For a rental, buy the least expensive toilet you can find. The terrorists (tenants) will destroy any toilet you supply them.

If you ordered toilets on line before successfully, try your luck again - just make sure you open the box when it arrives and check it with the driver. I prefer to buy local, but your situation is different.

 

[WJcandee]

Get the Entrada. Your son will appreciate you for it. It flushes great, is very-well-made, looks nice, and should last and last.

However, if the students are indeed "terrorists", and you are sure they are going to destroy the porcelain at some point, then go to Home Depot and buy the $98 elongated version of their Glacier Bay toilet. http://www.homedepot.com/p/Glacier-...sh-Elongated-Toilet-in-White-N2428E/204074796 It's $98 in most places. You might want to chuck the seat, because it seems flimsy. Don't get the $88 one. It's a round bowl and you don't want a round bowl.

Let's be clear. Most toilets at this price point, even if they come from Kohler or AS, are total garbage. They flush poorly and are what we refer to as "builder grade". Something the builder puts in to save money and the homeowner ultimately replaces in disgust. I am here to tell you that this isn't that.

I don't normally recommend this toilet, because you want something nicer in a house you are going to live in for years. However, as I have mentioned here before, I put one in a friend's dive bar because it was only a matter of time until the miscreants there smashed the toilet (again). I expected the cheapo fill valve to fail pretty quickly with the huge number of flushes this sole toilet in the NYC men's room of a highly-patronized, world-famous beer-and-shot mecca does every day. I expected the chain to the flapper to be broken by violent pushing of the handle. I expected it to clog with toilet paper or paper towels. I expected the flimsy seat to break from abuse. But I expected the porcelain to be smashed long before any of this was a problem. (The urinal in this tiny men's room is a prison-grade stainless-steel one (seriously -- they use it in prisons) because so many of the previous porcelain ones had been smashed, and even so the flush handle needs to be replaced at least annually.)

I installed the Glacier Bay at least two years ago, and the thing continues to run like a champ. Perfect? No. Surprisingly-amazingly decent for $98? Yep. Nothing at all has broken, and it flushes surprisingly-well. And the inmates haven't destroyed it yet. It was put to the toughest of commercial-use tests, and survived.

It all comes in one box (which you can open and take the components out of if you want to fit it all in the back seat). When the fill valve quits in a couple of years, you can replace it with a Korky 528 (or any standard fill valve) for like $10. And/or you can buy a decent seat for it they don't like the cheap plastic one. But for a rental house, it's a very-viable suggestion.

PS If you go to Home Depot, go straight to the one I recommended, buy it, and get out. Do not talk to the Aprons, unless you need directions to or help with carrying the toilet. Listen to nothing they tell you, because as a broad sweeping generalization, they are idiots about plumbing, but are dangerous because they sound like they know what they are doing. Don't let them steer you to something else. Something else is emphatically not what you want. If you're going to HD, this is the one that you want, period. Also, don't get any less than 1.28gpf for this use, because it will end up clogging all the time. Just a word to the wise.