Shopping for new toilet, ADA with low tank

[canadave]

Hi all, please bear with me here, I'm an amateur (and I freely admit it!) I'm looking for recommendations on a good toilet to buy--inexpensive is good, but if there's features that really make a toilet worth buying over its inexpensive brethren, we have the money to do so. Here's the caveats/criteria:

My wife and I have a relatively small bathroom with a very small toilet. We'd like to upgrade our toilet, and while doing so, also buy a proper bidet toilet seat (not one of the cheap $30 ones that clip under the seat). There are two problems we have to work around:

1) There is a small extension shelf for the bathroom sink that extends over the area where the toilet is. The extension shelf sticks out about 4 or 5 inches from the wall, but that's not the problem; any toilet would fit underneath it just fine. The problem is that to provide support for the shelf, there is a piece of 3/4" painted MDF underneath it that is bolted vertically onto the wall (i.e. the thin edge of the MDF helps support the shelf). The distance from the floor to the bottom of the MDF is 27.75 inches. That means that any toilet tank that extends higher than 27.75 inches, and is less than 3/4" clearance from the wall, won't fit. I could theoretically cut out the bottom of the piece of MDF all the way across in order to "raise" the amount of clearance for the toilet, but would rather not do that if I don't have to.

2) We would prefer to have the toilet not extend out from the wall much past 28 or 29 inches, due to a walk-in shower entry next to the toilet. That being said, we want an elongated seat, not round (I'm pretty tall).

Any suggestions? So far I'm looking at the Kohler Cimarron or Elmbrook. I would LOVE a Kohler Santa Rosa, but it appears it only has 1/2" clearance from the wall and is juuuuuust slightly too high to fit under the MDF I'm really tempted to cut that sucker...

One other question--if a toilet's spec sheet shows it's 3/4" clearance from the wall, would I be able to get away with installing it right up against the MDF piece (i.e. actually touching it)? If so, then let's say the specs are slightly off by maybe 1/8" due to low measurement tolerances or whatever...would I be completely screwed, or is there some "leeway" in terms of being able to install in that situation?

 

[Reach4]

One other question--if a toilet's spec sheet shows it's 3/4" clearance from the wall, would I be able to get away with installing it right up against the MDF piece (i.e. actually touching it)? If so, then let's say the specs are slightly off by maybe 1/8" due to low measurement tolerances or whatever...would I be completely screwed, or is there some "leeway" in terms of being able to install in that situation?

There is some slop in the connection method. Use 1/4 inch closet bolts, and you get a little more adjustment than if you use 5/16.

The tolerances are not super tight. A slight tilt to the toilet can affect whether the top of the tank hits the wall. Touching the wall without force will not hurt anything.

Putting together a 2-piece toilet can be tricker than it first looks. You want the tank and base to be tight enough but not too tight. Read about that aspect if you have not done so. A 1 piece toilet does not have that consideration, but the one piece toilets are heaver. They also cost more, but are higher status. People say they are easier to keep clean, but I think that is secondary. ;-)

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Jadnashua]

Measure carefully from the finished wall to the center of the flange to know what you're working with. The spec sheets assume your rough-in is perfect. That rarely happens. If it's a little long, you have more choices...if it's a little short and you truly have something like 11.25" or less to the wall, you need to know that, too.

 

[canadave]

Thanks very much all. How would I go about measuring the distance from the wall to the flange if the toilet is still there? Is there some way to determine it?

 

[Reach4]

Measure from wall to middle of closet bolts. Lift covers for better measuring.

 

[canadave]

Oh, I see...the bolts are at the midpoint of the flange, then?

Just measured mine...they're at around 11 and 5/8" I guess that means I need a little more room than I thought.

 

[Reach4]

1. make sure you are measuring to the wall and not the shoe molding.
2. There is some adjustment range/slop. So things may or may not be as tight as you fear.

 

[canadave]

Yep, definitely measured to the wall, not the baseboard. It's 11 and 5/8". Darn! So many toilets have very little clearance from the wall.

 

[Jadnashua]

There is usually enough slop in the flange and the toilet to shuffle the mounting maybe 1/4", 3/8" if you push it. That's not an absolute. Most toilet flanges (3" pipe) have a 3" opening while the outlet of most toilets is a little over 2", so shifting the whole thing within the limits of the mounting points is usually possible without creating performance problems.