by D. Trump

Created on: September 26, 2009

Let's be honest, the toilet is one of the most important parts of a home. Buying a new toilet is not as simple as just going out and getting the best one available. Make the right choice, and you could have a worry-free bathroom for decades. Make the wrong choice and you will be plagued with problems that will cost you more than the original cost of the toilet. The only way to avoid these problems is to be informed. This article will give you the information that you need to avoid making the wrong decision in this extremely important choice.

Some people follow an easy rule that if you buy the most expensive item or brand name, you are getting the best product available. Unfortunately, this is not the case with toilets. Picking a toilet is about matching the needs of the homeowner to the capability of the unit as well as the capability of the plumbing that exists in the home. One of the most effective ways to find out which is the best toilet on the market is to ask the person at the hardware store which one sells the most. This is a great way to find out which is the best because the contractors and handymen that install toilets for people know the products, and as word gets around, the best products become more and more popular. Of course this does not mean that it will be the best toilet for you, but it will be a good start.

Now that you know which one is the best, you have to look at is the needs of the people using the toilet. The regular choices for types of toilets are: standard toilets, elongated or over-sized toilets, and compact toilets for small areas. The choices here are fairly straight forward. Most people buy a standard toilet. If you or another resident of the house are older or have special needs, the elongated toilets are almost always the best choice. If the bathroom is smaller or irregular, the compact toilet will come in very handy. Assessing your situation, and deciding which one of these to choose is the easy part. Now that you know this, it is time to move onto the hard questions.

The next thing that you have to look at is whether or not you should get a low-flow or high-efficiency toilet. It is unfortunate, but all of the information out there is geared towards making the environmental choice when it may not be the best choice for everyone. The water savings and government grants can be very appealing, but if your existing plumbing cannot handle this upgrade, you will have thousands of dollars of repairs to deal with. You first have to consider the age of the home and the condition of the existing sewer pipes. If you have an older home built in the 1970's or earlier, you should likely pass on the low-flow toilets. This is because the older sewer pipes were made to handle the larger amounts of water, and are rough inside which reduces their efficiency. What this means to you is that the lower amount of water used by these toilets will not be sufficient to clear the pipes after the flush. Sediment will settle in the pipes, and eventually it will clog and cause sewer back-up. This will be very expensive and damaging to your home. Even if you have replaced the sewer pipes in your home, there is still the sewer line to the street that can be subject to clogging. All of the water savings in the World will not make up for the damage that this can cause in your home.

In conclusion, when you are buying a new toilet, it is easy to choose the most expensive and most efficient model. This is often not the best choice. Make sure that you know your needs and the capabilities of your sewer, and make the right choice based on this instead. If you do, you will find that you will save money and prevent problems for years to come.

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