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When it came time to remodel her bathroom, homeowner Carrie Tamminga did her homework.
Tamminga wanted a toilet that helped conserve water.
“It was really important for me to get the dual flush because of the less water and I
knew it would save on bills.”
While toilets have a long lifespan, you’ll eventually have to swap yours out for a new
one. The Energy Policy Act in 1992 required all new toilets to be low-flow or low-flush,
restricting their water usage to one-point-six gallons per flush instead of what used to
be the average of three-point-five gallons per flush.
“A low-flush toilet would be anything from 1.6 all the way to down to 1.28. You have
dual flush toilets now that are .9 to 1.28. A dual flush toilet usually has two buttons
or two types of levers on it that would be for your liquids and your waste. Those are
becoming more and more popular.”
“Your options are really endless. Toilets have become very sophisticated over the years.
You can find a very basic toilet for a few hundred dollars all the way up to thousands
of dollars for the state of the art toilet.”
Homeowners can choose between a one or two piece toilet, a round or elongated bowl, different
heights, and many additional features.
“Different toilets like heated seats or washlets or have open and shut lids that are
automatic – all those features are very desirable, they are not necessary but at the
end of the day they are quite a nice feature to have those because they can actually save
a lot of time. They have dryers built onto them. They have deodorizers. So the dryer
function alone saves on toilet paper usage.”
Although an experienced do-it-yourselfer may be able to install a new toilet, most homeowners
should hire a licensed plumber. A poor installation job can cause leaks under
the flooring.
“Installing a toilet in of itself, is not a real complicated job, but you have to keep
in mind that a toilet can be rather heavy, especially the porcelain, so you are going
to need some extra hands to help you put it into place.”