Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Common House Toilet Choices

[Bitner/Stevenson (lilbert]

Ahh, toilets. Now here's an issue we can really, er, sink our teeth into.
>
> a) Wall mounted vs pedestal: the latter is cheaper, but would seem to be
> not nearly as easy to clean and clean around.(And toilet cleaning by
> volunteers should be as non-odious as possible, to get it done! ) Any
> wall mounts out there? Was the extra cost etc worth it? Brand and model?

Ours are floor mounted. I'd love to have wall mounted, but I think that they
come with the pressure assisted flushes, which I think are undesirable(see b
below).
>
> b) Flush-- gravity vs pressure assisted: Obviously one wants to minimize
> the necessity for plunging, or plumber calls, for blockages, and many
> people will be using the facilities. Does pressure assisted (not the
> state-park kind, just the residential kind) make a difference in
> preventing blockages, or is it extra noise without proportionate benefit?

Do you really want your guests and everyone in the common house to hear it
when someone flushes? Ix-nay on the oise-nay.
>
> c) Any specific satisfaction  or dissatisfaction with specific brands and
> models?
>
Don't know what our brand is, but I think you'd bet better advice from an
expert on that. They are non-commercial, and do a fine job.

My major point would be that you are not going to get the kind of traffic in
the common house bathroom that you think you will. You will find that the
children and adults alike would rather go home to, uh, do #2, and #1 doesn't
clog toilets. I have never had the bathroom cleaning job. Believe it or not,
someone always volunteers for it fairly early in our job selection process.
As far as I can gather, it is a much less onerous task than it is at home,
and the toilets look pretty much the same after they've been cleaned as
before.

I would also strongly suggest, if your code doesn't require it, that you get
low flow toilets. They work great and, obviously, don't waste water. That's
important even in the temperate rainforest.

--
Liz Stevenson
Southside Park Cohousing
Sacramento, California