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

[Rob Sandelin (floriferous]

There are some handicapped accessibility issues with toliets which are
useful to know. The type of toliet seat for example, and also the surround
space, grab bars, etc. We have one fully accessible bathroom which we
thought we would never need or use.

Turns out we have had more folks visit who move using wheels than we ever
anticipated and thus that bathroom is very appreciated. I am glad we took
the trouble to make it accessible, it was not that hard.

Rob Sandelin
Northwest Intentional Communties Association
Building a better society, one neighborhood at a time

> -----Original Message-----
> From: cohousing-l [at] freedom2.mtn.org
> [mailto:cohousing-l [at] freedom2.mtn.org]On Behalf Of Bitner/Stevenson
> Sent: Saturday, October 30, 1999 10:12 PM
> To: Multiple recipients of list
> Subject: Re: Common House Toilet Choices
>
>
> 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
>