Go to the home center and you’ll notice all kinds of commodes on the market. But when it comes to choosing the best toilet for your home, it’s important to consider the different options and features.

Here are some examples:

  • One-Piece Toilet: The tank and bowl are molded together into one piece with a low profile. This type of toilet is more expensive than two-piece toilets but easier to keep clean.
  • Two-Piece Toilet: This consists of a separate tank and bowl that are bolted together with a rubber seal. Less expensive, but more difficult to install and harder to keep clean.
  • Toilet Bowl Shape: Toilet bowls are available in round or elongated shapes. Elongated bowl toilets protrude further out into the room but can be easier to keep clean than round bowl toilets.
  • Toilet Seat Height: Toilets are available in standard height (14 to 15 inches) and taller comfort height (17-18 inches).
  • Toilet Water Usage: All toilets today are required to use no more than 1.6 gallons per flush (GPF), and some water-saving toilets use as little as 1.28 gallons. Dual-flush toilets have two buttons, one for solid waste (usually 1.6 GPF) and one for liquid waste (usually 1.0 GPF).

Watch the video above to find out more.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Allen Lyle: Searching for the best toilet for your home? First of all, let’s talk about style.

Two-piece unit—this is the most common. It’s got a separate tank and bowl connected right here. Everything that’s fresh, the water hits in here, goes down and flushes the waste in the bowl.

One-piece unit — people actually like these because of the low profile. And they’re a lot easier to clean. If you look over here on a two-piece unit, you can see the channel here. You can catch a lot of dust with that. Slide here, and you just don’t have that — so much easier to clean, which might make it the best toilet for your home.

I will say this about a one-piece unit. It’s more expensive. You’re going to pay about twice as much on the starting end. So, 100 bucks for average on the two-piece, 200 on the one-piece.

Of course, you’ve got your style of your shape of the bowl. You’ve got round verses the oblong. Then there’s the comfort and height. This is standard, about 14 to 15 inches. Comfort height about three inches more. Let me just say this delicately, it’s easier to get up if you’ve got the comfort height.

Water-saving. I love the new ones like this. If you’re getting rid of an old toilet, 3.5 gallons, great. You’re going to save so much money on your water usage. 1.6 gallons, that’s the max. You’ve got the high-efficiency toilets that only use 1.28 gallons per flush.

And a dual model like this, it has a dual flush, with liquid waste, it’s less than one gallon that it uses. However, I will say this.

With those, the water level on the bowl is very low, which means you’ll have to clean it more to get rid of those unpleasant odors.


Further Information: Choosing the Best Toilet for Your Home

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Danny Lipford

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Danny Lipford is a home improvement expert and television personality who started his remodeling business, Lipford Construction, at the age of 21 in Mobile, Alabama. He gained national recognition as the host of the nationally syndicated television show, Today's Homeowner with Danny Lipford, which started as a small cable show in Mobile. Danny's expertise in home improvement has also led him to be a contributor to popular magazines and websites and the go-to source for advice on everything related to the home. He has made over 200 national television appearances and served as the home improvement expert for CBS's The Early Show and The Weather Channel for over a decade. Danny is also the founder of 3 Echoes Content Studio, TodaysHomeowner.com, and Checking In With Chelsea, a décor and lifestyle blog.

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