Toilet Seats

[Rhyolith]

With me involved, this was always going to come up eventaully, the wonderful subject of the toilet Yet again I am amazed how something as simple as a toilet seat can be made so universally badly... Are there any good toilet seats (wooden) out there? I mean that last more than a couple of years?

 

[niagra]

I have found that having a bar joining the two hinges at the back certainly helps. The bog seat doesn't shift around and slip off the side. Only recently discovered this tip after going through seats every few months - maybe we overuse them in our house!

 

[Harbo]

http://www.goodwoodbathrooms.co.uk/loo_seats.php

Rod

 

[AndyT]

What an interesting example of modern economics. For most purchasers, a loo seat is bought on price, so they get something made so cheaply that it falls apart after very little use. They become a disposable item, like the rest of the bathroom, to be ripped out and sent to landfill every few years. You can see it as a criminal waste of the earth's resources or as a contribution to the GDP, whichever you prefer.
There is an alternative, as in Harbo's link, but at such a price! For £300 - £400 I'd expect sprung upholstery and a matching footrest.

And something makes me think that the people who buy the high grade option won't be keeping them for more than a few years any way...

 

[Rhyolith]

Its a typical example of where economics has taken presedance, and sustainability has been more then a little bit compromised. By defination this sort of thing will have to change at some point, the only if is when.

I cannot find a price on the website Harbo linked to, are they all £300-£400? That is too much if so.

 

[Gerry]

I always cut a piece of double sided adhesive foam tape to the shape of the hinge that fits to the toilet and sandwich that between the pot and the hinge. They never move or slide off the edge of the pot using this method. We usually only have to change seats because the paint has faded or similar. Usually we get several years out of a cheap seat.

Gerry

 

[Bm101]

Its a typical example of where economics has taken presedance, and sustainability has been more then a little bit compromised. By defination this sort of thing will have to change at some point, the only if is when.

No it won't mate. Sorry to sound blunt but we live in a society based on the very fact that we buy stuff cheap then bin it. You like your old tools don't you? My old fella still has a Black and Decker drill, steel built, probably bought it in the early 70's. Born in 75 it's been there as long as I remember.
Still going great guns. No geared changes, no soft start and no 'worklight'. It was built to last. First drill I bought? B n D. Plastic casing, worked ok for a bit. then it leaked oil over the injection moulded case. (More plastic. Always, more plastic). Cables about 2 foot long. I gave it to the old man in the end and he stuck it in a jig to drive his pond pump overflow. Useless.
I once bought a red devil 4" grinder. I was young. Cost me a tenner. First time I used it the wheel lock button seized. Never bought cheap tools since. In fact they seem to get more and more expensive. Tiled the bathroom in my first flat with a duffer tile saw. Possibly sponsored by Tommy Walsh. Shed special. Not only that, because I wanted my ceramic tiles to look like the travertine they were supposed to resemble I mitred every edge. By hand. On a saw that wouldnt have known square if it was fathered by Albert Einstein. Also. File under: things I have learned. Never ever buy a round extractor fan from TLC even if it has a cool James Bond Volcano Villain hideout feature that opens up when you start the fan.
Got 3 bathrooms to do at some point in this place. I say bathrooms. One of 'em is the toilet under the stairs. Never again. I'll buy a professional tile cutter second hand then sell it. Life's too short.

The wooden toilet seats from the sheds last a little longer without disintegrating into chaos theory the coated ones don't seem to last a year. The hinges just rot out and go blue on the wooden ones. Young kids probably don't help lol. . Also they are warmer on the old proverbial. Wonder if you could coat the hinges in boiled linseed oil or have I been on UKW for too long.

 

[AndyT]

I cannot find a price on the website Harbo linked to, are they all £300-£400? That is too much if so.

There's a sort of calculator by make or model, but almost all the wood options are £330 (zebrano is £390) then it's extra for gold-plated fittings (I'm not making this up ) or your choice of Farrow & Ball paint.

Time for a bit of diy maybe? You could even make it to fit your own contours, so to speak!

 

[Rhyolith]

Its a typical example of where economics has taken presedance, and sustainability has been more then a little bit compromised. By defination this sort of thing will have to change at some point, the only if is when.

No it won't mate. Sorry to sound blunt but we live in a society based on the very fact that we buy stuff cheap then bin it.

Yes it will stop because its unsustainable, which by defination means we cannot do it forever (or even for a long time in the grander scheme if things). The resources will simply get too expensive for it to be economic to continue mass producing the useless crap such as these toilet seats and the useless drill you described, forcing people to either use less or pay more... that will happen unless someone invents something completly ground breaking in recycling or some such (which is very unlikely).

I too have used the old B&D drills, I think to get comparable quality now you have to splash out on a festool.

 

[Bm101]

Difference of opinion then. Maybe I'm slightly more cynical about the shortsightedness of human nature.

 

[Harbo]

Well we bought one in maple together with matching bath panels - about 20yrs ago and still going strong.
No idea what we paid but certainly nothing like that?
The fittings are still perfect too.

Rod

 

[monkeybiter]

I found one solution to the slop problem [as in sideways movement ] which was to drill some 6mm holes down the length of a pair of short dowels, these were then wrapped in electrician's tape to make a tight fit in the cast holes at the rear of the toilet bowl and stopped the M6 threaded rods [that hold the hinges] from moving about.

 

[graduate_owner]

That monkeybiter idea sounds sensible. If you fill the holes in the ceramic then there is no room for the bolt to slide about.

K

 

[monkeybiter]

It worked for me.

 

[Benchwayze]

An accurate aim helps prolong the life of those plastic bolts! :mrgreen:

Seriously: We are woodworkers! Reclaim a suitable piece of teak... Then you could 'Post a photo of the last thing you made'! :idea:

 

[Homers double]

I have a 31year old son with cerebral palsy, who use to get through toilet seats on a monthly basis.
I could never get one to stay fixed for very long even with grab rails on the wall he still used the seat or lid to haul him self up and on.
I was given a fired earth wooden toilet seat by a client as she didn't like it, It was about £80, and like monkeybiters solution of filling the holes, I didn't use dowel, I found I had some plastic spacers left from fitting a tv to a wall stand so I used them,a bit of fettling and perfect fit. He hasn't managed to shift it at all,

 

[Jonzjob]

Nowt to do with hinges, but I always put one of those small sticky felt pads, that go under chair legs, etc. on the tank where the lid hits it. Then it doesn't knock the lid about or make a noise when opened in the middle of the night 8)

Do you lot favour a Tory seat or a more Radical choice :? :?

 

[blackrodd]

Years ago when an apprentice, One day when having a clear out, I found some toilet seats in elm oak, and mahogany, they didn't have any fittings, Or fitting holes drilled, Apparently they were made for firms that had plumbers and joiners etc on their books, to finish off.
We had two foundries in the town, here in Sunny Devon, and they would cast manhole covers with the plumbers own name cast in the top.
The foundries closed down in the 60's but several of us keep a lookout for these tops and lids being removed or replaced.
Rodders

 

[John Brown]

I confess that I've always solved this problem by using loads of silicone caulk. Fills the space in the holes and sticks the hinges fast(that's fast as in firmly - not as in quickly).

 

[sunnybob]

A simple (and pleasant) way to plug the holes is to use wine bottle corks.
trim them with a stanley knife to be a tight push fit, then drill the hole for the bolt 1 mm too small.
The bolt screws in and stays firm even without the bottom nut as an added security.

And of course the wine goes off very quickly without the corks, so it has to be drunk to save wastage.