And this is a prime example of why toilets DO need to be in different heights. Peoples is different.
As a humorous side note: that same too-low-for-me-but-great-for-young-kids toilet is oddly shaped. Not round. Not oval. But SQUARED OFF in the front. Not a perfect square, it was kind of a trapezoid with rounded edges. Not quite as square as this one; the front was a little narrower than the back. It was definitely strange. I don’t know what my friend will do if she ever needs to replace the seat!!
I find the “comfort height” toilets too tall and I’m 6’2". When we had to replace our toilet in the ensuite bathroom a year or three ago, we got one that 1) had a fully glazed trap (made a huge difference in the number of clogs the toilet suffered from), 2) a round bowl instead of an elongated bowl, and 3) not a comfort/chair height. I simply find the lower toilets easier to use. There’s a comfort height toilet in the staff bathroom at work and when I use it I feel like letting go of whatever waste needs to be got rid of takes a bit more effort and is a bit more uncomfortable.
We have elongated bowls in the toilets in our current house - had never had them before.
They pose some advantages in terms of, er, ability to reach what needs to be reached. But plungers are NOT designed for these. Someone needs to make an oval or teardrop-shaped plunger.
Since getting bidet attachments, this has become much less of an issue.
Another option, similar to what was on my MIL’s toilet:
The “arms” were too close to the body, so my rump felt a bit squashed from the sides, but the height was nice.
We removed it when we sold the place, and it was pretty gross underneath - cleaning them can be a real problem and their house cleaner was not able to deal with it too well.
In terms of “too low”, you could also compensate by having grab bars installed, or freestanding toilet rails (which we did when my husband broke his knee, then again a couple years later when I broke my foot). Those helped a lot.
Even with the higher toilets we have now (presumably “comfort height”), standing can be an issue. I’ve learned the trick of basically rolling my body and hips forward over my knees to stand up.Seems to be easier to balance that way.
The main advantage of oval toilet bowls is for males. Using a round bowl sometimes results in certain body parts coming into contact with the inside of the bowl, which is just as disgusting as it sounds.
Graffiti in a women’s toilet cubicle, from a magazine article* some fifty years ago (funny how these things stay with you).
Graffito #1:
This lavatory is no good at all,
The seat is too high and the hole is too small
Response:
The author of this is in need of retort,
Her arse is too big and her legs are too short
j
* - a friend was a railway enthusiast and this was an article in a railway magazine. The toilet in question was in a railway station. The article continued with the inspector who found the graffiti calling the stationmaster to the toilet and advising him that, if the graffiti was removed, he would be looking for a new job.
It’s harder to shit if your ass isn’t lower than your knees.
It’s really hard if the toilet leaves your legs dangling in midair.
I’m 5’2". For anything other than a fast piss, I generally use a footstool even with a standard toilet. I’ve used an ADA height setup in the house of someone who needed it, and found it uncomfortable even to piss.
I think the ideal toilet height is going to depend a whole lot on the person using it.
One of the reasons I love this place is learning things we don’t discuss IRL. I have never heard this concept before. Is it generally known and accepted wisdom? Do you learn this on your own, or did someone explain it to you?
I don’t really remember, except that I didn’t learn it from the squatty potty people, who I think I just heard of in this thread. (And that’s the worst depiction of a unicorn I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen some pretty bad ones.) I know I read about it more than one place, but don’t remember either what those were or whether I’d already figured it out for myself before I read it anywhere.
Thanks, guys! This has been both entertaining and instructive.
Our setup is a bit different. We’ll have a family bathroom for us and our son next to our bedrooms and a guest bathroom on the other side of the house, but that’s a good idea nevertheless. We’ve decided to go with 17" for us and 19" for the guests, including grandparents.
I don’t care whether a toilet is high or low. When we had our 1st bath redone, the installed a “comfort height” toilet, which my wife feels is too high. She had a lower one installed in the 2d john. She had previously used yoga blocks under her feet.
If folk in your household have different preferences, it might be worth installing different ones in the different johns.
! It just works.