DIY Toilet Installation
"I'm just going to the bathroom..
!" How many times have you heard that said? Either these people are mislead or they had no intention of going off to the bathroom, because they end up in the toilet.
Maybe they just got lost...
, they might need the bathroom afterwards..
, depending on how things went.
"I need to take a...
!" Most people leave one..
, don't they, and where would you take it to? What makes us say these funny things? Is it because we put the WC into bathrooms that we say we're going to the bathroom? But hang on a minute, why don't we just speak the truth? "I'm going to the toilet..
!" As for the other, I don't see that you need to tell anybody about that.
But all things aside, I'd prefer that toilets weren't in bathrooms, wouldn't you? It's just a bloody nuisance if you can't get into the bathroom just because the toilet is occupied, or more urgently, can't get to the toilet because the bathroom is occupied.
It makes things a little easier if there are two or three toilets in the house, and most houses of today do have, though, when there are half a dozen people about the house it's not unusual for two or three to need to go at the same time.
Long gone are the days when we used to walk down the garden path to the dunny, located amongst some aromatic flower beds.
For a fairly modern society this must have been a step backwards..
, or was it a step into the bushes? I guess we just needed to take it somewhere else.
We all know about this problem.
So, why am I doing a rave about it? I guess it is a pet hate of mine.
Time after time, I continue to see these dumb designs, and they're becoming more and more of an accepted thing these days.
Yet, do you know that back in the booming days of the Roman Empire, (100BC - 500AD) they were already flushing their waste away using their elaborate systems and ample water resources supplied by aquaducts.
In addition, they provided a sponge on a stick to wipe your bottom with when finished.
Doesn't sound too hygienic, does it? However, there was no such thing as modesty for any but the elite.
For the average men and women it was very much a social affair and would be seated on a communal bench with holes in, under which the water flowed.
Can you imagine sitting there together having a chat about the current affairs of the day? Well, it happened just like that and there are still the remains of these latrines to prove it.
But the Romans weren't the first to have such sophisticated Latrines.
A stone village that was inhabited 5,000 years ago off the northern coast of Scotland in the Orkney Islands, known as Skara Brae, housed residents who had designed their homes with under-floor drainage systems to take their waste away.
A cell (as they call it today)was built into the confines of some of the homes; one wouldn't want to be squatting down outside in a place like the Orkneys, the cold would chill you to the bone, even in the most fleshy parts.
So, in the history of the latrine we haven't made a lot of headway really.
In fact, we've had some rises and falls and during some surprising periods.
All I can offer is the best of what's available.
Today we have them with novelty urinals of which many of us just stand and giggle at; I'm not even sure whether it encourages us to use them, maybe.
Then there is the bidet to which many of us stand and gawk at in absolute confusion, step forward and tweak the lever and step back again, still trying to figure it out.
But, the most sensible addition of all, has been the small basin for washing ones hands after and, of course, a towel to dry them.
Toilets come with seat-warmers, chimes, an automatic lid closers, seat sterilizers and all other manner of bells and whistles; people have tried to dream up new designs to find only that they have discovered what worked well 5,000 years ago was due for a few minor alterations and so the following took their place.
In 1596AD John Harrington of Yorkshire England invented the Flushing Toilet.
As you can well imagine, hideous odours would waft from the sewers up through the plumbing which lead to Alexander Cummings in 1775 inventing the water trap to block off those odours.
Later, in 1896 Thomas Crapper's nephew, George, improved the siphon mechanism by which the water flow is started.
However, the basic functioning of the toilet has remained, and..
, well, I guess man has been happy enough to let it remain pretty much as it has for thousands of years.
Though, it is interesting to see the weird fantasies that designers come up with, especially in the area of urinals.
And again, the self-cleaning community latrines.
How about a Squatter? Many of you will have experienced the hole in the floor type of toilet; these have been encountered throughout Europe and many parts of Asia and have been used in these places for many hundreds of years.
It has been debated that they are more natural for the human body to excrete its waste and less likely to cause straining which causes haemorroids.
The hygiene is another matter, although, perhaps this is a matter that clings from the past lacking hygiene awareness.
In all seriousness though, we each have our own idea of what is needed for our own use and no doubt that is how you will incorporate it but, there are certain dimensions required and I have known a few to get this wrong too.
If you're not already, imagine yourself as an overweight person; you really don't want to be squeezing into a toilet, do you? Well, I know I don't anyway! Here is something to go by: Minimum Dimensions Length: 2000mm this will allow just enough room for a small wash basin.
The centre of the pan should be no less than 400mm from either side-wall.
This means: Width: 800mm, if including a bidet make the width 1500mm minimum.
Remember, these are minimum dimensions; I would be inclined to add 200mm onto the overall width for a comfortable toilet of larger dimensions.
Before screwing the tissue dispenser to the wall; when the pan is in position, sit on it and locate a suitable distance from you for the tissue dispenser.
Often it is fixed too close, more than too far away, and that makes things really quite difficult.
An article from Property Developing Renovating, website by Eion Tought
!" How many times have you heard that said? Either these people are mislead or they had no intention of going off to the bathroom, because they end up in the toilet.
Maybe they just got lost...
, they might need the bathroom afterwards..
, depending on how things went.
"I need to take a...
!" Most people leave one..
, don't they, and where would you take it to? What makes us say these funny things? Is it because we put the WC into bathrooms that we say we're going to the bathroom? But hang on a minute, why don't we just speak the truth? "I'm going to the toilet..
!" As for the other, I don't see that you need to tell anybody about that.
But all things aside, I'd prefer that toilets weren't in bathrooms, wouldn't you? It's just a bloody nuisance if you can't get into the bathroom just because the toilet is occupied, or more urgently, can't get to the toilet because the bathroom is occupied.
It makes things a little easier if there are two or three toilets in the house, and most houses of today do have, though, when there are half a dozen people about the house it's not unusual for two or three to need to go at the same time.
Long gone are the days when we used to walk down the garden path to the dunny, located amongst some aromatic flower beds.
For a fairly modern society this must have been a step backwards..
, or was it a step into the bushes? I guess we just needed to take it somewhere else.
We all know about this problem.
So, why am I doing a rave about it? I guess it is a pet hate of mine.
Time after time, I continue to see these dumb designs, and they're becoming more and more of an accepted thing these days.
Yet, do you know that back in the booming days of the Roman Empire, (100BC - 500AD) they were already flushing their waste away using their elaborate systems and ample water resources supplied by aquaducts.
In addition, they provided a sponge on a stick to wipe your bottom with when finished.
Doesn't sound too hygienic, does it? However, there was no such thing as modesty for any but the elite.
For the average men and women it was very much a social affair and would be seated on a communal bench with holes in, under which the water flowed.
Can you imagine sitting there together having a chat about the current affairs of the day? Well, it happened just like that and there are still the remains of these latrines to prove it.
But the Romans weren't the first to have such sophisticated Latrines.
A stone village that was inhabited 5,000 years ago off the northern coast of Scotland in the Orkney Islands, known as Skara Brae, housed residents who had designed their homes with under-floor drainage systems to take their waste away.
A cell (as they call it today)was built into the confines of some of the homes; one wouldn't want to be squatting down outside in a place like the Orkneys, the cold would chill you to the bone, even in the most fleshy parts.
So, in the history of the latrine we haven't made a lot of headway really.
In fact, we've had some rises and falls and during some surprising periods.
All I can offer is the best of what's available.
Today we have them with novelty urinals of which many of us just stand and giggle at; I'm not even sure whether it encourages us to use them, maybe.
Then there is the bidet to which many of us stand and gawk at in absolute confusion, step forward and tweak the lever and step back again, still trying to figure it out.
But, the most sensible addition of all, has been the small basin for washing ones hands after and, of course, a towel to dry them.
Toilets come with seat-warmers, chimes, an automatic lid closers, seat sterilizers and all other manner of bells and whistles; people have tried to dream up new designs to find only that they have discovered what worked well 5,000 years ago was due for a few minor alterations and so the following took their place.
In 1596AD John Harrington of Yorkshire England invented the Flushing Toilet.
As you can well imagine, hideous odours would waft from the sewers up through the plumbing which lead to Alexander Cummings in 1775 inventing the water trap to block off those odours.
Later, in 1896 Thomas Crapper's nephew, George, improved the siphon mechanism by which the water flow is started.
However, the basic functioning of the toilet has remained, and..
, well, I guess man has been happy enough to let it remain pretty much as it has for thousands of years.
Though, it is interesting to see the weird fantasies that designers come up with, especially in the area of urinals.
And again, the self-cleaning community latrines.
How about a Squatter? Many of you will have experienced the hole in the floor type of toilet; these have been encountered throughout Europe and many parts of Asia and have been used in these places for many hundreds of years.
It has been debated that they are more natural for the human body to excrete its waste and less likely to cause straining which causes haemorroids.
The hygiene is another matter, although, perhaps this is a matter that clings from the past lacking hygiene awareness.
In all seriousness though, we each have our own idea of what is needed for our own use and no doubt that is how you will incorporate it but, there are certain dimensions required and I have known a few to get this wrong too.
If you're not already, imagine yourself as an overweight person; you really don't want to be squeezing into a toilet, do you? Well, I know I don't anyway! Here is something to go by: Minimum Dimensions Length: 2000mm this will allow just enough room for a small wash basin.
The centre of the pan should be no less than 400mm from either side-wall.
This means: Width: 800mm, if including a bidet make the width 1500mm minimum.
Remember, these are minimum dimensions; I would be inclined to add 200mm onto the overall width for a comfortable toilet of larger dimensions.
Before screwing the tissue dispenser to the wall; when the pan is in position, sit on it and locate a suitable distance from you for the tissue dispenser.
Often it is fixed too close, more than too far away, and that makes things really quite difficult.
An article from Property Developing Renovating, website by Eion Tought
