Buying a toilet - I may have to settle

First, I found your site through your posts and recommendations on ********* and thank you for all the helpful information there.

The water coming into our toilet is from a deep well and is seriously cold causing the toilet to sweat. It is a two piece and mold/mildew builds up under the tank and is a PITA to clean. I thought that replacing it with a one piece might solve the mold/mildew problem but may not solve the condensation issue. There are more choices among the two piece toilets. Would a tank liner help or even eliminate the condensation?

Also, I may be interested in a grey/dark grey toilet for our new bathroom reno. The only brand I can find that carries dark grey is Kohler. Unfortunately, it seems Toto quit making the grey toilets. The Toto's are/were light grey but I could make it work, just to have the Toto!

Thanks for any suggestions!

Certainly avoid the Kohler. I don't know what toilet you have been using, but in most cases, sweating is not an issue with low-flow toilets because they only use about 1/2 of the water in their tank so the cold water used to refill the tank mixes with the 1/2 tank that remains and is already a room temperature. Now, you're water may be so cold that it will still cause condensation. If that is the case, rather than an insulated toilet tank, I would look at the possibility of either a tempering valve that would mix warm water with the cold as it filled the tank, or a tempering tank that would hold enough water for several flushes and would naturally reach a warmer temperature before being used.

Gary, thank you. We have a very old toilet with a large tank. I will consider your thoughts about less water not causing condensation.

We are converting our toilet/bathtub room to a toilet/shower room and sloping the floor to the drain. I suppose the toilet will get wet regardless but, with a one piece I can easily wipe it down and there won't be inaccessible areas where water sits. We are installing a Panasonic vent fan which will help.

I think I could live with a little condensation with a one piece especially if it were a Toto...in grey or dark grey! Know where I might look for an older Toto model in the grey? Or, any suggestions for a brand other than Kohler in grey?

niagara flapperless toilets have a tank within the tank. Look into this. Call them. Post again when you have answers. I think it may be a solution to the condensation on porcelain. It might create mold on the plastic tank inside the porcelain. I don't know. (((Also, expect to read about niagara flapperless exhibiting other problems.))

Don't know about the Niagara brand. I do know there are kits which are sheets of some kind of styrofoam or something that you cut to fit and use adhesive to attach. I saw one for the first time on Holmes on Homes.

I may have to rethink my bathroom design colors to accommodate a white Toto!!!

Although, that Thunder Grey Kohler is a perfect color. Is there any Kohler you might recommend?

You won't get many folks on this forum recommend any Kohler toilets.

I installed a styrofoam kit years ago on a 1988 American Standard and it worked perfect. Bone dry all the time, and we are on well water.

Last week I went to instal a dual flush kit on it and it wouldn't fit due to the foam using up some valuable tank space. I ripped out the foam lining and got the dual flush setup. After repeated flushes tweaking the water levels for each flush there was a little bit of condensation, but no dripping. With regular use it has been completely dry.

Basically the same story in the other bathroom, but I replaced an old 1983 Mansfield with a new Eco Drake. Some minor condensation when I was having a little too much fun flushing it repeatedly, but completely dry with normal use.

I did notice that the styrofoam kit I saw at the store the other day looked cheap compared to the one I used years ago. My foam was probably almost an 1" thick and was very dense. The one at the store was maybe a 1/4" and looked real flimsy.

If you need the color, then you need the color.
Class five or six is their better performance stuff.

I'm not a big fan, but Kohler does have the most colors.

Thanks, amtrak23. We will keep that option open and maybe look for better quality foam than what comes in the kits.

Terry, I'm glad you understand! I am leaving the matter up to our interior designer with my preference for a Toto. I'll just pick out my Toto, take the picture to her office and say, "Design a bathroom around this"!

Funny, I thought the snafu would lie in choosing the tile, an 84" vanity, installing 12"x72" windows around the top of the walls or cutting into and reinforcing the joists to accommodate a sloping floor! But, the toilet???

We finally found a Toto in Ice Gray, the Carlisle.

The Carlyle is a nice unit.
I believe JD has those.

You will be happy you found a Toto that worked for your color scheme. Life is too short to mess around with toilets that don't perform well. Designers just don't think about these things nor do they have the first-hand knowledge that plumbers like Terry do in terms of what brands really work in the real world.