Compact toilet

[Walewyck]

Hi all. We have a Toto Eco Drake in our very small powder room, and while I have no complaint about how it functions, our space is so limited that I'm considering replacing it with something smaller. The Eco Drake is 28" long, so a replacement would need to be shorter than that. Any recommendations for a smaller toilet that also functions beautifully?

 

[Reach4]

Would a round toilet, instead of elongated, be ok?

Toto Ultimate 26-1/8 round
original Toto Drake round-bowl, CST743E "12" 26-3/8

These don't include about 3/4 to the wall.

How much space is there at the wall now? Maybe you could gain 1/2 inch by re-mounting the current toilet.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Walewyck]

I'd certainly consider a round bowl if it saves space.

There's about 2 inches between the back of the tank and the wall.

 

[Reach4]

I'd certainly consider a round bowl if it saves space.

There's about 2 inches between the back of the tank and the wall.

Ahh. Usually 14 inch rough round toilets have bigger tanks to fill the gap. Maybe there is an exception.

A toto Vespin II or Soiree with a 14 inch Unifit would save you maybe 1.5 inches and let you keep the elongated.
https://terrylove.com/pdf/ms964214cefg.pdf
https://terrylove.com/forums/index.php?threads/toilet-rough-in-dilemma.89675/#post-643625
If I had the long slots, I probably could have positioned the Unifit without having to make my own holes. That cast iron toilet flange did not have long slots in a usable position, so the location of the closet bolts was fixed.

There are no round toilets that use the Unifit.

If you could change the closet flange, you might be able to mount a new flange closer to the wall, or use an offset closet flange. That would let you use a 12 inch round toilet without the wasted space behind the toilet.

 

[Jadnashua]

Measure from the wall (not the baseboard) to the bolts holding the toilet to the flange. That is the rough-in dimension. If that isn't either 10, 12, or 14", and the version of the toilet matches, then you can have a large gap behind, and therefore have it extend further from the wall than it needs to. The toilet doesn't 'need' a gap behind, but you do not want it touching the wall in case it is used a lot, and sweats...a little air circulation behind is good.

FWIW, older toilets tended to sweat lots more than the low-flush ones. On the low-flush ones, they generally don't empty the tank during the flush, so there's some room-temperature water to mix with the potentially cold incoming, often that will keep it above the dew point. Older ones, some may have used as much as 7-gallons or maybe more! tended to sweat a lot more as they did nearly empty each flush.

The diagrams on the spec sheets are only accurate for projection into the room when they are used on the designed rough-in, so knowing what yours really is, is required to see what you might gain.

Reach mentioned that you can often gain a bit by fudging the position of the toilet on the flange. The flange opening is at least 3" (unless it's an inside fit on a 3", which should be illegal IMHO), and the horn on the toilet opening is usually a little over 2", so you can offset things a little and not cause a restriction.