15 inch rough in!! toto with unifit or kohler rialto??

Hi Terry --

I have read through your relevant threads and done a lot of research. I have a tiny bathroom that my three boys share, and it seems that the rough in is 15 inches away from the drywall. I currently have 4 and a half inches behind the toilet, and only 17 inches from the front of the toilet to the bathtub. I am renovating the bathroom, and obviously trying to maximize legroom. I don't care as much whether I am left with a little space behind the toilet because I plan to install a ledge/counter. I am deciding between a Toto Vespin or Lloyd with the 14 inch unifit adapter, or a Kohler Rialto, which only measures 25 1/4 inches from front to back. I have figured that with either toilet, and given my 15 inch rough in, I will be about 29 inches out from the wall (and there will be about a 1 1/2 inch gap at the back with the Toto and a 3 1/2 inch gap with the Rialto. The whole exercise will probably save me 2 inches because I am currently around 31 inches from the wall. With all your expertise, please confirm that this is correct, or if you think there is any way I can do any better with legroom. Thanks!!!

if you have reasonable access to the plumbing, this might be a good time to fix your rough-in. You will have a much easier time finding 12" offset toilets in styles you like, at prices you like, etc, and if the bathroom is small, you should end up with more legroom this way than with a 14" offset toilet.

between the two toilets, just by quality, i'd def go with the toto. kohler is a bit spotty, toto is much more consistently solid. Sounds like the space issue is better with the toto as well, though I don't know anything about that personally.

There are several excellent choices of Toto toilets that use the Unifit. A Kohler would be a very poor choice in my opinion. There probably was a reason the toilet was set a 15". Likely there is a floor joist that prevented the flange from being set at a closer distance and it would be very difficult and expensive to make a change now.

thanks for the responses. does anyone know around how much it would cost to relocate the rough in?? btw, my husband and 3 boys are amazed that i have joined a plumbing forum!

It's really hard to say how much it may cost as until you get there, you don't know what you are starting with (type of materials, locations of joists, how easy it is to access, and what the local going rate is, and other things). It also would depend on what's on the floor now, tile, sheet materials, etc.

Note that the proper location of a toilet flange is on TOP of the FINISHED floor, so you may need them to come back to finish it off, or have it prepped for you to do (may not be code legal). Now, there are probably millions of them installed improperly, especially on a remodel, but why not do it right?

The Rialto is a round bowl, and the Toto bowls with 14" Unifit are elongated.
That means that even if the end of the bowl is same distance from the wall, you still pick up 1-1/2" of knee room with the Toto.
The Toto will set you back closer to the wall.

Changing the rough-in at the floor can range between $400 to $1000, or something like that. There may be a very solid reason for the drain being in the wrong location. In fact, it may be near impossible to relocate the drain in some cases without a complete tear out of the bathroom.

If you have easy access to the plumbing (such as in the ceiling of an unfinished basement) then it can be fairly easily determined how much work it will be to change it. W/o that access, you're probably better off just using a 14" rough in and calling it a day, as it could easily get very expensive, or even impossible if there's a floor joist right where the flange needs to be (as others have mentioned).

If it had been easy to install at 12" the plumber would have done that. The "only" reason that a rough has been missed by 3" would be a floor joist or beam in the way.
You can cut the ceiling out and redo the drywall and paint. Reframe the flooring structure that the builder that was too much work before any of it had been closed in. If it was too much work before the wiring, heating and drywall was done, then how much harder will it be now. In most cases, a very expensive job. An adapter cost $50
It's no brainer to go with the $50 adapter and the better bowl. You spend you money on a better plumbing fixture that works better, not a lot of time and money trying to fix the framing layout of the home.
The framing should have been laid out with the tub, shower and toilet locations in mind. If the frame just pulls off one end with his tape, then all kinds of things can be in the way. We're taking building structure here. Not a non-load-bearing wall.
It doesn't happen very often, but when the toilet location is missed by 3", then something was preventing that in a big way.