Kelton
New Member
I am a single mom living in Ashburn, Loudoun Co, Virginia. According to statistics, this is the wealthiest county in the nation. As a result, any service industry is VERY expensive. I had four toilets in my house that were installed by the builder in 1988. Three years ago, I also had three teenagers living in the home. Make that three teenagers plus all their friends. The toilets were always clogging. I had a plunger in each bathroom; however, the plunging duty usually fell to me (yuck). Plus, the toilets always needed some type of maintenance. I talked to numerous plumbers in the area plus employees in the big home improvement stores. I wanted their advice for purchasing a DEPENDABLE toilet. Their advice was basically, "a toilet is a toilet." I got on the internet and found Terry Love's website. I live in Virginia--I have never even been west of Texas, let alone to the Northwest. However, his website actually provided recommendations from a professional plumber plus comments from regular people. I read every word on the blogs about toilets. I decided, based on my needs and budget, that I would purchase one Toto toilet. I sent emails (50+) to every plumber that does business in Loudoun County trying to find someone who installed Toto toilets. I waited a month and didn't get a single response. After Christmas, I got a reply from one company. His computer didn't recognize my address and my email wound up in his trash. After Christmas, he found my email and called me. They only carry the Toto Drake variety. The company also gave me a good discount since I had waited so long. I bought one Toto Drake toilet, sight unseen. The toilet came with a happy face on the underside of the lid. I LOVE that toilet; it has not clogged even one time and the only maintenance has been regular cleaning. In fact, during the past year, I bought three more Toto Drake toilets (two are ADA and one non-ADA). I put the ADA toilets in the master bathroom and basement apartment. The original toilet in the powder room is non-ADA (lower) so that children can use it. I also put a non-ADA in the bathroom near the spare bedrooms for the same reason. These toilets are not cheap; however, I can finally invite friends over and not get panicky when they use the restroom. I have since found out that Toto is the largest toilet maker in the world. I have also noticed that a large percentage of the public toilets (medical offices, department stores, groceries, etc) in my area have Toto toilets. If you plan on living in your house for a while, I highly recommend spending more and getting a quality Toto toilet.