Toilet height, your preference?

NorthernLight

NorthernLight

Well-known Member
Location
Northern BC
I can't believe I'm posting this.

I used to live in a place that had a choice of toilets. I hated the taller one. My feet barely reached the floor, so the seat dug into the back of my legs.

I'm a woman, slightly above average height.

Today I saw a "right height" toilet advertised. It's 16.5 inches (42 cm) high. It looked suspiciously like the uncomfortable toilet. I did some research, and this is being touted as a comfortable height, especially for seniors.

The toilet in my apartment is regular size, 14.5 inches (37 cm) high, not counting the seat. Perfect!

What say you?
 

It’s not something I’ve ever thought about. I thought the thing these days were toilets that recommended the raising of the knees?

In different way my thoughts now go back to the first time I was sent to Japan on a business trip. There was some cars there that needed to be tested. But anyway, the bathroom in my hotel room had the most amazing toilet, with an electronic control panel on the side.

The panel had Japanese symbols on the buttons and a digital display. Obviously I was really intrigued by this and stated aimlessly pressing the buttons. One played a tune, I thought that might be there to hide the sound of some embarrassing moment?

Another 2 buttons had images of a man and woman on it. Obviously this had to be experimented with too. I pressed the man button first. It was then that I realised the toilet also doubled as a bidet. I wasn’t really expecting that! I then starred at the woman button, and thought well, “in for a penny in for a pound”. This one directed water at a different part of the body. I don’t mind admitting this became my favourite button.

Then there was this small dial on the same panel, which was asking to be turned right up. Well at least in my mind it was. After a while I realised I was getting hot and not sure why. It was a bloody heated seat! I got up off the seat and caught a glimpse of my back side in the mirror. It looked as though I’d been kicked by a giant horse.

Then later in a restaurant I had to use the restroom. I was greeted with a strange contraption on the floor. I thought what the hell am I supposed to to with this! It was a traditional Japanese squat toilet, which can only be used with raised knees. Which now makes me think of my first sentence at the top.
 
Last edited:
For people with limited mobility or health issues for getting onto the toilet, the comfort height is popular. For most efficient bodily functions, I understand the standard is better.

Sitting anywhere and standing without using your hands is good exercise. So even for sitting on a toilet, I’ll keep the standard.
 
I hit WinCo, two of the toilets you could kneel and plop your butt on them, the handicapped stall is great. First height, second, in case of power squeeze, the handrails help.

Yes, the paperwork is also easier. I don't get my knuckles wet....🤮🤮
 
BC Flash said:
I never considered measuring the height of the toilets - both toilets are 16 inches high.

Squat toilet - Wikipedia In Asian countries, squat toilets are the norm.
Click to expand...
At the moment I’m struggling to understand the true benefit of different heights of toilet other than making it easier to navigate for shorter or smaller people. As someone who is 6ft, i don’t have an issue with any height of toilet even one that’s low.

the only thing I can think of at the moment might be the benefit of an an ideal height for someone who might be considered somewhat infirm and of a particular body height?
 
Last edited:
My preference is the lower ones. I don't like the tall ones at all.
I wanted to install a squatting toilet many years ago, but the plumbing would have been expensive.

The older toilets were very good too. My Grandmother's toilet had a small one gallon tank high up
on the wall, with a wider pipe that came down to the toilet. When the toilet was flushed, that water rushed
down with high pressure and emptied the bowl in a flash, not like the often failed flushes with the modern low tanks.
 
Last edited:
Magna-Carta said:
this must be what I was thinking of as an adaptation. Maybe Thomas Crapper has a lot to answer for?
Click to expand...
... and maybe not. 🤔

Excerpt from the below article -

"Most of the things people say about Thomas Crapper are, well, crap. He didn't hold the patent for the flush toilet or even invent it."

"Although Crapper was a sanitary engineer, which is funny in itself, he didn’t invent the flush toilet. In fact, writes Elinor Evans for BBC History Magazine, the idea for toilets that flushed dates back to the 1400s. “In 1596, Sir John Harington built a flushing toilet at his house near Bath for the visit of his godmother, Queen Elizabeth I,” Evans writes. “But it was expensive to install, so most people carried on using chamber pots.”

"The flush mechanism used in Victorian toilets that developed into the toilets of today dates back to at least 1775, writes Snopes, when a watchmaker and mathematician named Alexander Cumming patented it. “Plumbers Joseph Bramah and Thomas Twyford further developed the technology with improvements such as the float-and-valve system,” Snopes writes."

Three True Things About Sanitary Engineer Thomas Crapper > https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smar...t-sanitary-engineer-thomas-crapper-180965008/

Bella ✌️
 
Magna-Carta said:
It’s not something I’ve ever thought about. I thought the thing these days were toilets that recommended the raising of the knees?

In different way my thoughts now go back to the first time I was sent to Japan on a business trip. There was some cars there that needed to be tested. But anyway, the bathroom in my hotel room had the most amazing toilet, with an electronic control panel on the side.

The panel had Japanese symbols on the buttons and a digital display. Obviously I was really intrigued by this and stated aimlessly pressing the buttons. One played a tune, I thought that might be there to hide the sound of some embarrassing moment?

Another 2 buttons had images of a man and woman on it. Obviously this had to be experimented with too. I pressed the man button first. It was then that I realised the toilet also doubled as a bidet. I wasn’t really expecting that! I then starred at the woman button, and thought well, “in for a penny in for a pound”. This one directed water at a different part of the body. I don’t mind admitting this became my favourite button.

Then there was this small dial on the same panel, which was asking to be turned right up. Well at least in my mind it was. After a while I realised I was getting hot and not sure why. It was a bloody heated seat! I got up off the seat and caught a glimpse of my back side in the mirror. It looked as though I’d been kicked by a giant horse.

Then later in a restaurant I had to use the restroom. I was greeted with a strange contraption on the floor. I thought what the hell am I supposed to to with this! It was a traditional Japanese squat toilet, which can only be used with raised knees. Which now makes me think of my first sentence at the top.
Click to expand...
The heated toilet seat reminded me of a funny quote during Jay Leno's show. It was called "Headlines":
He would show funny ads & articles from newspapers. One advertised a "Fireproof Toilet Seat."
He said, "How many times have you sat on the toilet, only to have it burst into flames?"
 
Bella said:
... and maybe not. 🤔

Excerpt from the below article -

"Most of the things people say about Thomas Crapper are, well, crap. He didn't hold the patent for the flush toilet or even invent it."

"Although Crapper was a sanitary engineer, which is funny in itself, he didn’t invent the flush toilet. In fact, writes Elinor Evans for BBC History Magazine, the idea for toilets that flushed dates back to the 1400s. “In 1596, Sir John Harington built a flushing toilet at his house near Bath for the visit of his godmother, Queen Elizabeth I,” Evans writes. “But it was expensive to install, so most people carried on using chamber pots.”

"The flush mechanism used in Victorian toilets that developed into the toilets of today dates back to at least 1775, writes Snopes, when a watchmaker and mathematician named Alexander Cumming patented it. “Plumbers Joseph Bramah and Thomas Twyford further developed the technology with improvements such as the float-and-valve system,” Snopes writes."

Three True Things About Sanitary Engineer Thomas Crapper > https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smar...t-sanitary-engineer-thomas-crapper-180965008/

Bella ✌️
Click to expand...

An interesting potted history you have found there. As I was reading through it I was hoping it might mention the “Groom of the Stool”.

My toilet engineering prowess probably isn’t what I thought it was at the time of writing. I see now that my short reply to you wasn’t clear – my bad.

At the time of writing my previous post I was thinking along the lines of Thomas Crapper’s patient for a U-Bend for a toilet. In that having a U-Bend under the bowl, in my mind at least, would or might mean that the bowl can’t be any lower (depending on overall size), and therefore wouldn’t aid in the raising of the knees because the seat would be too high.

Those thoughts were in response to you & I referring to raised knees, as can be seen in both of our previous posts. And then my own posted even before that. There was no mention from either of us regarding anything to do with who invented the toilet. I suppose what I should have said is, “Maybe Thomas Crapper has a lot to answer for…” And then further explained more clearly.

I think maybe I should keep to my automotive engineering. I don’t think toilet or sanitary engineering suits me that well.
 
win231 said:
The heated toilet seat reminded me of a funny quote during Jay Leno's show. It was called "Headlines":
He would show funny ads & articles from newspapers. One advertised a "Fireproof Toilet Seat."
He said, "How many times have you sat on the toilet, only to have it burst into flames?"
Click to expand...

I would imagine these things could be really scary if all the features malfunction at the same time. I hate to think what might happen if the bidet probe thing that shoots out of its hideaway might do if it malfunction at an inopportune point in its operation. Well I say bidet, being an automotive engineering type person I prefer to call it a rear was wipe.
 
Magna-Carta said:
An interesting potted history you have found there. As I was reading through it I was hoping it might mention the “Groom of the Stool”.

My toilet engineering prowess probably isn’t what I thought it was at the time of writing. I see now that my short reply to you wasn’t clear – my bad.

At the time of writing my previous post I was thinking along the lines of Thomas Crapper’s patient for a U-Bend for a toilet. In that having a U-Bend under the bowl, in my mind at least, would or might mean that the bowl can’t be any lower (dependin!n overall size), and therefore wouldn’t aid in the raising of the knees because the seat would be too high.

Those thoughts were in response to you & I referring to raised knees, as can be seen in both of our previous posts. And then my own posted even before that. There was no mention from either of us regarding anything to do with who invented the toilet. I suppose what I should have said is, “Maybe Thomas Crapper has a lot to answer for…” And then further explained more clearly.

I think maybe I should keep to my automotive engineering. I don’t think toilet or sanitary engineering suits me that well.
Click to expand...
I'm no toilet engineer, I only know what's comfortable for me. I think the bottom line is that all toilets are not created equally. As to the Japanese squat toilet, I've peed in worse places, but at least it flushes! 😁
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top