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Discussion Forum

toilet to wall distance

caseyr | Posted in Construction Techniques on February 14, 2008 07:35am

My legs barely extend down to the ground, but whoever designed the half bath in my house must have had even shorter legs. The width of the half bath is 41 inches. The distance from the front edge of the toilet bowl on the present toilet to the facing wall is 14″. When meditating on the pottie, one has a very close and personal relation ship with the facing wall…

I have found several discussions of the offset distance from the back wall, but have not yet found the plumbing code reference to the distance from the front of the toilet to the opposite wall. I assume it is certainly greater than 14″.

Can anyone give me suggestions for any toilet that is compressed from front to back and which might afford me just a bit more space when I replace the current one? The current toilet is about as compact as I have seen, however.

Thanks.

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Replies

  1. User avater
    Luka | Feb 14, 2008 07:44am | #1

    Get an old fashioned toilet.

    The tank is above you, on the wall, near the ceiling.

    The toilet itself is nearer to the wall, behind you, that way.


    Yeah, it may be cold, but at least it's a wet cold !

    1. Piffin | Feb 14, 2008 07:58am | #2

      Not the ones I am familiar with.

       

       

       

      Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!

      Edited 2/13/2008 11:58 pm ET by Piffin

      1. User avater
        Luka | Feb 14, 2008 08:00am | #3

        You are familiar with the wrong toilets.;o)


        Yeah, it may be cold, but at least it's a wet cold !

        1. caseyr | Feb 14, 2008 08:23am | #4

          I have wanted one of those for years. However, all I have seen have two

          characteristics - they are very expensive and the bowl section of the

          toilet is same as those that have the tank attached to the bowl.

          Usually they just have a standard bowl with an adapter and pipe that

          goes up to the overhead tank.

          <!---->

          View Image<!---->

          1. Piffin | Feb 14, 2008 08:32am | #5

            You are familiar with the wrong terlits too

            ;) 

             

            Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!

          2. User avater
            Luka | Feb 14, 2008 10:18am | #10

            My momma always said not to go gettin fermilyer wit no terlits.


            Yeah, it may be cold, but at least it's a wet cold !

          3. Piffin | Feb 14, 2008 04:05pm | #12

            Where did she expect you to practice up on reading? 

             

            Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!

          4. User avater
            Luka | Feb 14, 2008 04:09pm | #13

            I dunno.She also said if I spent too much time in that little room, I'd go deef, er sumptin like dat...


            Yeah, it may be cold, but at least it's a wet cold !

          5. wane | Feb 14, 2008 04:12pm | #14

            try a corner toilet, that will give you more room!

          6. caseyr | Feb 15, 2008 07:46am | #19

            I have been giving serious thought to a corner toilet. The problem is how to center the toilet in the corner. The current toilet is the standard 12" offset from one wall and 16" from the other. The waste pipe is ancient and very solid cast iron. Given the floor is 6" tongue and groove on 50" center beams, patching the floor will also take some doing. Any suggestions as to how to make a corner toilet look centered when it isn't? Any suggestions on installing a corner toilet appreciated.Thanks

          7. wane | Feb 15, 2008 04:33pm | #20

            can't think of anything other than relocating the drain, it's short term pain for long term gain ...

          8. User avater
            BossHog | Feb 18, 2008 07:37pm | #29

            "Any suggestions as to how to make a corner toilet look centered when it isn't?"

            A cabinet or some shelves on the wider side?

            My parents have a corner toilet that's offset, and it doesn't really look as bad as you would think.

            The only bad thing is that they put mirrored tile behind it, so you have to stand there and watch yourself take a leak in 3D.

            (-:
            If you filled a toilet bowl with water from the Bermuda triangle, would it eliminate the need to flush?

          9. caseyr | Feb 19, 2008 12:36am | #31

            Yeah, I was thinking of a little magazine holder in the 4" of space that would be created if I used the existing flange. Unfortunately, I think that turning the toilet would put the occupant of the commode a bit close to the sink. I guess one could save time by brushing their teeth while they doing their thing, however....

    2. Pierre1 | Feb 14, 2008 10:06am | #8

      Couple drywall anchors is plenty to hang those wall tanks with, iirc. Also a good place to hide a snubnosed .38.

       

       

      ;-) 

  2. dovetail97128 | Feb 14, 2008 08:46am | #6

    The only ones I am aware of only gain about 2" . To use one you would have to change the waste plumbing location from the standard 12" off the wall to 10" off the wall..

    I have only seen one or two : Toto brand.

    They have optional 10" & 14" rough ins as opposed to the standard 12"

    http://www.totousa.com/ResidentialToiletSearch.asp

    They can't get your Goat if you don't tell them where it is hidden.
    1. rasconc | Feb 14, 2008 04:13pm | #15

      Gerber makes a10/12/14 ri

       

      http://www.gerberonline.com/Catalog.aspx?categoryID=465

  3. jej | Feb 14, 2008 09:43am | #7

    for a few thousand ,kolher hat box toilet , or do you have a budget?

    1. dovetail97128 | Feb 14, 2008 10:08am | #9

      Still a 12" rough in http://www.us.kohler.com/onlinecatalog/detail.jsp?item=9676302
      They can't get your Goat if you don't tell them where it is hidden.

  4. mike_maines | Feb 14, 2008 03:08pm | #11

    Code says you need 24" clear in front of a toilet.  That's about the minimum that's comfortable too.

  5. McPlumb | Feb 14, 2008 05:59pm | #16

    Some of the flat panel TV only take up 4" of space on the wall. Put one up there and you won't notice anything else.

    1. User avater
      Heck | Feb 14, 2008 06:16pm | #17

      Maybe this would work?

      View Image                        

  6. Sasquatch | Feb 15, 2008 12:45am | #18

    If you are handy, and assuming this is on an exterior wall, you could consider a bump-out.  Of course, floor joist configuration could confound this somewhat.  If you find this feasible, the only real complication would be the drain, but even that is doable.

    It just depends on how badly you want to stop looking at that wall.

    I did a similar thing to make a bathroom seem bigger in 1990.  I was able to reuse the siding and using a little scrap material.  I bumped out two feet and three feet wide.  I think it took about 20 hours of work and about a hundred bucks in material.

    What a difference it made!

  7. RichMast | Feb 17, 2008 07:38am | #21

    This doesn't help you fix it, but you asked about code for distance - an excerpt from the NKBA Professional Resource Library Kitchen Planning and Bath Planning Volumes found at  http://www.schools.utah.gov/ate/facs/Documents/Conference/S07/KennedyJennifery_KitchenBathDesign.doc says "A minimum space of at least 21 inches must be planned in front of lavatory, toilet, bidet, and tub."  I'm not sure which code it references, but probably same in most codes.

    Would rotating the toilet 90 degrees help at all?

     

    Hope this helps.  Rich
  8. JeffinPA | Feb 17, 2008 06:27pm | #22

    I saw someone post 24"

    I believe IRC is 21" but not looking at the book.  (that is the space in front of the front edge of mr toilet to door swing, wall, etc.

    Sides are 15" from centerline.  (so 30" wide space minimum)  The tank should darn near touch the wall with a 12" rough in toilet if drain installed at 12" to center.

  9. CAGIV | Feb 17, 2008 10:34pm | #23

    Two years ago we ran into a bit of a problem.  Code was 24" in front of stool clear, we had 20".  Smallest stool I could find at the time was a Kohler model, I can't remember the exact dimension but it would have bought us 2" or so. 

    There were kiddy stools that would have worked, super small, about 600 bucks a piece and no adult was going to be able to use them, but I did think of putting them in to spite the inspectors ;)

    Team Logo

    1. mike_maines | Feb 18, 2008 12:10am | #24

      Was that really two years ago?  Geez time flies.  Your incident was what cemented the 24" number in my head.

      What did you end up doing there?

      1. CAGIV | Feb 18, 2008 03:23am | #25

        Might not have been quite 2 years ago, I'd have to go look it up to be exact.

        We fought the Law and won ;)

        Ended up in the City Managers office to dispute it, he punted to the Plumbing Board of Appeals, they said it was ok, just don't do it again.  We hung our heads in shame a little and said thanks a bunch....

        The inspector who was faught us the hardest was a little bitter for a while after but we seem to get along now.

        All's well that ends well.

  10. User avater
    Matt | Feb 18, 2008 06:54am | #26

    Our NC IRC says 21".

    Using a round bowl toilet rather than a oval bowl helps a little.

  11. semar | Feb 18, 2008 08:08am | #27

    Gerber makes a toilet where the tank is build in the wall. The toilet is wallhung.
    Now that they have flat screen TVs maybe a small 13" might improve the toilet sessions

  12. Jamwats | Feb 18, 2008 06:31pm | #28

    We used an American Standard Cadet toilet in a house where we had the same issue.  They make 2 different bowls (round front and elongated) and 2 different tanks (standard and compact).  We combined the round front bowl with the compact tank to get the shortest result.  The compact tank is basically a squashed tank that allows the whole thing to sit closer to the wall.  It requires that the toilet flange be roughed in 10" from the wall to really take advantage of this, so it sounds like you would have to move your flange 2" closer to the wall.  One other idea I thought about was creating a recess in the wall to allow for another 3-4".  I'm not sure what you're dealing with as far as moving that flange (slab, basement, crawlspace) and the wall behind the toilet (exterior, interior, plumbing in wall, etc).

    Since we did ours they have come out with a new version (Cadet 3).  I have installed one of these in another house and they are much improved as far as the flush action.

    Jamie

    1. caseyr | Feb 19, 2008 12:34am | #30

      Unfortunately, in the wall directly behind the toilet is a 4" cast iron vent line (that is actually a little too big to put in the wall). A plumbing website recommended a Toto Ultimate (round bowl) which has a total dimension of 26.5" from wall to front of toilet. I have heard good things about Toto, but this would cause me to loose an inch of clearance over what I have now. I suppose I could bump out the wall in front of the toilet into the adjacent closet (who needs closets in the spare bedroom, right?) although it might look a little strange. I guess I could install a wide screen TV in the bump out and make it look like a custom feature...

  13. Creative101 | Nov 18, 2012 07:57am | #32

    Flange distance can be changed from 12" to 10"

    Flange distance can be changed from 12" to 10" by using an offset flange.

     Available at Home depot , Lowes etc.

  14. IdahoDon | Nov 18, 2012 11:14pm | #33

    A girl "friend" I knew went

    A girl "friend" I knew went to russia and for 6 months crapped in a hole in the floor - about as much room as you can get!  lol  

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