<p>I just replaced 2 toilets recently (one just last week; one 2 years ago) so I can tell you how much it’ll cost to have the old toilet removed and the new toilet installed. Assuming there aren’t any major issues–each installation was approx $160 (or 90 minutes of plumber time). There might be an additional “haul away” fee if you want the plumber to dispose of the old toilet. </p>
<p>If your husband is handy, replacing a toilet isn’t that difficult of a job. Home Depot in our area runs seminars on how to do it about once a month.</p>
<p>Matching the color–the most reliable way of matching a color is to take the tank lid from the old toilet with you to the plumbing supply so you can see how close the color match is. A plumbing supply will have a accurate color chart or actual color samples for many different major companies. (I also had to do this since one toilet had matching sinks and tub. Unfortunately it was a long discontinued color so the match was close, but not perfect. And for the other I replaced a colored toilet with a white since I hated having a dark brown toilet. I cannot wait to get rid of the matching brown sinks.)</p>
<p>I have Kohler gravity feed low flows (once is 1.6 gpf, the other is a 1.2 gpf). Both work wonderfully. </p>
<p>BTW, kohler does make a blue toilet (they call the color “Skylight”). The color is available in several different models. </p>
<p>Signature Hardware sells a Dresden Blue toilet seat. (They show it on a white toilet–and it doesn’t look all that odd.) </p>
<p>And check your local water utility website–I got a rebate ($200 each) from my city for installing low flows.</p>
<p>When we did a major remodel some years back (kitchen, baths, flooring, paint, limited floor plan changes), I was our own General Contractor. I came in on time and on budget, lol. With the exception of plumbing! Plumber costs had gone haywire since I’d last needed one. I figured the time required correctly and estimated my plumbing cost based on a per hour rate. Wrong! Plumbers had changed to a flat rate per job system. And those flat rates make zero sense in terms of hours for the job.</p>
<p>Anyway, too late I discovered that jobs like installing new toilets do NOT require a professional plumber. As someone said above, you or your H can do it. But if not so inclined, find a good handyman. That’s what I did for a simple toilet change-out in another bathroom after our major remodel. He charged $35/hour and it is not a time-consuming job!</p>
<p>Well, we went ahead and bought the Peerless. After speaking with another plumber and with the folks at the plumbing supply place, I think we made the right decision considering our budget. They all assured me that the flush action on the Peerless is fine, and the plumber I talked to today says that he knows the brand and can recommend it. </p>
<p>The plumbing supply house did carry Toto and we looked at them longingly but couldn’t justify the price (3 times as much as the Peerless) since we won’t be in this house too much longer. The color on the Peerless is almost an exact match (the Kohler “Skylight” blue isn’t even close, unfortunately) and the price was actually $25 less than I was quoted the other day. AND there’s a rebate program at our city water office offering $100 rebate for replacing an old water-wasting toilet with a Water Sense model.</p>
<p>My husband isn’t handy enough to do the job himself and we need to replace the shutoff valve anyway, so we’ll just have the plumber do it. </p>
<p>By the way, neither of the plumbers I talked to recommended repairing the Case toilet with the $200+ repair kit and the plumbing supply house said the same thing. In their experience, that has led to more problems. I trust their judgment as we’ve known and used them both for >15 years.</p>
<p>patsmom, I’m glad you found a yellow one. My parents had an 80’s yellow bathroom complete with yellow toilet, tub and sink. First the toilet went, and they replaced it with a white one. Then the sink bowl broke, so they replaced it with a white one. Now there’s still that darn yellow tub! They have replaced the peeling up yellow linoleum floor with yellow and blue tiles, and have painted the bathroom a brighter yellow, and they do blue towels and blue shower curtains, so it all kind of works… but I know my sister and I are looking forward to the day when they get a white tub in place of the yellow one!!</p>
<p>We replace our 5 gal flush t’s with 2 Toto’s. Found one at Habitat for $80 and bought new Drake. We are on a community water system and water is costly so any reduction is saved money. </p>
<p>We had the septic pumped yesterday. A lot of solids and we don’t use the sink disposal. The Pumper says that solids came from the TP. W says that we are going to install the 2nd BA washer and use less Costco TP and save some trees at same time. </p>
<p>fendergirl, it was blue, not yellow. But guess what? Peerless sells a yellow one,too! I saw it in the showroom this afternoon.</p>
<p>By the way, want to hear something weird? In my internet research to find out something about Peerless toilets, I kept coming across YouTube hits. I clicked on a couple and found out that there are loads of videos out there of different kinds of toilets flushing! Who makes these videos and why? Lots of them are filmed in public toilets, with a closeup of the brand name or logo, then a flush or two. They’re not all of Peerless johns - there are all kinds of brands. It’s really kind of gross. There’s nothing in the toilets except water, but still! I can’t post links, but just type in “Peerless toilet” in the YouTube search box and you’ll see what I mean. :eek:</p>
<p>Switching to a 1.5 gal. flush? Better get used to using only 1-ply TP. Though I warned her wife would not listen, till she grew tired of using a plunger. Somethings you got to learn for yourself.</p>
<p>After we had problems with our Toto getting backed up, our plumber said the trick is to avoid all those nice extra soft, plushy toilet paper brands–they absorb so much water they are tailor-made for clogging the low flow models. So now we use plain old fashioned Scott. I’m sure visitors think we’re just cheap.</p>