Steven today asked the plumbers to hold on installation of the Toto toilets in bath 2 and the master bath.

Why?

We have questions about the Toto bidet installation and materials.

1. The water line between the bowl and the bidet is plastic. Thin plastic, albeit reinforced with some kind of cross-hatched material. Each end is a crimped fitting. Steven is surprised. He would have expected stainless steel, reinforced. Does Toto offer this alternative? If so, how did we miss speccing it?
2. Installing the plastic water line is proving to be “different and difficult,” to paraphrase the plumbers. They normally install the tank to the bowl, then set the toilet, then install the seat. As the plumbers explain what is happening, here, instead, they are forced to install the tank to the bowl, then install the seat, then set the toilet – because there is no way to get to the water line fitting at the back of the toilet unless you are working with a toilet that is not mounted to the floor. As a result, envision the day when the plastic water line blows or leaks, and it will, just because. Steven will be forced to call a plumber who unmounts the entire toilet from the floor just to get to the fitting, before that plumber can begin to work on the leak. This is not the brilliant design expected of Toto – forcing the homeowner to remove a toilet just to repair a water line if and when that water line must be repaired – and supplying a plastic water line instead of stainless steel, boosting the chance that there will be a problem with that plastic line. And, crimped fittings instead of threaded?
3. The plumbers tell Steven there are other Toto toilet designs that we could have selected – not the skirted models – that make it easier to install the bidet seat while also diminishing the potential for water-line failure. Did we screw up selecting these Toto models? Do we have the option to swap out the toilets we selected for comparable Toto models that the plumbers consider the better choice?
4. The plumbers also ask if there is a T-fitting that allows them to connect the toilet and the bidet to the water line coming out of the wall? Right now, the water line to the bidet routes from the tank atop the bowl, not to the water line coming out of the wall. This would give them more flexibility in the installation.

Ron will now explore these questions and options with Jonell at Ferguson.