I know, I know. I start out a lot of our posts by saying; “It is so much harder to put together a house than I ever would have thought.” Well, here we go again. This is hard stuff.
The first bathroom that became functional in the house was the guest bathroom upstairs. We measured out for and framed a steel tub, measured out and installed the backer board, the right height for the shower head and measured (taking into account the space the tile would take up on the wall) out the distance to where the drain for the toilet should be.
It is a small bathroom and I really like how the Kohler one piece toilets look, so I bought the Gabrielle series for both the master and the guest bath. Here’s the problem. They look cool, but they don’t work that well. Much. Really.
This Gabrielle series Kohler has a 1.6 gallon tank but boasts the flushing power of a 3.5 gallon tank. Now, I don’t know how strong a flush a 3.5 gallon toilet has but these Kohler toilets take multiple flushes. The advertisement we saw for them (on their website) spoke so highly of Kohlers flushing power that they built an interactive game where the player can click on items in a virtual bathroom and flush them down the toilet!
To top all this off, the Kohler toilet in our master bath stopped filling up with water a few days ago. It just stopped. I thought the water may have been turned off behind the toilet, but nope, we’ve got water, just not in the efficient 1.6 gallon tank. I wiggled the fill valve, but can’t figure out how to take it apart. It is all plastic and it looks like one giant piece. I have spent the last hour trying to research Kohler replacement parts, fill valves and trouble shooting and really haven’t made any progress.
Wow, does this mean that we have building our house for so long that appliances we installed in the beginning are already starting to break?
We finally made it to the Island and are in the process of changing our bathrooms also, since the EVERYTHING leaks. For the toilets, Ben found American Standard to have the best “reputation” so far. We are considering a trip to Home Depot to see if they carry them. Good luck!~
Holy shit, that sucks!
We bought the cheapest toilet from home depo and it works great. It’s also only 1.6 gallons a flush.
thanks jeff, that was very helpful
Yes - the one we got is a 1.6 gallon Glacier Bay and it hasn’t had any problems (been in for a year). When we bought the house the owner said you won’t have problems if you don’t put paper down. Maybe that is the key (if it doesn’t gross you out). The house is 30 years old with no problems so that may be why. He said it had something to do with the “receiver” whatever that is. If it’s worked for 30 years we are going with it! katrina
Ah…it all makes sense. Now I know why you were busy digging ditches: old school toilets.
=P
I think I have two of the same model and one has to hold the handle down for maybe 4-5 secs to get the big flush for #2. Sorry, maybe this is TMI.
No suggestions on why the tank isn’t filling.
PS - I had to replace a part for one of them and then the two-part flush option was a gonner. Home Depot anyone?
“Holy shit, that sucks!”
So to speak. Right?
- MPM