Reindeer Games

Kohler Rialto toilet: More than you probably ever wanted to know

Our "master" bath (the quotes are necessary) is one of the smallest full baths I have ever seen. It is less than four feet wide (44") and is about seven feet long. The shower is 32"x40", leaving just over four feet for the toilet and sink. Luckily, neither of us is claustrophobic.

We installed the Kohler Rialto toilet because it is the smallest "standard" toilet on the market (regular installation and on the shelf at Home Depot). Be forewarned: we had some issues with the Rialto. If you google it, you will see that we are not the only ones. To maintain just over 25" from back to front with a low profile tank, the flush and fill mechanisms are somewhat unusual. The water does not drain from the bottom of the tank. When the flapper lifts, water passes through a modular, L-shaped piece that also acts as the overflow. Therefore, water is always in the bottom of the tank. Not a problem (unless maybe you had sediment buildup), just strange. The problem we had was that the flapper did not sit evenly on the top of the opening into the L-shaped piece. This piece can be removed easily so we could look into the hole to the toilet and see light from where the flapper was supposed to seal. This resulted in a slow-ish leak which kind of defeats the purpose of a low-flow toilet. We went back to Home Depot for a replacement, but they did not have the exact part and the replacement flapper did not fit correctly. Kohler sent us a new flapper about a week later. Once Chris installed the replacement flapper from Kohler, everything works fine. But for a $350 toilet, I prefer that it work right out of the box.

Because of space constraints, we did not have much of a choice for toilets in this bathroom. I am happy with the appearance of the toilet (visually, it takes up very little space and has a nice shape) and it does not completely block the path to the shower. We did not have to change the plumbing (install a tank in the wall, etc), so we were able to install it ourselves. Just be ready to troubleshoot this product.

Rialto

Toilets are easy...

...but not fun or pleasant to replace.

Quick change

Those old ugly pulls came with the house.

We installed shiny stainless new ones. Amazing what a difference it makes.

Hall.

Guest Bedroom.

Master Bath sink plumbed

Good call by Jacqueline on using the 1 1/4" connector on the sink end and the 1 1/2" connector on the end of the J bend pipe. I don't like using the accordian drainage pipes, but it made this so much easier. One of these days I'll cut the drainage off and replumb it with chrome. We'll wait and see if we decide to bump the wall back and move the toilet.





Yes, we know what a bad job we did on the drywall mud.

Almost finished w/ Master Bath

We need to finish the drainage. Then sink replacement is complete. That toilet is feeling nervous for good reason.

That corroded soap dish already knows it is on the way out.

Longdraft Master Bath Sink Removal - 2

Oooops. That piece was glued to the drywall.

No worries, some new drywall, a carpet knife, and a racheting drill.

Longdraft Master Bath Sink removal

before, during and after

This is what it looked like when we bought the place.






This is what it looked like to start off. (We had removed a small cabinet to the left in this picture.)



Here we are part way through.




While not "complete" this is the stopping point for the time being. We're going to get some more open shelving this weekend.




Finished putting up the shelf about the refrig, and the other bars.

Out with the crappy brown cabinets

The rubbermaid shelves had been very useful, but were a temporary measure. This relatively cheap ikea piece looks a lot nicer.

We had enough of the awful cabinet. We got ikea shelves, and took down the first cabinet. Replaced it with some stainless steel open shelving.

Granted, the ugly counter top needs to go. We'll get to it.

Did we mention it was pink?

more mulch

Back yard bunny

J is a fan of the bunny. We were sitting on the patio today, and it checked us out, then strolled over to the garage side of the house.

Mulch better

Put a new bed of mulch down in back for the walkway to the hot tub. The patio by the hot tub (where those violets are poking through) will get a base of sand and be reset eventually.