I Replaced My First Toilet Because the Old One Was Pink
Not broken. Not leaking. Pink. My first house came with a 1950s pink toilet — matching pink tub, pink tile, the works. My wife gave me exactly one week after closing before she refused to use that bathroom. So on a Saturday morning with zero plumbing experience, I watched three YouTube videos and drove to Home Depot.
The toilet I bought was a Glacier Bay two-piece elongated for $119. The wax ring was another $6. I thought I was getting away with murder. Six hours later, covered in sweat and questioning my life choices, I had a working toilet. Was it perfectly level? No. Did it wobble slightly for the first year? Yes. But it flushed, it didn’t leak, and it wasn’t pink.
I’ve now replaced five toilets across three houses. Here’s what actually matters and what the YouTube videos skip.
The Wax Ring Is $6 and It’s the Most Important Part
If you learn nothing else from this article: do not cheap out on the wax ring. Do not reuse the old one (I tried once — don’t). And if your floor flange (the plastic or metal ring the toilet bolts to) is broken, cracked, or rusted through, stop immediately and replace it before you set the toilet. A bad seal between the toilet and the flange is how you get sewage gas in your bathroom and water damage in your ceiling below.
I use wax rings with a built-in plastic horn (the Fluidmaster Better Than Wax, $8). The horn directs waste into the drain pipe instead of letting it splash against the wax. For floors that are slightly uneven or flanges that sit below the tile surface, get an extra-thick wax ring or stack two regular ones. I also keep a wax-free rubber seal (the Fernco FTS-3, $12) on hand — they’re reusable if you need to pull the toilet back up, which you will on your first try.
One-Piece vs Two-Piece: The Weight Difference Will Surprise You
A standard two-piece toilet (separate tank and bowl) weighs about 80-100 pounds total, but you carry them in two trips. A one-piece toilet (tank and bowl molded together) weighs 120-150 pounds and you lift the whole thing at once. I installed a one-piece Toto Drake ($480) in my current master bathroom and I genuinely almost dropped it coming up the stairs. Hire a helper or buy your friend pizza. Do not attempt a one-piece solo unless you deadlift regularly.
The advantage of one-piece is no seam between tank and bowl — no gasket to leak, easier to clean. The disadvantage is cost (typically $300-$800 more) and the install is far more physically demanding. For 90% of bathrooms, a quality two-piece is the right call.
What I’d Actually Buy Today
After five installs, here’s what I’d buy at each price point:
Budget ($100-$200): The Glacier Bay or Project Source two-piece from Home Depot or Lowe’s. These are made by the same factories as the mid-range brands but with thinner porcelain and cheaper internals. The flush valve will probably need replacing in 3-5 years, but that’s a $15 part. Fine for a rental, a guest bathroom, or a flip.
Mid-range ($200-$400): The American Standard Cadet 3 or Kohler Wellworth. These have better flush mechanisms (the Cadet uses a 3-inch flush valve that clears the bowl in one go), better glazing on the trapway (less clogging), and the porcelain is noticeably thicker. The Cadet 3 is what I put in my current hall bathroom. Two years, zero clogs, zero issues.
Premium ($400-$800): The Toto Drake II or Kohler Cimarron. Toto’s double-cyclone flush uses two jets that create a circular vortex — it sounds like marketing but it genuinely leaves the bowl cleaner. The Cimarron has Kohler’s AquaPiston canister flush that’s almost impossible to clog. If you have teenagers or a husband who treats the toilet like a garbage disposal (I’m looking at myself here), spend the extra money.
The Install That YouTube Makes Look 30 Minutes
Real talk: your first toilet replacement will take 3-5 hours. Your second will take 90 minutes. Your fifth, 45 minutes. Here’s what the videos don’t tell you:
The old bolts will be rusted. The bolts holding your old toilet to the flange have been sitting in moisture for decades. They’re probably corroded. A hacksaw blade (without the frame — just the blade wrapped in a rag) fits into the tight space and will cut through them in about two minutes per side. I keep a pack of replacement brass bolts ($4) in my plumbing box because brass doesn’t rust.
The old wax ring will smell. Not like roses. It smells like sewage because it’s been sealing sewage. Have a trash bag ready, scrape it off the flange with a putty knife, and get that bag out of your house immediately.
The floor might be rotten. If water has been leaking around the base (look for dark stains or soft spots in the flooring), you’ve got a bigger project. I opened up one toilet and found the subfloor had rotted through around the flange. That turned into replacing a section of subfloor, which turned into replacing the vinyl flooring, which turned into my wife saying “well, we might as well redo the whole bathroom.” That toilet cost me $4,700.
Leveling matters more than you think. If your floor is uneven (most are, especially in old houses), the toilet will rock. Rocking cracks the wax seal. Use plastic shims (not wood — wood rots) under the base to stop the rocking, then trim them flush with a utility knife and caulk around the base to hide them. Do not caulk the entire base — leave the back uncaulked. If the wax seal ever leaks, you want to see water coming out the back so you know to fix it, rather than it silently rotting your floor for three years.
The One Mistake I Still Make
I forget to measure the rough-in. Every single time. The “rough-in” is the distance from the finished wall (not the baseboard) to the center of the flange bolts. Standard is 12 inches. Older houses are sometimes 10 or 14 inches. If you buy a 12-inch toilet for a 10-inch rough-in, the tank won’t fit against the wall. If you buy a 12-inch for a 14-inch rough-in, you’ll have a two-inch gap behind the tank that collects dust and looks weird.
Measure first. It takes 30 seconds and saves you a trip back to the store with an 80-pound box in your trunk.
The pink toilet? I put it on Craigslist for $50. Someone drove two hours to buy it for a mid-century restoration. I used the $50 to buy a proper brass bolt set, a new supply line, and the pizza for my helper. The circle of DIY life.
