Replacing Toilet Seat - Plastic or Wood? (vinyl, laminate, color)
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I think I need to buy a new toilet seat for my downstairs bathroom (also the guest bathroom). My dad wants to repaint the current seat (wood of some sort, I think), but it seems like it might be better to buy a sturdy plastic seat. I've been doing research on this and I'm kind of confused.
I'm assuming the current toilet seat is wood because it's kind of heavy and the paint (blonde) is worn down in areas to what would appear to be wood as it's brownish. There are several different shades of blonde and light brown visible where the paint is worn. By the way, the seats are 30 years old and the paint held up really well for 15-25 years. I doubt seats made now would last that long.
I prefer using cleaners such as bleach and Fantastik to clean my toilet seats weekly as I like them disninfected. It's my understanding that plastic would be better because the paint on the wood seats would deteriorate with these types of cleaners. Does anyone have any experience with this?
If I do go with plastic, I want something sturdy and similar in weight to the wood seats. I really hate those cheap, flimsy plastic seats. Does anyone have any recommendations? I'd like to keep the price around $20 if possible, but ideally under $30.
And finally, I cannot find any toilet seat (wood or plastic) that matches the color of my toilet (blonde) that is under $60. It seems that color has gone out of style as no one really makes that color anymore. I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions on what I should do? Should I go with something similar in color to blonde, or go crazy and get a blue or pink seat? Personally, I don't really care, but my guests might.
Most painted wooden toilet seats are made of composite wood now, which swells up a lot more than solid wood when it becomes moist, which could cause the paint to come off.
We found the foam covered in vinyl do not last long. The cover gets a tear and you ar done.
Plastic or wood makes little difference. The wood is heavily laminated - with plastic. Woos is prettyier in some opinions so it costs more. Be sure it is real wood. The sawdust and glue stuff does not last and does not hold screws. Those are garbage from the day you buy them. Do not get cheapo seats. They are almost all garbage.
One critical thing is look at the quality of the hinge assembly. You want metal, not plastic. Also look at how the hinge assembly is attached to the toilet seat. Keep in mind, screws usually pull out of plastic much more easily than out of wood. A full bar hinge will hold up way better than little individual plastic hinges on each side. the hinge should have some slop. It should bot be tightly fitted. I needs to be able to move back and forth a bit to avoid putting torque on the screws that hold it in place. Finally look at the leg on the bottom of the ring seat (bottom part). These are the three areas where most new toilet seats fail.
One advantage of wood is if it gets worn, you can remove the hinges, sand it and re-coat it. However you will never do that. You will just replace it when it gets worn. Same as plastic.
Last edited by Coldjensens; 04-15-2016 at 11:05 AM..
Plastic is the way to go. I wish the newer plastic seats weren't hollowed out underneath because that makes it more difficult to clean them, but it's so much more sanitary than the compressed wood seats that swell and absorb liquids. I have kids, and they're not always super tidy about the toilet. I used to have to replace the wood seats every six months.
I used to think metal hinges were the best, but we broke a few metal hinges, especially when my leg was in a cast and I was having to swivel around on the toilet to get up. Then I was using the seats that came with the toilets in our new house, and the plastic screws would loosen every couple of months. I kept a screwdriver in my cleaning kit and just tightened the screws as needed, whenever I cleaned the toilets.
Then I decided to replace my toilet with a taller one and shelled out $30 for a Kohler seat with the slow-close option. The hardware that comes with it is very interesting...it has plastic pieces that attach to the toilet with a nut that expands to keep it snug. The toilet seat snaps onto those plastic pieces, so every time you clean the toilet, it's possible (and easy!) to pull the seat off to really get the toilet clean. We've been using the new seat for several months and it hasn't loosened at all.
One of this summer's projects is to replace our home's toilets. Thanks for the information about the Kohler seats. I will definitely look into that!
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