New Toilet

I decided to purchase a new toilet, so I went by Lowe's today. I notice that all toilets had one anchor bolt on each side. Mine has two on each side. I asked if everything would line up ok, and both the guys there said they had never heard of or seen a toilet with two on each side; they looked really confused.

Has anyone here ever heard of a toilet with four bolts? Am I going to run into issues trying to put in a new toilet, or should it transfer ok?

Depends of the type of plate you have under the toilet. They also make adaptors plates, so it may benefit you to pick up one just in case you need it during installation.

Inside the tank lid you will find the mfg. and model # of the WC that has the four bolt bowl, you will also find that the bolts closest to the waste flangers will be the same on both the four and two bolt WC's.

I think sometimes there can just be too many choices. I walked into Lowe's yesterday with full intentions of buying a toilet, but the 2 or 4 bolt thing made me hold off, and I'm actually glad I did. I didn't know there were so many toilets; I'll bet Lowe's had 40 on display. I'm so old fashioned, I just thought a toilet was a toilet. I got home and started reading reviews, and some sound horrible. Some don't swirl, they just bubble and don't clean the toilet well as it flushes. Some have such a low water level in the bowl, if one goes number 2, it leaves skid marks and has to be cleaned every time. Some are as noisy as a public toilet and echoes all over the house. What gives? Why can't there just be a toilet that works like it is supposed to and that's it.

The current toilet I have looks great, and it flushes really well. It's quiet, but I think it would flush a football; however, it must be really old since it has four bolts. I wanted a new one because it's a bit low(14 inches), and I want a taller one, and it sometimes sticks when it is flushed and doesn't shut off. I've replaced some items in the flush tank, but I guess it's just so old that it doesn't fully fix it. It's no big deal, but if I happen to walk away and don't notice, it can run for a while. I actually read on a review that one of the new ones does that. Good grief!

So, I thought buying a new toilet would be a quick, easy process, but now I'm concerned I will get one that doesn't function as well as my old one.

Posts #2&3 actually advised you.

If you spend your time in the various mfg's web sites, you'll find that the "general term for the WC you want is "rite-height", they will also show modern WC's with a base close to the same general configuration of your existing.

All of the conditions you mention are easily repaired.

I put in Kohler 'comfort height (16")' toilets a few years back and love them. A little over $200 each at Lowes back then. Flush just fine. A 2 bolt should fit your waste flange and won't need the other bolts.

Wait until you start looking for the toilet seat. You ain't seen nothing yet -- easy to spend $400+ on one of these beauties:

crane radcliffe for many years had a 4 hole toilet base. 2 holes were for the toilet bolts and the other two you installed screws going into the tile floor. the toilet never moved or rocked.