Interiors
Toilet replacement cost
Three hundred to nine hundred dollars fitted, and which end of that you land on is decided by a ring under the toilet nobody can see until it comes off. Before any of that, one measurement: the rough-in, from the finished wall to the centre of the bolts. And then the arithmetic almost nobody does — a pre-1994 toilet costs a household of 4 about $178 a year in extra water, which pays for the fixture in about 2 years and the whole fitted job in about 4.
Written and edited by Pablo Ruiz Quintero
Last reviewed 2026-09-22 · Nothing you type leaves your browser
Measure the rough-in first
From the finished wall to the centre of the bolts at the base. Twelve inches is standard, ten and fourteen exist, and a toilet for the wrong one does not fit. Two minutes with a tape before anything is bought.
The standard everywhere, and what almost every toilet on a shop floor is made for.
Three and a half gallons. The commonest old toilet still in service, and the one where replacement pays for itself fastest.
The efficient standard, and the one many water utilities rebate. Twenty per cent less water than a 1.6 for a difference in price you stop noticing in the first year.
More comfortable and what most people choose when there is room. It needs the front clearance checking, because it is the part that projects into it.
Chair height, and what most new toilets are. It is easier to get up from and it is the single change most people notice.
The flange
The ring the toilet bolts to. You cannot see it until the old toilet is off, which is why a price quoted over the phone is always conditional.
Nothing to do. The wax ring seats straight onto it and the job is an hour.
The water arithmetic
Five flushes a person a day is the figure the industry uses, and it holds up.
Both bills together. The US average is around $11 and it varies enormously — it is on your bill.
Clearances and extras
Wall, vanity, bath — whichever is closest. Code minimum 15, recommended 18.
From the front of the bowl to whatever is opposite. Code minimum 21, recommended 30.
A wax ring is single use. If the toilet is set and then lifted for any reason, that ring is finished and a new one goes in — resetting on a squashed ring is how a slow leak starts.
A stop that has not moved in twenty years will not reseat once turned.
Most toilets are sold without one. It is a small line and a reliable surprise.
A like-for-like swap onto a sound flange is a genuine hour. Everything that makes it longer is something you cannot see until the old one is off.
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Two-piece, 1.28 gpf, fitted
$722
3.5 → 1.28 gpf · $178 a year saved
It pays for itself in 4.1 years
16,206 gallons a year saved across 4 people. Over ten years that is $1,061 back in your pocket — there is no other fixture in the house with those numbers, and nobody does the arithmetic.
Does it fit?
These are code minimums rather than recommendations, and plenty of existing bathrooms fail them.
An elongated bowl projects about three inches further than a round one. If the front clearance is tight, switching shape is the cheapest way to buy it back.
Water, year by year
7,300 flushes a year across 4 people.
Keeping it against replacing it
Cumulative cost. One line is water for ever; the other is the fixture now and less water after.
What gets bought
- Two-piece, 1.28 gpf
The efficient standard, and the one many water utilities rebate. Twenty per cent less water than a 1.6 for a difference in price you stop noticing in the first year. Comfort height, 17–19 in, elongated.$295 - Wax ring, bolts and supply line
A wax ring is single use. If the toilet is set and then lifted for any reason, that ring is finished and a new one goes in — resetting on a squashed ring is how a slow leak starts.$114
What it costs
National average. Two-piece, 1.28 gpf, 12 in rough-in, new seal and supply and shutoff, old one removed and taken away. Not included: flooring under the old footprint, and any flange damage that only appears once the old toilet is off.
And it pays itself back in 4.1 years on the water bill alone, which is not true of anything else in the room. If the floor is being redone at the same time, the toilet comes off first and the flooring runs underneath it — tiling around a toilet leaves a cut line that shows for as long as the floor lasts.
Worth knowing
- Measure the rough-in before buying anything: from the finished wall to the centre of the closet bolts. Yours is 12 in. The standard everywhere, and what almost every toilet on a shop floor is made for. A 12 in toilet does not fit a 10 in rough-in, and it is the commonest returned plumbing fixture there is — two minutes with a tape saves the trip.
- The water arithmetic, which nobody does: your current toilet uses 3.5 gallons a flush and this one uses 1.28. At 5 flushes a person a day across 4 people that is 16,206 gallons a year saved — about $178. The whole job pays for itself in 4.1 years, and over ten it puts $1,061 back. There is not another fixture in the house with those numbers.
- 16 in to the side clears the 15 in code minimum but not the 18 in that is recommended. It is legal and it is tight, which describes a great many American bathrooms.
- A wax ring is single use. If the toilet is set and then lifted for any reason, that ring is finished and a new one goes in — resetting on a squashed ring is how a slow leak starts.
On this page — 5 sections
Measure this before you buy anything
The short version
- The rough-in is 12 in, usually. Ten and fourteen exist, and a toilet for the wrong one does not fit.
- The flange decides the price, and nobody can see it until the old toilet is off.
- A pre-1994 toilet costs about $178 a year in extra water — the fixture pays for itself in about 2 years, the whole fitted job in about 4.
- 15 in to the side and 21 in in front are code minimums, not suggestions.
Toilets are the most returned plumbing fixture in the shop, and it is almost always the same mistake. Somebody buys one, gets it home, gets the old one off, and finds the bolt holes are two inches from where the pipe is.
The measurement is called the rough-in: from the finished wall to the centre of the bolt caps at the base of the existing toilet. Not to the back of the tank, not to the skirting — to the finished wall surface, and to the centre of the bolts.
Twelve inches is the standard and it is what nearly everything on a shop floor is built for. But ten-inch rough-ins are common in older and smaller bathrooms, and fourteen turns up where a wall was furred out or a bathroom rebuilt. Two minutes with a tape before buying anything.
| Rough-in | What it means |
|---|---|
| 10 in | Common in older and smaller bathrooms. Ten-inch toilets exist and there are fewer of them, so the choice is narrower and the price a little higher. |
| 12 in | The standard everywhere, and what almost every toilet on a shop floor is made for. |
| 14 in | Rarer, and found where a wall was furred out or a bathroom rebuilt. A 12 in toilet will fit a 14 in rough-in with a gap behind it, which looks odd but works. |
International Code Council, International Residential Code — P2705.1, fixture clearances (2021) · checked 2026-09-22
The flange, which decides whether this is cheap
A toilet swap is either an hour’s work or it is a floor repair, and the thing that decides which is a plastic or cast iron ring you cannot see until the old toilet is off.
The closet flange is what the waste pipe ends at and what the toilet bolts down to. There are three ways to find it, and they are worth three very different numbers.
| What you find | Parts | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Sound and flush with the floor | — | Nothing to do. The wax ring seats straight onto it and the job is an hour. |
| Below the finished floor | $34 | Happens whenever flooring has been laid over the old one. More than a quarter of an inch down and the wax ring cannot bridge it reliably — the fix is a flange extender, and it costs almost nothing as long as somebody notices before setting the toilet. |
| Cracked, rusted or loose | $340 | Cast iron flanges crack and steel ones rust through at the bolt slots. Putting one right means cutting into the floor around it, and it is the thing that turns a two-hundred dollar job into a thousand dollar one. |
A broken flange adds about $330 of labour on top of the parts, because getting at it means cutting into the floor around it.
What always gets replaced, whatever the plan said
- Closet bolts — $6. New closet bolts every time. The old ones are rusted into the flange slots and they snap when you try to reuse them.
- The seal — $9 for wax, $19 waxless. A wax ring is single use. If the toilet is set and then lifted for any reason, that ring is finished and a new one goes in — resetting on a squashed ring is how a slow leak starts.
- The supply line — $15. The old plastic ones go brittle, and a supply line that fails is a flood rather than a drip.
- The shutoff valve — $42. The stop under the tank. Twenty years of not moving means it will not reseat once you turn it, and finding that out with the tank already off is a bad afternoon.
- A seat — $42, because most toilets are sold without one.
- Silicone at the base, on three sides only. Sealing all four traps a leak under the toilet where it cannot be seen, which is why the back is left open deliberately.
- The flange bolts, if they are the old slot-in type and have rusted.
- And nothing else — this is a short list, which is why the job is cheap when the flange is sound.
MaterialsEstimator, Toilet price survey — fixtures, flanges and fitting · checked 2026-09-22
The arithmetic nobody does
Here is the part that changes the decision, and it is arithmetic anybody could do and almost nobody has.
A toilet from before 1994 uses 3.5 gallons a flush. A WaterSense one uses 1.28. At 5 flushes a person a day — the figure the industry uses, and it holds up — a household of 4 flushes 7,300 times a year.
That is 16,206 gallons a year of difference. At average American water and sewer rates together, about $178 a year.
3.5 gal
A pre-1994 flush
Five or more before 1980
1.28 gal
WaterSense
The efficient standard now
16,206
Gallons saved a year
4 people, 5 flushes each a day
$178
A year
Water and sewer together
At $178 a year, the toilet and its parts have paid for themselves in about 2 years if you fit it yourself, and the whole job with a plumber in about 4. Every year after that is money the old one was pouring away. There is not another fixture in the house with that arithmetic — not a boiler, not a window, not an appliance.
And it is compounded by something else: many water utilities rebate WaterSense toilets, occasionally for most of the purchase price, because supplying you with fourteen thousand fewer gallons is cheaper for them than supplying them. It is worth thirty seconds on your utility’s website before buying, and the rebate usually needs the receipt and the model number — so check before the old one goes to the tip.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, WaterSense — Outdoor Water Use in the United States · checked 2026-09-16
Which toilet, and which bits actually matter
Once the rough-in is known, the rest is a short list of choices where two matter and the others are taste.
| Worth deciding carefully | Taste, mostly | |
|---|---|---|
| Rough-in | It fits or it does not | — |
| Bowl shape | Three inches of front clearance | — |
| Seat height | Standing up from it, for decades | — |
| Flush volume | $178 a year and a rebate | — |
| One-piece or two | — | Cleaning a joint, and carrying it upstairs |
| Dual flush | — | Small saving over a good 1.28 |
| Skirted base | — | Easier to wipe, harder to get bolts at |
| Brand | — | Parts availability in ten years, if anything |
| Type | Fixture | Gpf | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|
| Two-piece, 1.6 gpf | $215 | 1.6 | Tank and bowl separate, which is why it is cheap and why there is a joint to clean around. It is what most houses have and it is perfectly good. |
| Two-piece, 1.28 gpf | $295 | 1.28 | The efficient standard, and the one many water utilities rebate. Twenty per cent less water than a 1.6 for a difference in price you stop noticing in the first year. |
| Dual flush | $390 | 1.1 | Two buttons, about 1.1 gallons averaged across the two. The saving over a good 1.28 is small; the case for it is that the small flush is genuinely enough most of the time. |
| One-piece | $560 | 1.28 | Tank and bowl moulded together, so there is no joint and nowhere for anything to collect. Heavier to carry, harder to get up a staircase, and the easiest thing in a bathroom to wipe. |
| Wall-hung with in-wall cistern | $1,350 | 1.28 | The bowl hangs off a steel carrier built into the wall and the cistern hides behind the tiles. It frees the floor entirely and it is a wall-opening job rather than a fixture swap — different work, different trade, different money. |
The one on that list that is not really a toilet purchase is the wall-hung. The bowl hangs off a steel carrier built into the wall and the cistern lives behind the tiles, so fitting one means opening the wall, moving the waste, and retiling. It belongs in a bathroom that is being rebuilt anyway. In one that simply needs a new toilet, it is a two-thousand dollar answer to a five-hundred dollar question.
What goes wrong
01Buying the toilet before measuring the rough-in
Twelve inches is standard and ten and fourteen exist. A toilet for the wrong one does not fit, and it is the most returned plumbing fixture in the shop.
Instead — Tape measure, finished wall to the centre of the bolt caps, two minutes, before anything is bought.
02Ignoring a flange that sits below the floor
A wax ring cannot reliably bridge more than a quarter of an inch. It holds for a while and then weeps into the subfloor, where nobody looks until the ceiling below is stained.
Instead — A flange extender — $34 and a minute. It is the highest-value item on this page.
03Reusing the wax ring
It is compressed the moment the toilet is set. Putting the same one back is asking a squashed seal to seal again, and it is how a slow leak starts.
Instead — A new ring every time the toilet comes up, for any reason. It is $9.
04Rocking the toilet to seat it
It feels like the right way to bed it in and it deforms the wax sideways, opening a path the water will find. The damage is invisible from above.
Instead — Lower it straight down and press once. If it goes down crooked, lift it off, fit a new ring and start again.
05Over-tightening the closet bolts
China cracks, and a cracked base means a new toilet and another afternoon. It happens at the end of the job when everything else has gone well.
Instead — Small alternating turns until it stops moving, then stop. It does not need to be tight, it needs to be still.
06Keeping a pre-1994 toilet to save money
It costs about $178 a year more in water for a household of 4. Over ten years that is $1,780 — several times the price of replacing it.
Instead — Do the arithmetic on your own water bill and your own household. On anything 3.5 gallons or more the answer is not close.
07Choosing an elongated bowl in a tight room
It projects about three inches further than a round one, which is often exactly the margin between meeting the 21 inch front clearance and not.
Instead — Measure the clear space in front first. A round bowl is cheaper, and in a small bathroom it is also the better one.
08Sealing all four sides of the base
It looks tidier and it traps any leak under the toilet, where it soaks the subfloor unseen instead of showing on the floor where you would notice it.
Instead — Silicone the sides and the front, and leave the back open. It is deliberate, it is what the trade does, and it is your early warning.
- 01Measure the rough-inFinished wall to the centre of the bolt caps at the base. Twelve inches is standard, ten and fourteen exist, and the wrong one does not fit. This takes two minutes and prevents the commonest returned plumbing fixture there is.
- 02Measure the clearancesCentreline to the nearest wall or fixture on each side, and the clear space in front. The code minimums are 15 and 21 inches, and plenty of existing bathrooms do not meet them.
- 03Turn the water off and empty itShut the stop, flush, and sponge the last of the water out of the tank and the bowl. Every drop left in there ends up on the floor at the moment you lift it.
- 04Look at the flangeThis is the moment the price is decided. Sound and flush with the floor means an hour's work. Below the floor means a flange extender. Cracked or rusted means cutting into the floor.
- 05Fit new bolts, new seal, new supplyNever reuse any of them. The bolts snap, the wax ring is finished once compressed, and old plastic supply lines go brittle.
- 06Set it and do not rock itLower it straight down onto the seal and press. Rocking it to seat it deforms the wax and opens a path — if it goes down wrong, the ring comes out and a new one goes in.
- 07Tighten in small alternating turnsA little on one side, a little on the other, until it stops moving. Over-tightening cracks the china, and a cracked base is a new toilet.
A vanity is the same kind of decision with the same kind of hidden item — there it is whether the drain has to move, and a floating vanity means it does. Both jobs are cheap when the plumbing stays put and several times the price when it does not.
The other fixture in the room- Rough-in
- The distance from the finished wall to the centre of the closet bolts. Twelve inches is standard; ten and fourteen exist in older houses, and a toilet made for the wrong one simply does not fit.
- Closet flange
- The ring fixed to the floor that the waste pipe ends at and the toilet bolts to. It is invisible until the old toilet comes off, and its condition is what decides whether this job is cheap or not.
- Wax ring
- The seal between the toilet outlet and the flange. It is single use — once compressed it cannot be reseated, and a toilet lifted for any reason needs a new one.
- Flange extender
- A plastic ring that raises a flange left below the finished floor after new flooring was laid over the old. It costs a few dollars and it prevents a slow leak nobody would find for years.
- Gallons per flush
- The federal maximum has been 1.6 since 1994 and WaterSense certification requires 1.28. Before 1994 it was 3.5, and before 1980 often five or more.
- WaterSense
- The EPA label for fixtures meeting a 1.28 gallon flush while still clearing the bowl properly. Many water utilities rebate certified toilets, sometimes for most of the purchase price.
- Elongated bowl
- An oval bowl, about three inches longer front to back than a round one. More comfortable, and the three inches come out of the clear space in front of it.
- Comfort height
- A seat at 17 to 19 inches rather than the traditional 15. Chair height, easier to stand up from, and what most new toilets are.
- One-piece
- Tank and bowl moulded as a single unit. No joint to clean around, heavier to carry, and dearer for the same flush performance.
- Wall-hung
- A bowl bolted to a steel carrier built into the wall, with the cistern hidden behind the tiles. It frees the floor entirely and it is a wall-opening job rather than a fixture swap.
- Closet bolts
- The two bolts that hold the toilet to the flange. They are replaced every time, because the old ones are rusted into the flange slots and snap when disturbed.
- Shutoff
- The isolating valve under the tank. A valve that has not been turned in twenty years will not reseat once it is, which is why it gets replaced as a matter of routine.
Common questions
- How much does it cost to replace a toilet?
- Between about $320 and $900 fitted for a like-for-like swap — the toilet itself is $215 to $295, fitting and haul-away about $313, and the parts that always get replaced another $72 or so. What moves it outside that range is the flange underneath, which nobody can see until the old toilet is off.
- What is a rough-in and why does it matter?
- It is the distance from the finished wall to the centre of the bolts at the base of the toilet — where the waste pipe comes up through the floor. Twelve inches is the standard, but ten and fourteen exist in older houses, and a toilet built for one will not fit the other. It is a two-minute measurement with a tape and it is the reason toilets are the most returned plumbing fixture in the shop.
- Is replacing an old toilet worth it just for the water?
- On anything pre-1994, comfortably yes, and the numbers are startling. A 3.5 gallon toilet against a 1.28 gallon one, at 5 flushes a person a day across 4 people, saves about 16,206 gallons a year — roughly $178 at average American water and sewer rates. The fixture and its parts pay for themselves in about 2 years; with a plumber fitting it, about 4. Either way it then keeps paying, and there is not another fixture in the house with that arithmetic.
- What happens if the flange is broken?
- It is the one thing that turns a cheap job into an expensive one. Cast iron flanges crack and steel ones rust through at the bolt slots. Putting one right means cutting into the floor around it, and it is the thing that turns a two-hundred dollar job into a thousand dollar one. Expect $340 for the parts and around $330 of labour on top. It also cannot be assessed in advance, which is why any price quoted over the phone for a toilet swap is conditional on what is under it.
- Why is my flange below the floor level?
- Because flooring was laid over the old one at some point — tile on tile, or vinyl over the original. Happens whenever flooring has been laid over the old one. More than a quarter of an inch down and the wax ring cannot bridge it reliably — the fix is a flange extender, and it costs almost nothing as long as somebody notices before setting the toilet. An extender is a few dollars; missing it means a wax ring trying to bridge a gap it cannot, and a leak that soaks the subfloor for years before anybody notices.
- Round bowl or elongated?
- Elongated is more comfortable and it is what most people choose when there is room. It also projects about three inches further into the bathroom, so in a tight room it is the difference between meeting the code's 21 inch front clearance and not. If space in front is tight, a round bowl buys back exactly the inches you are short of, and it is the cheapest possible fix.
- What clearances does a toilet need?
- 15 inches from the centreline to any wall or obstruction on each side, and 21 inches of clear space in front. Those are code minimums rather than suggestions — 18 and 30 are the comfortable figures. A great many existing bathrooms fail them and are allowed to carry on doing so; permitted new work is not.
- Should I use a wax ring or a waxless seal?
- Wax is cheap, proven and single use — if the toilet is set and then lifted for any reason, that ring is finished and a new one goes in — resetting on a squashed ring is how a slow leak starts.. A waxless seal costs about twice as much, can be reseated if the toilet has to come up, does not soften in a hot bathroom, and copes better with a floor that is not flat. On a straightforward job either is fine; on an awkward one the waxless is worth the extra ten dollars.
- Can I replace a toilet myself?
- Yes, and it is one of the genuinely approachable plumbing jobs — two bolts, a supply line and a seal. The two ways it goes wrong are both avoidable: rocking the toilet to seat it, which deforms the wax and opens a leak path, and over-tightening the bolts, which cracks the china. Both are a matter of patience rather than skill.
- Do I need a new shutoff valve?
- Budget for one. The stop under the tank. Twenty years of not moving means it will not reseat once you turn it, and finding that out with the tank already off is a bad afternoon. It is $42 and it is the cheapest insurance in the job — and the failure mode, discovered with the tank already off, is water you cannot turn off.
- Is a low-flush toilet going to need two flushes?
- Not any more, and the reputation is deserved but out of date. The first generation of 1.6 gallon toilets after the 1994 federal rule genuinely did struggle, because manufacturers shrank the tank without redesigning the bowl and the trapway. Modern 1.6 and 1.28 gallon toilets are engineered around the lower volume and clear better than the old 3.5 gallon ones did.
- Does a rebate exist for efficient toilets?
- Often, and it is worth thirty seconds of checking before buying. Many water utilities rebate WaterSense-certified toilets, occasionally for most of the purchase price, because it is cheaper for them than supplying the water. The rebate is usually per fixture and usually requires the receipt and the model number, so check the terms before the old one goes to the tip.
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About the author
Pablo Ruiz Quintero — Editor
Editor of MaterialsEstimator. Decides which documents count as a source, what every default value is, and where the line sits between what the reader parses and what the engines compute.
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