Tell-tale signs that you will find an old toilet!

As I have been looking for old toilets, I tend to know where to find them based on a variety of factors.

First and most importantly, look at the building you are about to go into. If the building looks new, or you know that it has been built recently, it will not be worth going into because you will not find an antique commode. Some buildings will have cornerstones or plaques stating the date that they were built. Also, older buildings tend to have beautiful designs carved into the stone. Back at the beginning of the 20th century, buildings were built to last and details were considered important. You might find elaborate roof designs, animals or the building name carved into a building from long ago. These days, this is not considered important and is in fact considered a waste of money. This can give you an important clue as to the toilets you will find and the exact year they were from. However keep in mind that buildings are often renovated these days, so your search in an older building still may not be fruitful.

Second, once you are in the building look at the restroom women's and men's signs. A restroom might not be worth exploring if the signs look new. I say this because in some buildings there are multiple bathrooms and people may get suspicious if you start going into multiple bathrooms on multiple floors. Skip over the restrooms with new signs, it means the restroom has been renovated.

Third, go to the top first. I always go to the top of the building and work my way down. The toilets on the top floor are used less and therefore may not have been replaced. The basement is also a good place to look. The main floor restrooms are often renovated, so do not just check out the main floor and not explore the building further.

Fourth, the size of the doorway and the tile patterns. Older bathrooms almost always have smaller doorways. That is just the way doorways were made a long time ago, with the larger doorways appearing in the 1960s. The floor tiles will also hint to the age of a bathroom, with older bathrooms boasting exquisite floor tile patterns.

Fifth, if you do go into a bathroom and find a new toilet, do not be discouraged! Check every stall! There have been numerous times in which I have found four new toilets and one old toilet on the very end! If you don't check each stall, you might be missing a rare model.

Using these techniques, your search for old commodes will be much more fruitful! Happy toilet hunting!

Embarrassing Toilet Hunting Moments

Like some of the other youtubers, I often purposely go to places just to see the toilets. This often involves having to ask for information or making friendly conversation so that people do not think you are strange for going into building after building and walking into the restroom. Out of courtesy, I always try to wait until the bathroom is empty before I video a toilet. However good as my intentions are, I have run into embarrassing and dangerous situations while trying to find old toilets! Here is one such example:

This past summer, I was visiting a college that was under contruction and renovation. I was walking around, going into different buildings and seeing if I could find any really old toilets. I then came across the dining hall, which was built in 1922. The possibilities of finding an old original toilet were great, as many of the toilets at this college had not been replaced. I walked in, and the dining hall was dark. I couldn't find the restrooms at first, but then I opened a huge set of double doors to find them! I walked into the restroom and found Cadets but with very old plumbing. I was dissappointed that I didn't find the original plumbing. I then left the restroom and tried to get back through the double doors. They were locked, and apparently had only opened one way. I panicked, because there was only one way in. I had visions of being caught in the dining hall by the police for trespassing! There was a set of stairs though, so I went down the stairs and found a door to the outside. There I found myself in the middle of a contruction zone, with a bunch of construction workers staring at me! I walked through this maze of construction and through the yellow caution tape to finally find my way back to the campus. I was much more cautious about going into empty buildings that have the lights off after that.

Useful Links

Here I am posting some useful links to different websites with great toilet information and/or pictures and videos of older toilets.

www.urinal.net has a variety of urinals including women's urinals, pedestal urinals, and urinals from the very beginning of the 20th century. The pictures all include the place where the urinal was found. It's a great place to find obscure urinals. Unfortunately, no toilet pictures.


www.flickr.com/photos/americanvintagehome/sets/72157608091401798/ this is a user on flickr who has posted many different pictures from catalogs of vintage bathrooms that is worth looking at. Also www.flickr.com/groups/1091697@N23/ is a group of toilets called Vintage American Standard.

www.youtube.com/user/Drakee99 this youtube user has over 250 videos of older toilets on his page. There are many other youtube users also who have toilet videos on their pages and are a wealth of information about plumbing.

Please let me know if you know of any others.

All American Standard Toilets (That I Know Of!)

I wanted to make a list of all American Standard toilets that I know of, and then add to the list as more information becomes available. This is for AS toilets made before the year 1995. I have lots of question marks here, so please fill in the blanks in your comments if you can!

Very Old Standards
Standard Ejecto (1920s-30s)
Standard Monaco (1920s-?)
Standard Madstone
Standard Madbrook (1930s-?)
Standard Modernus (1930s-1950s)
Standard Siacto (1940s-?)
Standard Devoro (?)
Standard Madera/Custom Madera (?-present)
Standard Compact

Mid Century Wall Hung Standards
Standard Afwall (1950s-present)
Standard Glenco (1930s-1978)
Standard Instanto (?-present)
Standard Sanistand (female urinal 1950s-1970s)

Mid-Century Floor Mounted Standards
Standard Neolo (?)
Standard Afton (?)
Standard Tribor (?)
Standard Cadet (?)
Standard Plebe (?)
Standard Sanistand (came in wall mounted, floor mounted, and tank models)

Can you think of any others? Comments are oh so welcome!

American Standard Wall-Hung Toilets

In this post, I will share the difference between the three American Standard wall-hung toilet models. The three models are called the Glenco, the Afwall, and the Instanto. You can see examples of all three on my ILoveVintageToilets videos on youtube.

The Afwall is by far the most common. It has a square back and the flush swirls in a counterclockwise direction. The Afwall has been made since the 1950s and is still made today in a 1.6 gallon per flush model.

The Glenco is a toilet of long ago. It was introduced as American Standard's first wall hung toilet in the 1930s. American Standard retired this toilet in 1978 long before it could be made into a 1.6 gpf model. The Glenco has a bullet shape to it, instead of the square back that the Afwall has. The flush of the Glenco sucks down the water and does not swirl. These toilets were most common in the 1950s and 1960s.

The Instanto is a stadium style toilet with a blowout flush. The flush is similar to the Glenco, however it does not have the bullet shape. The trapway is bigger and it is generally a more industrial toilet. It is still made today but is very rare and reserved for Stadiums and other select buildings.

So there you go, the three American Standard wall hung models. Hopefully you will be able to tell the difference!

Welcome!

This blog is an addition to my youtube account ILoveVintageToilets. I created this blog because i have always been fascinated with antique plumbing, and I would like to share my thoughts with everyone. I have been uploading videos of toilets from the 1920s-1990s on youtube, but I have found that something is missing. I am not able to adequately share my information about these toilets!

At this blog, I will vent my frustrations about old toilets being replaced, I will share a wealth of information about the types of old toilets out there, and I will write about anything else plumbing related that comes to mind.

Hopefully I will get some guest bloggers and I really hope that this helps all of my youtube viewers learn more about me!