The former plumbing wax ring needed replacing and we thought we might as well replace the entire old toilet. Occasionally, a few drops would find their way onto the apartment ceiling below. That wasn't the original toilet when we moved here, but when we once did flooring in the bathroom, we noticed that that one was cracked. As I wasn't blogging, I don't know exactly how long ago it was. I'd guess around the start of the current millennium.
The photo shows the 13.25 LPF (4.5 GPF) Crane we bought. It was never a very good toilet. It used a lot of water per flush but was never very effective. Furthermore, when originally picking it up, I grabbed a bone-colored base but a white tank. The difference was not great enough to actually merit bringing one of the pieces in for a swap. So, we have used a short, mismatched toilet which didn't flush well for over 15 years. I guess it was safely time for a replacement.
Home Depot convinced me to buy their installation for the new one too. That didn't pan out very well and I shall never bother trying to arrange any work with them again. I waited over 48 hours for a call and after responding to a voice mail, didn't hear back for over a day. The subcontractor was very unprofessional. Luckily, we are friends with a former neighbour who runs a plumbing / heating business. Arranging his schedule is never easy as he is very busy with a large client base. He did make time to come after 7:00 PM last night.
The new toilet is a standard duel-flush Glacier Bay model. It could be classed as a cheap toilet, but it does seem like a real improvement to us.