FInished the Caroma
Well, I finally wrapped up another small project. I have had our Caroma Walvit toilet hooked up and functional for about a week now, but I was waiting until I had the walnut section done to post about it. So far we are liking the toilet, although I am still not sure if it was worth the money. The whole dual flush thing does make me feel good about myself though. Who knows, another 50 years and it will pay itself of in the water we are saving.
Today I finally had time to build the walnut column that the toilet hangs from. It is made out of the exact same material as our vanity I did a while ago, so it is a nice match. We are planning on doing white tiles on all the walls, so I think that the walnut will break things up nicely. Plus it lines up with the doorway exactly, so it makes for a pretty dramatic first view into the bathroom. Now that I’ve got that out of the way, I can start working on getting our ofuro tub installed.
As always, more pics after the jump.
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14 Responses to “FInished the Caroma”
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nice looking toilet… what does a piece of walnut like that cost (is it solid wood, or plywood, or a veneer?). and whats your flooring going to be?
Thanks. . . It’s a walnut ply, which means it’s a plywood core with a walnut veneer. I used an A1 sheet, which means its the highest quality. It was a little over $80 for a 4×8 sheet. The floor will be tile. I am leaning towards a greyish small hex.
so, i just visited caroma’s web site, and i’m confused. i think your walnut panel is gorgeous, but i don’t see anything like it on their web site. you built that custom, right? how do you get to the flushing mechanisms through it? was it hard to find a caroma distributor where you are? how much more expensive than the other models was the walvit (roughly)? it looks great, and i think the technology is fabulous. we’ll be plumbing in another bathroom toward the end of our remodel, and i’d love to include one of these when we do–thanks for sharing this!
Lisa, The walnut is custom. You can put the flushing mechanisms anywhere you want, up to 15 feet away from the tank. I just drilled a hole in the walnut and the fit right through. The caroma distributer I went through was standard plumbing (http://standardplumbing.com). No problems with them. The walvit with all the parts I needed to attach it and make it flush came in just over $800, ouch. You can get a normal toilet for closer to $150, and a dual flush caroma (floor mount) for around $200. Good luck with the remodel.
Hi Creede – This is off the subject, but mind if I ask where you got the ofuro tub you mentioned?
Liz, It was custom made by my father in law and myself. I’ll go into details as soon as it gets installed. It’s currently sitting in my front room.
Nice work Creede……good idea to get the extra space you needed for the potty.
Hey Creede,
You might want to buy a couple spare outlet valve seals for the water wafer before it starts to give you trouble. We’ve had our Caroma Walvit installed since Feb 2006 and have started to experience tank leakage (into the cistern–not anywhere bad) due to the seal not seating properly after the flush. We had to cannibalize our second walvit (not yet installed) to get our toilet working again.
I believe it’s part number 405182 and I plan to order 3 from homeannex.com. They’re $2.10 apiece, so it’s a small risk, but we’re pretty sure it’s the right part.
I don’t mind how much the toilet cost (we bought them off the web for $700 apiece), in return for the increased space and fact that I will never, ever have to clean a disgusting toilet base again. In addition, in the nine months that this toilet has been in operation, it has never failed to flush. The price and small nuisance of changing the valve seal is worth it to me for never having to deal with a clogged, flooding toilet again.
-Kris
Hi there-
I was wondering if you are happy with the Caroma Walvit and how it functions? I love the look you created with the walnut ply panel.
-Frances
We love it. We haven’t had any problems with it yet.
[...] Finished the Caroma [...]
Your install looks great. Kris, you made a good point about buying extra valve seals for the Walvit. If your water supply has a really high chlorine level, you will go thru more seals. If anyone needs assistance or information on Caroma, please contact me.
Kurt Bramstedt
Business Development Manager Southwest
Caroma USA
kbramstedt@caromausa.com
Hey, nice job. I’m about to buy a Walvit, but the best price I can find on the internet is about $870, plus shipping. Can anyone let me know where they got theirs? Thanks!
Does anyone know where to find a custom toilet manufacturer? We live in a condo and cannot move the “black hole” which the toilet sits on. No problem except if like us you wish to move your toilet a foot to the side in order to satisfy the demands of your dream floorplan. We have looked at the rear outlet models and that seems as though it would work but…. they are so loud and we do like our downstairs neighbors. Also, I am not sure about the building code regarding this i.e. is there a limit to space from the hookup or can you even install in a high rise?
So, we thought it might be worthwhile to inquire of others if they knew of customizers who could build us a one off water flush model.
Any contacts, ideas, thoughts.