High & Low Level Toilets

With a high- or low-level toilet, the cistern is fixed to the wall above the pan and joined to it by an exposed flush pipe. It is the arrangement most period houses were built with. We list five: the Framsden low-level toilet with a push-button or lever flush; the Thornham extended high-level and extended low-level toilets, with fittings in chrome, gold or bronze; the Thornham extended pan on its own; and the Debenham high-level toilet.

High-level or low-level

A high-level cistern sits well up the wall and is flushed by a pull and chain. It needs ceiling height and suits a room with tall walls. A low-level cistern sits just above the pan, with a short pipe and a lever or button, and works in rooms with lower ceilings or a window above.

Thornham’s high- and low-level toilets use its extended pans; check their projection on the specification sheet against the door swing. Framsden is more compact. Debenham follows the bathrooms of the 1920s and 1930s.

What to measure

Ceiling height and the position of any window, beam or slope above the pan.

Projection from the finished wall to the front of the pan, against the door swing.

The soil pipe position, and whether the outlet is through the floor or the wall.

The flush pipe and cistern fittings are listed under fittings and wastes and cisterns. See the Debenham collection for matching basins.