These days your local supermarket has more purple carrots than toilet paper. Hordes of panic-buyers are clearing the TP right off the shelves, leaving the rest of us with empty hands and dirty bums. Many are turning towards a bidet due to the Coronavirus’ impact on toilet paper supply.
Now, before you poo poo the idea, hear me out. A lot of you think a bidet is a toilet. It’s not. A bidet is a delightful way to wash your tush after doing one’s bathroom business. You just take a seat and a nice little spray of water cleans the fecal matter right off one’s keister. Some even say a good bidet can clean that keister better than a couple of squares of toilet paper.
So, what kinds of bidets are there? Let’s take a look.
Stand-Alone Bidet
This is probably what most people are familiar with. It’s a bidet that’s completely separate from the toilet. You might have seen one in a European hotel, either mounted to the wall or attached to the floor. Question is, do you have enough space in your bathroom to install one of these babies? If not, then you might want to try a…
Built-In Bidet
This is a toilet and bidet rolled into one. It ain’t cheap to install, but it will take up less space and give your bathroom a cleaner look. According to thetoiletzone.com, built-in bidets often come with extras like controlled water temperature and pressure, a warm air dryer, and a fan favorite — a heated seat.
Sprayer Bidet
This is exactly what it sounds like. It’s basically a handheld shower head that attaches to your toilet. So instead of getting an automatic spritz of water on your bum, you do all the spraying yourself. Sprayer bidets are good for people who like to have more control and flexibility.
Bidet Attachment
A bidet attachment hooks right up to your toilet seat. For those who prefer a cleaner look than you get with the sprayer, an attachment fits the bill. You can connect it to the toilet on yourself in a relatively short amount of time. There are many, many different kinds to choose from. And you can install a bidet attachment for as little as $20.
Got the DIY Bidet Goods — Now What?
Grabbed the bidet resources necessary from a hardware store or Amazon, but feeling a bit intimidated about the installation process. We’ve got you covered with these step-by-step instructions, plus a DIY video.
In an article for CNET, writer Dale Smith supplied these go-to directions for installing a Luxe Bidet attachment, which should prove helpful with myriad kits of this type:
“Installing the Luxe Bidet attachment was relatively easy, although be prepared to take apart your water line connections — possibly multiple times — and start over if they leak. The process breaks down into five fairly simple steps:
- 1. Remove your existing toilet seat, including any hardware attached to the base.
- 2. Center the bidet attachment on the back rim of your toilet bowl and align the adjustment plates with the bolt holes in the commode, then reconnect the bolts and reattach the toilet seat.
- 3. Turn off the cold water supply behind the toilet and attach a T-adapter to the commode’s water tank, then turn off the sink’s hot water supply and attach a T-adapter just after the water valve.
- 4. Connect one cold water supply hose to the water tank and one to the bidet, then connect one hot water line to the sink and one to the bidet.
- 5. Turn the cold water valve on all the way and examine for leaks, then repeat with the hot water line.
If I had it to do over again there’s one step I’d perform out of order: I would connect the hot and cold water supplies to the bidet before attaching the bidet to the toilet. Once the attachment was mounted, I had very little room and some pretty awkward angles to work with to get the water lines connected. In fact, it took me three attempts to get everything hooked up with no leaks.”
And we loved this DIY Bidet YouTube video from See Jane Drill featuring Leah Bolden.
DIY Bidet: Sources
CNET
TipHero
The Toilet Zone
See Jane Drill YouTube Channel
See Jane Drill website