Taking care of a solid wood toilet seat.

One of the frequently asked questions we get is "How do I take care of my new solid wood toilet seat?" I find this question rather surprising since we have had ours over 4 years and have had very no issues cleaning and maintaining it. When asked about specifics, People wondered if the finish would somehow get damaged with routine cleaning. I decided to look up the experts to see their advice. From Kohler :
Avoid using aerosol products.
Do not allow abrasive chemicals and cosmetics (such as fingernail polish and aftershave) to come in contact with the toilet seat, as they can damage the finish.
Painted wood seats require special care and cleaning. Use only mild detergent (such as dish washing soap).

Our seats have two coats of polyurethane on the lid, protecting the paint and sealing the wood from moisture. This should be more than enough protection.

Another issue we face is that "cracking" issue. Solid wood is different from plastic and molded wood in that it will expand and contract over time. Heat, cold, moisture, use and time all play a role in this. Although solid wood is more durable than molded wood, molded wood ( veneer covered) are more stable and can resist wood movement. ( They are, however, more susceptible to moisture damage if not finished properly, Think "sponge")

Even with the wood movement, a solid wood seat should resist cracking with a proper finish that seals and protects the end grain of the wood. Also, proper glue up and construction are important. A properly glued seat should be strong enough and remain assembled even with minor wood movement.

Now as for the durability of solid wood. Think of the seat as you would a chair or other piece of furniture. Even the best constructed chair will fail and break if it is misused. The same goes for the toilet seat. Excessive slapping, shifting and improperly installed bolts will cause stresses on the joints and hinged of the seat. Over time, this may result in stripped screws, crushed plastic bumpers, damaged hinges, and , of coarse, broken or cracked seats. There are small simple things that can be done to minimize this damage.

1. Don't slam or drop the lid or seat!

2. Tighten or replace loose, wobbly bolts. ( remember the nuts are plastic! Don't overtighten!)

3. Occasionally inspect the screws on the hinges to make sure they have not become loose or stripped out over time and use.

4. Inspect and replace the plastic bumpers on the underside of the seat. ( you can find replacements at local home improvement, plumbing, and hardware stores.)

Aside from the first two, you need only inspect you seat occasionally or if you notice a wobble when you use it. Proper installation and common sense use will prevent most problems.

There will come a time when the seat will just need to be replaced. I have found a few places that believe wood seats last approximately 2-3 years. My own personal research is longer than that .( 4 years and going strong!) Your results may vary, of coarse. We have replaced the hinge ( purely cosmetic reasons) and the front two bumpers have gotten damaged over time and should be replaced. ( I still have to do that.) CRACKED SEAT SHOULD ALWAYS BE REPLACED IMMEDIATELY! With a little care and luck, your seat will out last your decor, and you might end up replacing it before it needs to be. If not, you can always replace the broken or damaged part and keep you seat lid. As stated before, all parts can be found at your local hardware, plumbing, or home improvement stores.

I hope this helps. A wooden seat is a wonderful addition to most bathrooms and will last a long time with proper cleaning and care.

Additional health benefits from a toilet seat

I was looking at some boxes of cereal the other day and I found the most amazing claim. That this certain cereal "may help prevent certain types of cancer!" This was HUGE! What a great sales tactic. It also got me to do a little research and brainstorming to figure out just how I can make this same claim for my toilet seats. Turns out, IT"S TRUE! Toilet seats May prevent certain types of cancer. So let's do a little parsing of the words. Toilet seats MAY ( not definite, however, there is currently NO research to refute this) prevent CERTAIN ( not every, not all, maybe only one...and who knows what that one type is) cancer. But why stop at cancer. after all there are a plethora of other health problems that I think toilet seats can and do help through everyday use.
-Toilet seats Aid in certain digestive processes. ( I think we can all get behind that)
-Toilet seats help reduce certain abdominal pain. ( think about that one, certain people who have abdominal pain, use a toilet seat somewhere in the process of relieving it)
-Toilet seats may aid in the reduction of certain bladder pain.
-Toilet seats help certain people recover more quickly from alcohol poisoning.
Another interesting fact is that most people who have recovered from their disease, injury, or ailment, have at one time or another, used a toilet seat during their recovery. This is HUGE! Therefore, I believe that people should not only buy toilet seats for looks or interior designs, but also buy them for their health benefits as well.
Legal disclaimer: At no time am I making the claim that toilet seats DEFINITELY cure any or all forms of biological ailments. This is simple meant as a mental exercise to help people realize the benefits that toilet seats provide in their everyday lives.

Yeah! Another sale on Etsy!

With Ebay gone, all my sales will now have to come from our website and Etsy. We sold a Panda today, and I had a little time to make another new design. Cheryl has been picking these since I would most likely go back to making seats that looked like my old ones. I think it turned out ok, but we will have to see if anyone else likes it as well. We chopped up our soap and it is now drying. Cheryl had put in another order for fragrances so we might make another batch later this week. I'm hoping that The soap will be a nice addition to our bath shop. Which is currently only toilet seats. I think this latest batch turned out really well. ( current weight: 269)

How much would you pay for a toilet seat?

I'm not sure people know how much toilet seats go for these days. Forget simple white ones. Those can range from as little as $8 to $100! ( don't believe me? check out a Kohler!) Wooden toilet seats are now around $25-40. Depending on what you are after, of coarse. But those are just the plain ones. Lets add a cover with matching rug. $14-$56. Depending on the style and design. Everyone has their own style and design ideas. So what would you rather have in your bathroom?


Just a note: the cover on the left costs more than my entire seat! That's not including shipping.

How how about those nifty resin ones? you know..the clear ones with stuff imbedded in them? You decide.

Some new seats!

I'm taking some of Cheryl's advice to shake things up a bit and carve up some designs I normally would not do. Namely, simple contemporary designs. Stylized owls, birds, squirrels, etc. So I worked on a couple of new designs last night to see how they might fair on Etsy. I must admit. Cheryl sold the other stylized owl before she was even finished with the new store. I'm hoping to attract the "younger" crowd. She has picked out some "dud" designs before. I hope they won't have to eventually be put on the burn pile. So with the new found time I was able to attempt a couple of origami puzzles. One is the squid and the other is the flying crane. Normal cranes can't fly, but this design can and actually did three times! ( current weight: 268)

Health benefits of toilet seats

Think All toilet seats are disgusting incubators for germs and bacteria? Do you use one of those little paper covers to "protect yourself" from all the unknown diseases that are thought to be on seats? Well think again! Your seat doesn't really need protecting. All those paper covers do is mentally separate your backside from the countless bums that have occupied the same space. Before anyone gets their panties in a twist, let's listen to a few medical resources:

"To my knowledge, no one has ever acquired an STD on the toilet seat -- unless they were having sex on the toilet seat!" according to Dr. Abigail Salyers, president of the American Society for Microbiology, quoted on WebMD. But wait...there's more!

As Columbia University's Health Promotion Program sums up: "Because toilet seats are not major culprits in spreading disease, paper or plastic seat covers offer little more than peace of mind." In fact, you have more to fear from bathroom door handles and faucets than from commodes.
And while we're on the topic, you might consider something to cover that phone receiver. A University of Arizona microbiology team tested a dozen office surfaces including the bathroom. The scientists found that phone receivers had 25,000 bacteria per square inch, while toilet seats had only 49 bacteria per square inch. Talk about calling in sick!

So you see, Toilet seats actually are safer and healthier than phones, doorknobs, or faucets. They actually PREVENT germ growth! So take my advice: Replace your phone, faucets, and doorknobs with toilet seats! It's the only logical solution. ( I do not, however, think toilet seats should be used for protection against STD's, That's just plain weird!)

Friday soapmaking

So Cheryl and I made soap after our normal Friday activities. I think we are getting better at it. We got our fragrances finally in the mail, along with our long awaited boxes. We had almost two weeks worth of stuff to ship out! By the time we got home, we wanted to make a nice easy batch of soap for the new shop. I'm also going to have to start carving up some new designs once again. I have to figure out what is hot and what is trendy all over again.
A fox squirrel came to our window sill today and the cats had a fun time staring at him. He didn't stay long when I opened the window though. But I did manage to get this nice close up shot of him. The red squirrel is just too fast! It inspired me to try an easy origami squirrel. It looks a little too basic for me. But I think it turned out well considdering I am out of foil paper. It seems the basic designs work well with normal paper

CURRENT WIEGHT: 270

New Year, New shop!

So, as mentioned before, we are starting over on several fronts. Tonight, Cheryl killed the ebay shop! It was going to happen anyway, so why prolong our agony. Now we have the new Allenbritebath shop. In addition to seats, the plan is to put soaps in there as well. So tonight I carved up a very old design, and a new one. Cardinals used to sell very well, but I'm sure it has been over a year since we have sold one. The designs were old and the pictures were crappy at best. I liked this picture Cheryl had for a pillow, So perhaps with a new design, the sales will start once again.

So Red ( the shop cat) got outside and decided to climb his favorite tree. I snapped this picture in the dark. He looks like an owl!

Failed box attempt

Yesterday I attempted to cut out and assemble a box. I have to rethink the process. I worked on it for three hours yesterday and never even got to the assembly phase! I know I could blame my tools or lack there of. but its the whole "exact cut, straight line" thing that gives me trouble. I have not given up on it yet. But tonight I have to carve seats, and probably will not have the time or patients for another stab at it. Maybe next time I will use my router for the cuts instead of the scroll saw.

New Year, New Goals!

Happy new year everyone! And to Bring in the new year I want to announce that our new website is finally up! It's called http://www.allenbrite.com/index.html We plan on making it a hub and integrating all our products so you can find it all. And it will be packed with information about our seats, purses, soaps, carvings, and so much more! We will be building it over the next month. Our goal is to be off eBay completely by Feb 1st.

Another goal is to increase sales. Not sure how we are going to do it, but we have relied on EBay for too long and this last year has just been the last straw. In addition to our sales over all being down from previous years, EBay and our suppliers had consistently been raising their fees and prices while "encouraging" us to offer free shipping and sales! ( If you have been on EBay this year, you will know what "encourage" means) You don't have to be on EBay to figure out that this effects your bottom line and ours has been very thin. So for 2009 we are going to take our business back and do things the way we want. I feel confident that with a little brain storming and a lot of persistence, we can make things happen.

And last, I will join the millions of other Americans in the journey to lose weight. I stepped on the scale today and discovered I had gained a little more than I wanted ( OK a lot!) Cheryl and I have attempted to lose weight before, but always fall off shortly after we start. The one time we lost a LOT of weight and KEPT it off for over a year and a half, was when we joined weight watchers. The only thing they did that was different from Our plan was they offered accountability. (We had incentive not to gain before the next weigh in) So, in the spirit of Weight Watchers, I will post my weigh ins here on my blog. This is an honor system on my part, But I will strive to be honest and vigilant in my records. Today is the first. My starting weight is 276! I would like to get down to 230, possibly less! We do not have a very good full length mirror, so I have not taken a "before" picture yet. Besides, who wants to see a chubby guy in his underwear! ( even I don't, and it's ME!) So let the melting begin!