When I worked for BT and we ran out of toilet paper at an exchange we just called the office. They faxed us some through.
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This house had a bidet in the bathroom when we bought it in 1988. We got rid a few years later when we fitted a new bathroom suite, mainly because my wife thought it a “bit weird”. Should have kept it - at this rate we could have been selling tickets soon!
I’m off to see if the garden sprinkler will fit the hot tap… 
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Many years I used to work with 2 Sikh Carpenters, right nice fellas and good tradesmen , kept themselves to themselves, but they used to take bottles / jugs of water to the loo with them , now we never figured out exactly what they did with it or what their technique was,and how they didn’t get their clothes soaked, but assumed it must be an alternative to loo paper, which is something that might be handy to know about in the future.
I am sorry to appear to jump on this post, but that is very good advice not to flush any paper except toilet roll. Anything else (wipes, kitchen roll etc) has “wet strength” and does not dissolve. It is equivalent to trying to flush cloths… Bag it and Bin it. Just like nappies.
I’ve heard about this before and it makes sense, most people will do the right thing, but as we have already seen, when things get tough, there’s a small minority of brainless idiots who will do what they want ,and wreck it for everybody else.
I hope I’m wrong.
And as time goes on , I’m loving my dog more and more : )
@RichardN.
Quite. But, “they” will anyway in their thousands, as they do with frying oils & animals fats, cottonbuds, and shall we say, other imaginables best left unmentioned. Hence, I guess, the infamous fatbergs.
Hi,
Where can I buy a Roman sponge?
Camerart.
I read about the Roman Sponge on another thread, I think I would rather use Holly leaves.
Holly leaves? We have a bountiful supply, free for self-pick. The tree needs a good prune, Any takers?
After reading about the dreaded communal roman sponge on a stick, any leaves or natural vegetation will be a worthy alternative, if its good enough for Robin Hood and his Merry men ,its good enough for me.
For budding plumbers
Not sure this is particularly efficient.
You always have the option of jumping in the shower.
Or buy a lot of cheap flannels (30-50 pence each), and be prepared to put them through the washing machine on a hot wash, much as some of you might have done with reusable nappies. Requires a small swing bin by the toilet, and strict enforement of hygiene rules when handling the soiled material.
https://www.wilko.com/en-uk/wilko-functional-white-face-cloth/p/0307711
Remember to use fabric softener.
This experienced plumber fitted a proper bidet in the “en-suite” when building the extension forty years ago.
It still works a treat, thanks to new ceramic valves by Tap Magician to replace the traditional compression inserts and still keep the old tap bodies.
Is Izal still produced? I remember it as awful slippy paper. It was horrible stuff, probably only any good as tracing paper.
Izal was the soft stuff (relatively speaking) and medicated. Trapped in school for weeks at a time they supplied us with something called Bronco, much harder, but not medicated and not quite so slippery and thus with great care almost functional. We also had to shower twice a day (usually cold), which made up for it.
Going back to newspaper squares, hung up behind the loo door or whatever. Did anyone start reading a piece? You’d get to the edge and frantically (and unsuccessfully) try and find the next corresponding piece. 
the other thing, old style high level cisterns! The flimsy chain that you pulled to flush the loo, invariably would be broken and replaced with string, or it was in our house anyway. To this day, I still say to the grandchildren, don’t forget to pull the string 
even though we have close coupled, hidden cisterns with just a button on a flush (excuse the pun) panel and wall mounted suspended pans! Not even a pedestal. I think the grandkids just accept I’m talking daft! 
Barrie
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It’s the small things that keep the grandkids amused. The are continuously going to the loo when they visit, the fascination of the push button toilet. I’m on a water meter so I have to keep an eye on it, they think I’m spoiling their fun.
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Mine are Derwent McDee Hush-flo slimline with Pneumatic lifter button flush. They are brilliant. I converted each of ours to these thirty years ago. Newer versions are dual flush but need two air pipes.
The one in the wet-room (only 6ft square) just has the button on the wall and no visible cistern. This lives on the floor above in the airing cupboard with some other plumbing.
When we pushed the button for the initial “Does it work?” test, it was fantastic: Brother In Law said “Now I don’t need to wipe, I’ll just stand over it.”
So now it has a carefully tuned restrictor just before entry to the pan to prevent it fountaining almost a foot above the rim.
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I was reading an article about the modern dual flush systems that were only given regulatory approval a few years ago. They use less water than the traditional syphon systems. Water conservation was the main reason they were approved. The problem is that the seals do tend to develop very slight leaks over a period of years. Usually causes an imperceptible continuous flow. The irony is that it has been calculated that the total amount of this leakage is now higher than the water that is saved. I believe they call it progress.
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Yes. I’ve noticed that sometimes the flush does not close completely. It’s rare but often enough to be annoying.
Having a water softener tends to prevent scale build-up so it is just the seal age hardening.
I replaced them on ours not so long ago although they felt OK, simply because I had them all in pieces when I upgraded all our various fill systems (lofts and loos) from hammer-prone Torbeck to these Fluidmaster Pros, properly silent jobs. Our first (cheaper) Fluidmaster had a micro-crack in its plastic threaded inlet shank and caused a minor flood, hence me changing to the brass option for those on the high pressure mains.