Don’t you hate it when your toilet seat slams shut? Now you can put an end to the surprise of that disagreeable clunk with a soft close toilet seat that’s designed to descend quietly and gradually — avoiding a nasty surprise for you, potential damage to the seat or to the toilet and even the risk of injury to yourself.

It’s bad enough when inconsiderate users leave the seat up! But when the next person puts the lid or the seat down, the bank can be a real nuisance — especially if it happens in the middle of the night. If you are disturbed by this nightmare scenario, consider installing a slow close toilet seat and enjoy a peaceful night’s rest.

How Does A Slow Close Toilet Seat Work?

It’s all down to the hinges. Fitted with a special quiet close hinge mechanism, the seat remains upright when it needs to and simply needs a little push to come down in a gentle motion and avoid that familiar slamming sound.

For most people, the simplest way to replace your old toilet seat hinges is to buy a new seat with the hinges already attached. Then it’s a simple job to replace your old seat with the new one in a few easy steps:

1. Find the seat hinges, which may be underneath little plastic covers that you need to lift with the end of a screwdriver. Undo the bolts — you may be able to do this by hand, or you may need a wrench or spanner if the bolts are fixed on tightly or have become a little corroded.

2. Clean the area where the old attachment was fixed, and if your new seat comes with little adhesive cushion pads, stick these on when the area is dry. They can be useful to help stop your new seat sliding around.

3. Align the new seat bolts with their holes and attach the nuts from underneath. Make sure that the seat is properly positioned before you tighten the nuts, and be careful not to tighten them too tightly to avoid damage to the toilet itself.

Kohler Soft Close Toilet Seats

Check out the Kohler range of toilet seats for examples of soft close models that come with other useful features. For example, the Kohler K-4732-0 is made of solid polypropylene for extra durability and includes the soft close mechanism on the separate adult ring and child ring. Apart from the convenience of the easy close function, there’s no need to use a separate seat when potty training a child.

The seat also has Kohler’s quick release hinges that let you remove the whole seat quickly and easily for regular cleaning. Note that this is an elongated toilet seat — check the size and shape of your toilet to ensure that it will be suitable for your needs.

See also slow close seats by Bemis, Toto, Church and, Duravit and many other manufacturers.