The origins of the bidet are humble, to say the least. First bidets were invented in medieval France and were ghastly contraptions made from wood. They were uncomfortable but the essential design will prove to be a jackpot in the centuries to come.
Modern bidets are nothing like the contraptions of yore, as they come with numerous amenities making them more comfortable than the best toilet bowl on the market. Thanks to their comfortability, bidets have taken places like Japan and the Middle East and they are now making their way into Western water rooms.
Precisely because there are so many different bidets out there, you need to make sure you choose the right one for your bathroom and “toiletry” habits.
Let there be light
A trip to the bathroom in the middle of the night implies waking up the entire house. If the spouse and children are not woken up by the opening and closing of doors, then the bathroom light is bound to hit them in the eyes.
Luckily, bidets come with LED lights that aren’t solely used to light up the target, sort to say. Namely, these light use the inside of the bowl to deflect the light all across the room, lighting it up enough so there is no need to flip on the switch.
Make room for the bidet attachment
Like we have said in the introduction, bidets come in all shapes and sizes but most often they are produced in the form of a side attachment. In terms of space usage, this is the only thing you need to plan in advance.
In general, you need to leave about a hand’s width on the side of the bowl (usually the right side) for the attachment to be placed properly. This might present a challenge in cramped bathrooms but if the house’s/building’s architects did their job well, in 99% of the cases you should have enough room on the side for attaching a bidet.
Adjusting the nozzles
As you already know, the heart and soul of a bidet are the nozzles that spray water used to clean your private parts. In the older versions of the bidet, these nozzles were stationary; spraying water in a single direction and at a single speed.
Today, nozzles on a typical bidet go hand in hand with the design of smart toilet seats that stress the importance of personalization. There are few households in which a single person uses the toilet, so the nozzles ought to be adjusted every time a different person goes to the lavatory.
The position, the angle, and the strength of nozzles are entirely different when a child uses the bidet, as opposite to a senior sitting on it. Think of these adjustments as of adjusting the height of the car seat and rearview mirrors in your car.
A cold bathroom
Depending on the location of the bathroom inside the housing unit, it might get chilly inside, especially during winter. Bathroom walls are often the outside walls of the house so heating bodies or underfloor heating is necessary.
However, no matter how much you heat the air inside the bathroom, the toilet seat has a nasty tendency of being colder than your body. For a bidet, this is not a real problem, because modern bidets come equipped with toilet seat warmers. These can be adjusted using the aforementioned side attachment.
A bidet on the go
Homeowners who decide to install a bidet in their water room are often sad when they substitute their home for a hotel room or a time-sharing suite. Luckily, there are portable bidets (on the go) that can be attached to most standard toilet seats. They offer fewer functions but are nevertheless efficient because you won’t have to use toilet paper rolls that other people have touched before you.
Putting a lid on it: Bidet style
Another downside to the toilet bowl you own right now is the toilet seat and the lid that tend to slam while putting them down. This is a common problem with low-end toilet seats but in most electrical bidets this is not a real issue.
Namely, modern electrical bidets come equipped with slowly-closing lids that are powered by small electrical motors, like the ones installed in remote control toy cars. They use next to none power but are strong enough to lower the lid fro you without that annoying slamming sound.
An integrated air dryer
Most people who have never used a bidet before, are interested in knowing how do you wipe off your lower back and private parts after they have been treated with jets of water. The final secret to choosing a good bidet is the air dryer function. Just like there are air dryers for hands next to the sink, there are integrated air dryers inside the bidet.
As you have seen from the points made above, choosing the right bidet for your bathroom depends on the needs you and other tenants have. Bidet manufacturers offer so many features that you’ll have no trouble picking the right bidet for you.
Bio: Patrick Adams is a freelance writer and rock-blues fan. When he is not writing about home improvement, he loves to play chess, watch basketball, and play his guitar. More than anything, he loves to spend his time in his garage, repairing appliances and creating stuff from wood.