How to Install a Soft Close Toilet Seat

Less noisy, less easily damaged and family friendly, the soft close toilet seat is a popular choice for bathrooms all over the UK. It’s also hugely accessible, you can also get it in different materials and shapes.

In this comprehensive guide we’ll walk you through how to install a soft close toilet seat. But, first you’ll have to figure out what kind you have – top or bottom fixing. Once you’ve deciphered what kind you have from the product details or packaging, you can go about installing it with one of our quick and easy guides below. It’s important to know which you have as they’re both installed slightly differently.

What you’ll need:

A measuring tape

A flat head screwdriver

Two expansion screws

A mounting base

Two wingnuts

Two bolts

Metallic washers

Your soft close toilet seat.

How to install a top fixing soft close toilet seat:

Remove your old toilet seat and give the top of the bowl a clean
Through the now empty holes on the back of the bowl, insert two expansion screws. Make sure they are all the way in and the flat top is laying solid on the bowl.
Put a mounting base on top of each screw and fix the metallic washers on the slot of each mounting base
Slot in a bolt on each mounting base then screw in but don’t tighten. Make sure the mounting posts are facing the toilet bowl.
Take a tape measure and measure the distance between the two mounting holes on the seat. Compare it to the distance between the two stainless posts of the mounting base. A mounting base is made to accommodate toilet seats with different bolt spreads. Adjust the mounting posts to match the distance of the seat’s mounting holes.
Using the toilet seat as your guide, align the two holes with the two posts
When the two align, remove the seat and screw in the bolts fully
Some mounting bases come with either a stainless steel cap or a cap matching the color of the seat. Put the cap on the mounting base.
Push the soft close toilet seat through the two posts. You should hear a click if the seat has been fixed in properly.

How to install a bottom fixing toilet seat:

The difference between a bottom and top fixing soft close toilet seat is as straightforward as it sounds, you simply fix it in from the bottom rather than the top. Bottom fixing is often more fiddly as you have to reach underneath your toilet bowl – which some loos don’t allow for. Here’s our method to install it:

Remove your old seat and give the top of the bowl a clean
Take your plastic or rubber washer and slot the fixing bolt through it, do the same for the other bolt and washer.
Next put the bolt and washer through the mounting holes on the toilet bowl
You’ll find you have bolts coming out from the underside of your bowl, put in a washer and a wingnut on each bolt and screw in all the way but don’t tighten
Place your toilet seat and fit it over the top mounting, checking it’s well aligned with the toilet bowl. If you find that it’s wonky, adjust the top mounting until you’re happy.
With your screwdriver, while holding the wingnut below the toilet bowl, screw in the head of the bolt
Most toilet seats come with a plastic caps to cover the top of the bolts, put these caps on
Make sure your seat is well fixed in place, if you find it isn’t simply tighten it up with your screwdriver.