bathroominnovators


 * __ RE-THINKING THE COMMON TOILET DESIGN __**
 * __PART B__**
 * ** Statement of study goals: **
 * Our goal is to create a rational re-design of the average toilet, preventing or compensating for the most frequently occurring problems that are associated with this essential bathroom appliance. Through random selection surveys, we will inquire as to what types of technical malfunctions/dysfunctions occur most frequently, how common these occurrences are and the level of urgency to fix those problems without over-spending.
 * The major questions we want answered would ultimately be how severe the problem is, because if it is not a major issue for most people, odds are that the re-design would not succeed at becoming marketable.
 * ** Some questions that come to mind: **
 * 1. What percentage of the general public experiences problems with their bathroom appliances on a regular basis?
 * 2. How many time a month, on average, do toilet malfunctions occur at the average household?
 * 3. How much does the average household spend (monthly/yearly) on bathroom maintenance?
 * 4. What problem is most commonly encountered in the bathroom?
 * 5. How much do people typically spend when purchasing a toilet?
 * 6. What percentage of people feel they get their money’s worth when buying new bathroom appliances?
 * 7. When a toilet overflows, what is the most popular method of dealing with the problem?
 * 8. How often does water damage occur as a result of an overflowing toilet?
 * 9. Is there a correlation between body weight and the frequency of overflow incidents?
 * ** Research Methods **
 * We knew that upon delving into this issue, discussion would become very personal and some people would likely feel uncomfortable divulging details regarding what happens in the privacy of their bathroom. Therefore, we decided to create an online survey with randomly selected participants answering the abovementioned questions. We sent out questionnaires through the social massive social network known as facebook; some of these people were friends of ours, but many were friends of friends who we do not know personally. We also attached an incentive for filling out a survey, which was a free mp3 of their choice (selected from the many albums that we both own). We decided to do it this way because we wanted honesty and accuracy in our answers, and we felt that people would find little reason to involve themselves with our survey without the added incentive. After the results came back to us (almost 50 people provided feedback), we then had enough data to draw conclusions from the results.
 * We hope that because of the fact that all of the participants were either friends of ours or friends of those friends, people took it more seriously and our answers were more accurate than the results we would have gotten from random strangers.
 * // In the final presentation, we will include some of the actual answered surveys. We are still in the process of analyzing them in order to reach solid conclusions. //
 * ** Ethical Issues **
 * As said earlier, the main ethical issue we encountered was the issue of privacy, which could easily result in non-accurate responses. Toilets and their rate of overflowing are regarded as embarrassing issues to many individuals, hence the need to organize our research methods very carefully and ensure that we didn’t make people feel offended or embarrassed.
 * ** Question’s Asked **
 * To keep everything fresh we made up smaller questionnaires with a mixture of questions, which were derived from the initial questions that we identified during the early stages of concept development.
 * We sent out 25 copies of 2 different surveys over facebook, and almost everyone responded to the questions and sent them back to us.
 * ** Survey I: **
 * 1. How many time a month, on average, do toilet malfunctions occur at your place of residence?
 * 2. How much does your household spend (monthly/yearly) on bathroom maintenance?
 * 3. What problem do you most encounter in the bathroom?
 * 4. On a scale of 1-5, how problematic is this issue for you in your household?
 * 5. What other problems do you encounter in the bathroom, in terms of appliances?
 * ** Survey II: **
 * 6. If you have ever purchased a toilet, how much did you spend on it?
 * 7. If the answer for the previous question was YES, do you feel you got decent value for your money?
 * 8. When your toilet overflows, how do you typically deal with the problem?
 * 9. Have you ever encountered water damage as a result of an overflowing toilet?
 * 10. How much do you weigh, approximately?
 * ** Analysis **
 * We found that there was a weak (but noticeable) positive correlation between body weight and the amount of times their toilet malfunctions.
 * There was a strong positive correlation between the amount of money spent on a toilet and the amount of times it overflows; the more expensive the toilet, the less frequently problems occurred.
 * Recurring problems in the bathroom include how fast they become dirty, and when it comes to basic toilets, the inconsistency of their functions and unreliability. The average toilet tends to overflow easily, and can have other annoying problems; one of the other problems that were reported several times was condensation buildup behind the toilet bowl, resulting in the pooling of water behind the toilet tank. This led, in some cases, to the formation of mold on the wall behind the toilet.
 * Most people are not willing to spend their hard-earned money on a high-end toilet.
 * We found that a surprising 65% of people experience regular toilet malfunctioning issues.
 * Most people, when their toilet does overflow, typically fix the problem by plunging.
 * A number of people seemed to desire an easy way to prevent these problems without having to resort to spending exorbitant amounts of money on a new top-of-the-line toilet.
 * __PART C__**

Scenario 1: Clogging MoSCoW Scenario 2: Overflowing
 * Person flushes toilet
 * Toilet seems to flush, but water levels will not come back up
 * The toilet is clogged
 * This is where the issue of unclogging arises
 * Person refuses to plunge, since he or she does not want dirty water to shoot back up, or even overflow
 * Since there is no over-flow, person re-flushed, with an attempt to bring water levels back to normal
 * That does not work, water levels are still very low
 * Person has to wait until pipes unclog themselves and if exceeding a certain period of time (usually a few hours) is forces to call an expert to assist them or repair the problem
 * This is usually quite costly for a simple problem
 * Must have: Strong power to flush through pipes; they usually clog due to lack of flushing power, as well as too much paper/waste being put into the toilet.
 * Should have: an easier way to unplug clogged toilets, maybe a know or latch built in to each toilet
 * Could have: Indicator, indicating when toilet has reached clogging point
 * Want but won’t have: toilets that will never clog
 * Person flushes toilet
 * Water levels start to rise at increasing speed
 * Person begins to panic
 * Person does not know how to shut off pipe
 * Dirty water begins to over flow
 * Finally after 30 seconds, the water stops, but there is dirty water all over the bathroom floor, damaged rugs (or at least really badly soaked and dirty)
 * Person does not touch the toilet for another hour, until water levels reach normal
 * Person is forced to clean up mess, and takes about 2 days to completely get rid of the smell

MoSCoW
 * Must have: something to control the flow of water if it does overflow, so that it does not make a mess on the bathroom floor.
 * Should have: a button or lever that manually stops the flow of water into the toilet bowl.
 * Could have: Indicator showing that the toilet is overflowing, and that it will take a few minutes to repair levels
 * Want to but won’t have: Toilet that NEVER overflows

Scenario 3: Condensation buildup MoSCoW
 * Occupants live in a humid house.
 * Water in toilet bowl is considerably colder than the surrounding air.
 * Condensation builds up on toilet bowl and toilet tank.
 * This condensation eventually drips down the toilet bowl and pools on the floor around the toilet.
 * Water pools must be wiped up, or else mold will form on the wall behind the toilet.
 * Must have: Bolts and other parts that are made out of stainless steel, so that they will not rust after prolonged exposure to condensation.
 * Should have: something placed around the toilet bowl that will soak up condensation (ie. a mat made out of spongy material).
 * Could have: a toilet made out of a material that will prevent condensation buildup.
 * Want to but won’t have: a system of cleaning up pooling condensation that does not involve manual work.

Scenario 4: Flushing Mechanism Malfunction
 * Problem occurs in the toilet tank, rather than the toilet bowl.
 * Most common malfunction in this area is the breaking of the chain that connects the flush handle to the actual mechanism.
 * This means that when the handle is pushed, nothing happens because it is not attached to anything.

MoSCoW
 * Must have: something connecting the flush handle to the mechanism.
 * Should have: a chain that is strong enough to never weaken or break.
 * Could have: something other than a chain, such as a plastic cord.
 * Wand to but won't have: an electronic flushing mechanism.


 * __PART D__**

Rather than re-design the entire toilet, we chose to provide consumers with a less expensive alternative. The concept we decided on is called the "Damage Control" toilet seat. It replaces one's existing toilet seat with our revised model, which funnels any overflowing water into a removable storage container.

Below is our Powerpoint presentation.