April 1, 2007
The Answer Line, a new toilet database at www.theanswerline.com, promises to provide information on toilets, toilet parts and toilet repair from the 1930s to the present. Membership fees to access the database start at $9.99 for two hours of site access within a five consecutive day period. Special programs are offered for manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers. Members can search the site to locate a specific part by color, manufacturer, flapper, ballcock, flush valve or how it attaches to the wall or floor. They can also post and read helpful hints regarding toilet repair.

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As seen in the February 2007 issue:

The Answer Line launches website for plumbing industry

The Answer Line is a new online resource for information on every imaginable specialty plumbing part. The website is the brainchild of J.P. Shields, a Long Island licensed plumbing contractor with 30 years of specialty plumbing experience, as well as a master’s in business administration. Shields and a team of experts created www.TheAnswerLine.com as a full-service resource with up-to-date information about toilet parts and repair from 1930 to the present — information that is hard to find anywhere else.

“I’d always considered the answers to the questions that I was getting from customers about toilet seats and parts common knowledge, and, in reality, they weren’t,” Shields said. “I thought the information I’d been putting together over all these years for my own reference was being collected by others in the industry, but that wasn’t the case.” Shields realized that the internet was the key to giving people support worldwide, 24-7, and to allowing complete, easy access to large volumes of information. “I believe there is a need for a specific knowledge base for all business, which the internet can provide and that will be more refined and dynamic in all areas of commerce,” he said. “ We’re on the cutting edge of that transformation.”

Shields and his staff compiled all the valuable knowledge he’d accumulated about specialty plumbing parts over three decades into a simple to search, dynamic database — a straightforward, one-stop resource, whether someone is a trade professional, a wholesaler, a homeowner or an interior designer.

The Answer Line’s database is cross-referenced between product catalogs, parts sheets, roughing sheets and alternate manufacturers. It allows an individual to quickly search for accurate information on vintage and contemporary toilets and related products by picture, number, description, manufacturer or any combination of these features. Membership privileges allow people to post and read helpful information and to build a network of resources for all their specialty plumbing needs. There are three flexible, affordable levels of membership: Basic, Advanced and Unlimited. This allows a homeowner to find one part or for a supply house to use the website as its first-and-foremost ongoing source of plumbing parts and repair information.

To date, The Answer Line has three major china manufacturers on board —American Standard, Kohler and Toto — and expects to have all fixture manufacturers on the site in the near future.

“We started with toilets because the toilet is the most repaired fixture in the house,” Shields noted, “and everyone has at least one. We’re planning to expand within the next year into shower fixtures and to keep expanding as the most comprehensive specialty part reference source available anywhere.”

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As seen in Plumbing & Mechanical August 2006 issue: