Where could I buy this screw?

[Rupster]

The screw in the picture below has come loose from my toilet seat and been lost.

Any suggestions on how I can work out what I need to buy and where?

Thanks.

On your third pic there's two holes and one screw - presumably it's the same size as the lost one?

If so - take it out and go to a hardware store and ask for loose screws or perhaps a small pack of them and compare sizes.

Do you have a Mica store near you? They're brilliant for service
micahardware.co.uk

I don't have a Mica store nearby, but yes I could take one of the other identical screws into a shop and ask.

If you are in Europe and it is less that 40 years old, it is almost certain to be a Metric screw with a Pozidrive head.

If you measure the shaft it will be a whole number of millimetres across. For example 4mm or 6mm

Measure the length of the shaft (excluding the head)
For example it might be 8mm.

As it's on a WC you want a stainless steel one.

It looks like it has a pan head

You order Metric screws first by the diameter. So if it is 4mm you ask for an M4 screw. Note that M4 means it fits a nut, it's not a woodscrew, which is pointed with a spiral thread.

Then by the length. So if it is 10mm long you ask for 10mm

Then by the head type

So you would ask for (say) a Pozidrive, pan head, stainless M4 x 10mm screw.

And as if by magic...

The other thing in your photo is called a Sleeve Nut

Stainless is inclined to seize, ask for some Nut lock or Thread lock which is like glue, it also stops the screw from coming loose. You put it on the threads of the female part (otherwise it will be scraped off the male part when you insert it)

p.s.

your high street shop might just sell BZP screws, which will soon go rusty on a WC, and an engineering supplier might want to sell you a thousand, so you will almost certainly find it cheaper to buy half a dozen or so (including spares) from an ebay supplier such as Kays.

Thanks. That's really helpful.