Another needless problem to worry about, another germ-fearmongering hit piece for gullible fools to fret about and demand a solution to solve.
What does anyone **think** will happen when you shit in a bowl of water and then use more water to rapidly whisk it into the sewer? Yes, as the saying goes, 'Shit happens'—very small amounts of aerosolized blackwater will get thrown around the room. But there's no need to fret about aerosols coming out of the toilet and contaminating your bathroom facilities so as to cause illness because people generally aren't going around licking bathroom countertops or the toilet bowl itself.
Your cell phone has more fecal bacteria on it per square centimeter than your toilet bowl.
As a clinical laboratory scientist, I can do a skin swab of any person reading this and grow dozens of coliform (fecal) bacteria species, in addition to other nasty bacteria like E. coli, MRSA, etc. to say nothing of the many potentially deadly fungi infesting our contiguous external integumentary.
We are literally walking bags of shit—it's on our skin, we ingest it with most every bite, it's on every surface we ever come in contact with, and we expel at least 30% w/v of fecal bacteria every time we take a #2.
You want to know why you should have a dedicated WC for the toilet? It's so that other people can use the bathroom while you're busy taking a shit in private ... PERIOD. But you've got a captive audience of useful but woefully gullible idiots reading this stuff and thinking, "DEAR GOD, NO!! IT'S GROSS!!! WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE TOILETS IN OUR HOMES TO PROTECT OURSELVES FROM THE SHIT WE'RE **LITERALLY** COVERED IN!!!" And then you get even dumber ideas like using composting toilets in modern homes in urban settings, when an old-fashioned outhouse would do just as nicely!
Y'all can't make up this kind of nescient rationale.
Maybe the problem is that toilet seats and lids aren't gasketed and airtight? I wonder how the experiment would change with an airtight toilet seat and lid.
I was wondering about that, too. If you are a germophobe, how does it make sense to shut yourself into a small space where you then flush tons of germs into the air?
For people who are concerned about privacy or the smell, I get the small room concept. But if we’re trying to go for sufficiency (only building what we need), shouldn’t we look for a solution to the spread of germs at the toilet itself, rather than building a room around it that doesn’t keep the germs away from the person flushing, who then opens the door and lets them out into the rest of the bathroom anyway?
It seems like the small room is more of a feel-good solution than an actual scientific way to get rid of the spread of germs.
100 years or so ago, I had a part time job in the carpet department of a department store. (Don't think either of those things have existed in 20+ years!). At that time, there were these "Decorator Sets" for bathrooms, consisting of washable fluffy carpet things. Carpet in the bathroom? I guess these are no longer a thing so; progress? https://clickamericana.com/topics/home-garden/top-10-terrible-fuzzy-toilet-covers-from-the-70s
Myth Busters took this up years ago & they used a black light dye. If I recall, the WC was on the main floor & they found droplets on the 2nd floor of their office. This info impacted me so I've proposed to clients Toilet Rooms over the years. Some clients love the idea of a toilet room, others fight the notion & want door free openings in the ensuite. I blames the many stupid "remodel" TV shows, "open concept" taken to it's ridiculous conclusion.
You have more fecal bacteria residing on your lovely smartphone being held in your hand than exists on your bathroom countertop, sink, mirror, or anywhere else in your house.
But no one is going around demanding that we keep our iPhones under UV light 24/7, are they?
Being the son of a woman who was an infection control nurse, I'm the guy who's been wiping my phone & computer with alcohol on a weekly basis for many years. IDK how well they work, but on a flight this week, I used the UV light disinfectant things.
In our 10th/top floor condominium apartment, our bathrooms are continuously ventilated by roof-top extractor fans, plus 'our own' switch-operated bathroom fans. The fall-out from bacteria should thus be reduced. The toilets themselves have bidet seats (heated water and seat, + a small extractor fan with a plastic mesh (collects residual paper dust) followed by a charcoal filter (for odours - and bacteria?). Sounds luxurious, but so worth it! I read somewhere that the water used in a bidet is far less than the water used to make toilet paper, so after cleaning, small 'hand' towels have replaced a lot of paper use; the towels go in with a regular laundry load so a bidet could be environmentally appropriate and 'green'.
My wife has an ileostomy and a urostomy, so we also have a urinal with automatic infra-red-sensed flushing (which can waste water - don't walk past the urinal without using it!).
Hand-washing is on the opposite side of her bathroom, and the mixer faucet can be operated with a touch of a forearm or elbow, reducing contamination possibilities. The countertop is C**s*rst*n* also because of its anti-bacterial capabilities (as best anyone knew 12 years ago).
It isn't all serious stuff. A few years ago we were watching an HGTV programme where the couple were looking for a retirement home away from nasty cold wet winters - in this case, on Aruba. They looked in the bathroom and the wife noticed "Oh they have a duvet - well, that will have to go!" I don't know which house they bought....
An interesting read, as ever. We have a toilet with a hand basin in the top whose waste water then fills the cistern to flush the toilet. It is a clever idea, but the dead skin soon accumulates and makes the cistern pretty merky, which isn't a great job to do. If anyone has a solution to that..
Our K*hl*r brand toilets have a canister (not a flap valve) which lifts and flushes, swiftly removing all the flush water. Fl**dm*st*r makes a tank and toilet cleansing device which supposedly doesn't decay the rubber or plastic seals. Perhaps those would be the - er - solution? - to the skin and soap accumulation issue?
Another device we 'need' in our toilets is an after-market device to replace the hand-operated flush lever. K*hl*r had a poorly-designed one, operated by a non-touch proximity switch, which they discontinued.
Is it strange that I find your articles on bathrooms compulsive reading?
They should be printed on recycled paper and hung on a hook or nail...
A very interesting read - thanks! Your posts are always so informative, I really appreciate the ideas on domesticity that you share. Thank you!
Another needless problem to worry about, another germ-fearmongering hit piece for gullible fools to fret about and demand a solution to solve.
What does anyone **think** will happen when you shit in a bowl of water and then use more water to rapidly whisk it into the sewer? Yes, as the saying goes, 'Shit happens'—very small amounts of aerosolized blackwater will get thrown around the room. But there's no need to fret about aerosols coming out of the toilet and contaminating your bathroom facilities so as to cause illness because people generally aren't going around licking bathroom countertops or the toilet bowl itself.
Your cell phone has more fecal bacteria on it per square centimeter than your toilet bowl.
As a clinical laboratory scientist, I can do a skin swab of any person reading this and grow dozens of coliform (fecal) bacteria species, in addition to other nasty bacteria like E. coli, MRSA, etc. to say nothing of the many potentially deadly fungi infesting our contiguous external integumentary.
We are literally walking bags of shit—it's on our skin, we ingest it with most every bite, it's on every surface we ever come in contact with, and we expel at least 30% w/v of fecal bacteria every time we take a #2.
You want to know why you should have a dedicated WC for the toilet? It's so that other people can use the bathroom while you're busy taking a shit in private ... PERIOD. But you've got a captive audience of useful but woefully gullible idiots reading this stuff and thinking, "DEAR GOD, NO!! IT'S GROSS!!! WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE TOILETS IN OUR HOMES TO PROTECT OURSELVES FROM THE SHIT WE'RE **LITERALLY** COVERED IN!!!" And then you get even dumber ideas like using composting toilets in modern homes in urban settings, when an old-fashioned outhouse would do just as nicely!
Y'all can't make up this kind of nescient rationale.
Maybe the problem is that toilet seats and lids aren't gasketed and airtight? I wonder how the experiment would change with an airtight toilet seat and lid.
I was wondering about that, too. If you are a germophobe, how does it make sense to shut yourself into a small space where you then flush tons of germs into the air?
For people who are concerned about privacy or the smell, I get the small room concept. But if we’re trying to go for sufficiency (only building what we need), shouldn’t we look for a solution to the spread of germs at the toilet itself, rather than building a room around it that doesn’t keep the germs away from the person flushing, who then opens the door and lets them out into the rest of the bathroom anyway?
It seems like the small room is more of a feel-good solution than an actual scientific way to get rid of the spread of germs.
Just saw this on Archdaily, perhaps the answer is to sit outside https://www.archdaily.com/913090/30-open-bathrooms-incorporating-breeze-and-nature-in-private-space/5c87f50e284dd106bb0001c5-30-open-bathrooms-incorporating-breeze-and-nature-in-private-space-photo
I wonder if it would flush properly or if that would prevent the siphonic action, which relies on air pressure.
sealed, forced air and water versions are available e.g.
https://propelair.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Propelair-E-brochure.pdf
100 years or so ago, I had a part time job in the carpet department of a department store. (Don't think either of those things have existed in 20+ years!). At that time, there were these "Decorator Sets" for bathrooms, consisting of washable fluffy carpet things. Carpet in the bathroom? I guess these are no longer a thing so; progress? https://clickamericana.com/topics/home-garden/top-10-terrible-fuzzy-toilet-covers-from-the-70s
Lloyd, do you have any idea if and where toilets with the tank-top/ greywater sinks are available in Toronto/ Canada?
Another advantage of dry composting toilets - no flush, and continually ventilated down through the toilet!
Absolutely, the sweetest toilets I have ever used in a building were at the Bullitt center, continuously sucking air. And they pulled them out! https://www.treehugger.com/bullitt-center-removing-its-composting-toilets-5186499
Myth Busters took this up years ago & they used a black light dye. If I recall, the WC was on the main floor & they found droplets on the 2nd floor of their office. This info impacted me so I've proposed to clients Toilet Rooms over the years. Some clients love the idea of a toilet room, others fight the notion & want door free openings in the ensuite. I blames the many stupid "remodel" TV shows, "open concept" taken to it's ridiculous conclusion.
You have more fecal bacteria residing on your lovely smartphone being held in your hand than exists on your bathroom countertop, sink, mirror, or anywhere else in your house.
But no one is going around demanding that we keep our iPhones under UV light 24/7, are they?
Being the son of a woman who was an infection control nurse, I'm the guy who's been wiping my phone & computer with alcohol on a weekly basis for many years. IDK how well they work, but on a flight this week, I used the UV light disinfectant things.
In our 10th/top floor condominium apartment, our bathrooms are continuously ventilated by roof-top extractor fans, plus 'our own' switch-operated bathroom fans. The fall-out from bacteria should thus be reduced. The toilets themselves have bidet seats (heated water and seat, + a small extractor fan with a plastic mesh (collects residual paper dust) followed by a charcoal filter (for odours - and bacteria?). Sounds luxurious, but so worth it! I read somewhere that the water used in a bidet is far less than the water used to make toilet paper, so after cleaning, small 'hand' towels have replaced a lot of paper use; the towels go in with a regular laundry load so a bidet could be environmentally appropriate and 'green'.
My wife has an ileostomy and a urostomy, so we also have a urinal with automatic infra-red-sensed flushing (which can waste water - don't walk past the urinal without using it!).
Hand-washing is on the opposite side of her bathroom, and the mixer faucet can be operated with a touch of a forearm or elbow, reducing contamination possibilities. The countertop is C**s*rst*n* also because of its anti-bacterial capabilities (as best anyone knew 12 years ago).
It isn't all serious stuff. A few years ago we were watching an HGTV programme where the couple were looking for a retirement home away from nasty cold wet winters - in this case, on Aruba. They looked in the bathroom and the wife noticed "Oh they have a duvet - well, that will have to go!" I don't know which house they bought....
An interesting read, as ever. We have a toilet with a hand basin in the top whose waste water then fills the cistern to flush the toilet. It is a clever idea, but the dead skin soon accumulates and makes the cistern pretty merky, which isn't a great job to do. If anyone has a solution to that..
Hmm I never thought there would be enough to accumulate, good to know!
Our K*hl*r brand toilets have a canister (not a flap valve) which lifts and flushes, swiftly removing all the flush water. Fl**dm*st*r makes a tank and toilet cleansing device which supposedly doesn't decay the rubber or plastic seals. Perhaps those would be the - er - solution? - to the skin and soap accumulation issue?
Another device we 'need' in our toilets is an after-market device to replace the hand-operated flush lever. K*hl*r had a poorly-designed one, operated by a non-touch proximity switch, which they discontinued.