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AIBU?

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Original poster

AIBU to ask people not to poop in new under stairs cloakroom?

488 replies

keepswimming38 · 17/05/2026 20:46

We are just having a new cloakroom installed downstairs. AIBU to put a sign up saying ‘no poo loo’ or ‘if you plan to do a poo do it in the upstairs loo’?

My DH thinks it’s not reasonable. I just down like the idea of people doing a poop in there and then the macerator having to … anyway AIBU?

OP posts:
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5
StarlightLady · 18/05/2026 10:51

HoraceCope · 18/05/2026 10:42

three times a day?
who has time for that?

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I go 21 times on a Monday. Two benefits:

  1. It leaves the rest of the week free.
  2. it’s a work day so l get paid for doing it. 😀
HoraceCope · 18/05/2026 10:42

aberamagold · 18/05/2026 10:15

It's completely normal and healthy to go three times a day.
Some of us would never go anywhere if we followed some mumsnetter's rules on where it is acceptable to poo.

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three times a day?
who has time for that?

Angrybird76 · 18/05/2026 10:32

modern macerators are better than they used to be. We had one at my parents house when I was a teen and it was a bloody nightmare, but they upgraded a few years ago and it's better now. Put a sign up confirming its a macerator to contextualise it as otherwise you will look a bit weird! Most people dont like to poo in other peoples houses so would only be an emergency I think. Unless you have regular family visting in which case they can go upstairs!

ScotchBonnet74 · 18/05/2026 10:21

Can you not just direct guests as a matter of course to the upstairs loo? Tell them the downstairs one is out of order, or not flushing properly. Better that than saying 'if you want a poo go upstairs, otherwise the downstairs one is fine'.

tommyhoundmum · 18/05/2026 10:20

keepswimming38 · 17/05/2026 20:50

Because it’s not a macerator.

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You might put in an extra powerful extractor fan

Newusername0 · 18/05/2026 10:18

If I was a guest and I saw that sign, I would have 2 options. Ignore it… or leave the downstairs toilet and make my way upstairs so that everyone could know what I was doing 😂😂

aberamagold · 18/05/2026 10:15

Squirrelchops1 · 17/05/2026 21:02

Who the heck visits people and goes for a dump?
In my entire life I've never visited friends or family and had to snap one off.

It's completely normal and healthy to go three times a day.
Some of us would never go anywhere if we followed some mumsnetter's rules on where it is acceptable to poo.

KilkennyCats · 18/05/2026 10:07

ButterYellowFlowers · 18/05/2026 10:06

Never heard it in 31 years of life

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🤷🏻‍♀️
Other people have.

ButterYellowFlowers · 18/05/2026 10:06

KilkennyCats · 18/05/2026 10:05

It’s a standard name for a loo.

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Never heard it in 31 years of life

KilkennyCats · 18/05/2026 10:05

ButterYellowFlowers · 18/05/2026 10:04

Is it just me who thinks of a cloakroom as just a room for coats and shoes etc? Why’s everyone calling the lavatory a ‘cloakroom’??

It’s a standard name for a loo.

ButterYellowFlowers · 18/05/2026 10:04

Is it just me who thinks of a cloakroom as just a room for coats and shoes etc? Why’s everyone calling the lavatory a ‘cloakroom’??

HoraceCope · 18/05/2026 09:57

my bf had room in a house, he wasnt allowed to poo in his personal loo so had to walk through the family kitchen to poo
very awkward for him and the teenage girls who giggled when he walked by

loislovesstewie · 18/05/2026 09:56

When I had all day all pregnancy 'morning' sickness, I didn't care where I vomited, so I'm sorry to say your cloakroom would be used if I was at yours and it was the nearest.

CurdinHenry · 18/05/2026 09:50

scalt · 17/05/2026 23:49

Yep - it’s called Mumsnetland, where the natives are very weird about toilets, and believe that “workmen” shit nuclear waste.

Calling it a “cloakroom” implies a certain awkwardness as well.

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I would be very confused to be instructed to pee in a cloakroom for sure.

nutbrownhare15 · 18/05/2026 09:36

Just tell guests to use the upstairs toilet.

PinkPonyAnonymous · 18/05/2026 09:35

PashaMinaMio · 17/05/2026 20:51

Your husband is right.
Stop being silly.
Your visitor(s) might be embarrassed having to say they’re “going upstairs”, nod nod, wink wink.

Absolutely this! My German friends have two toilets, a regular one and a more traditional german style one where the poo is sort of on a little platform before flushing away. When I went to stay, my friend gave the tour and asked me not to poo there as it smells more because the poo hits air rather than water.

I was so embarrassed about it that I used the other loo every time so they wouldn’t know when I was pooping. It’s also still the main thing I think about when I think of her place, which is such a shame as it is a very lovely home!

Malasana · 18/05/2026 09:31

maudelovesharold · 17/05/2026 22:45

Wouldn’t it be quite unusual to need to poo in the morning and the afternoon?

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Not for me - fibre is an important part of your overall diet you know 😂

If you have 3 in a day it’s known as a shat trick in my house 😂

Malasana · 18/05/2026 09:26

Peony1985 · 18/05/2026 06:00

Right;

It's only "poop" in you are American or possibly if talking about very small amounts of poo. Or the sound of Toads car horn

Downstairs cloakroom is a toilet.

People wee far more than they poo. It's much easier to wet yourself than poo yourself.

For people without medical conditions (vast majority of us), it's easy to hold in a poo. You can hold in a poo for a good few hours without it being dangerous.

Saniflow loos are hard work all round.

I have no medical conditions but when I need to go I need to go.

Sharptonguedwoman · 18/05/2026 09:25

What nonsense. People can't always police what happens when they go to the loo.

Malasana · 18/05/2026 09:23

Sometimes I think I’m going for a wee and get a bonus poo that I wasn’t aware was on its way.
Would I need to run upstairs partway through OP? 😂

ButterYellowFlowers · 18/05/2026 09:23

@roibusteasome of us have IBS. No amount of dietary changes or exercises will make it so that we go at the same time each day. And when we do go it’s often urgent and painful. And that’s not even mentioning my friends with IBD, bile salt malabsorption, stomas, crohns etc. It can happen wherever and whenever - and if they don’t reach a toilet it’s not just going away.

Harriet36 · 18/05/2026 09:21

It’s a toilet for goodness sake. Stop being so precious. People will stop visiting you if you adhere to this ridiculous rule.

rwalker · 18/05/2026 09:20

keepswimming38 · 18/05/2026 08:28

So think it’s fair enough. I can’t send people to different toilets for poos. However, I have purchased a sign saying ‘please don’t flush anything other than toilet paper’. Hopefully visitors won’t be pooing and vomiting in my downstairs loo too often! My daughter I obviously won’t be making her walk upstairs if she’s downstairs. That was a black joke. There haven’t been many of those in our lives lately so apologies if I offended anyone. Many of the comments have made me chuckle so thank you.🙏

I wouldn’t risk it with that sign a lot of people don’t understand macerator toilets
and will throw wipes and tampons down then not realising the implications even though there a sign

just send your guest upstairs

If anybody ask tell them it’s a macerator for emergency wee’s

looselegs · 18/05/2026 09:19

We have a macerator loo downstairs......it deals with poo just as good as the upstairs one!
That's what they're for...

ConstanzeMozart · 18/05/2026 09:14

TalulahJP · 17/05/2026 21:14

my ex’s parents had a loo that was in the utility room with a curtain. although the utility room had no door so any smells or noise from one room would waft into the other.

i always felt nervous using it. i was told by my then bf it was pee only in that one. fair enough. totally got it.

id be fine with a sign. id direct people to the upstairs loo “the downstairs loo is a noisy macerator for no1s only, for your comfort you may prefer to use the upstairs one, it’s quieter and the lights better for makeup too”

my ex’s parents had a loo that was in the utility room with a curtain. although the utility room had no door so any smells or noise from one room would waft into the other.
Shock I have frequent dreams about trying to find a loo in an unfamiliar building, and this sounds like one of them.

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