Forcing guests to close toilet lid before flushing

[MerryBlimminXmas]

In our house, we close the toilet lid before flushing. Reason being is that the poo/wee water spray will go absolutely everywhere if the lid is left open (lots of videos available online if anyone is interested).

The issue we have is that pretty much ALL guests don’t do this. Now, I don’t mind what people choose to do in their own homes and appreciate that the majority of the population are happy for everything in the vicinity of their loo to be covered in urine and faeces don’t bother to close the lid. However, I would much prefer it if they closed the lid before flushing in our house.

How can we make it happen? In a previous home, the flush button was literally behind the toilet lid, so it should have been easy to close the lid just to get to the button and people STILL left the lid up every time.

Don’t really want to put a sign up (would be annoying the majority of the time when we don’t have guests), nor to speak to people about it (cringe). Any ingenious ideas that could work? Surely we’re not the only people who prefer the lid closed - how have others made it work with guests?

Talk to your guests if it bothers you so much

I have so many Qs as my aunt is like this too and honestly stands outside the bathroom door with bleach. Disconcerting. She'd probably pass out if anyone did a #2 in her loo

Do you check the loo each time after they've left?

Although if some f&f are stroppy like me (who changes f&f loo roll round if it's hanging the "wrong" way) they may well think youre odd and ignore you.

Ban them from using your loo?

I close the lid, then open it to check everything that needs to be gone is gone. So it's open. I'm always nervous when I find a closed lid as you don't know what is hiding in there (especially in public loos 🤢)

Good point. OP, you are going to need all male visitors to sit, not stand. Perhaps lower the ceiling so they will bump their heads if stood up? 😉

Yes, I think the reactions to this thread are a good indicator of people will think if we were to talk to them! A mixture of bemusement and defensiveness (because even though we’d never actually say it, the implication will be clear that we think the way they use the loo at their home is unhygienic). That’s why we’re after a passive solution that just works and we don’t have to discuss / give any extra headspace to.

Do you use other peoples' loos or community loos?

I'm intrigued - when you put the lid down to flush, do you then lift it to check that the flush has done its thing, no use of toilet brush or second flush needed? Or do you just trust in the flush??

The American Society of Infection Control did a study on this and found it made no difference to potential contamination of nearby surfaces.

Maybe get a plumber in and replace the loo? There are lovely new ones whose flush is thoroughly disciplined.

I mean yeah if you think about it too much it is gross, but so are many other things yet we’re all here and alive to tell the tale.

I hate shoes in the house so we all take them off in the hall because I find it so unhygienic especially if you have babies crawling on floor. I wouldn’t ask a guest to remove their though as I wouldn’t want them to feel awkward due to my anxiety.

Running about on grass when so many dogs shit on it. Even when it’s ’cleaned up, the residue is still there

Going to the butchers and coming out with a bag of meat. There will be raw meat residue on the bag you hold so I always wash my hands with sanitizer

Coming out of a public loo, despite washing your hands as soon as you touch the door handle to leave, you may as well not bothered because the number of people that don’t bother washing is grim

Sitting on seats in public places. The sweats mingling arses that have also sat there. Even work environments when the seats are fabric, there is no way they are cleaned every night (don’t think they ever are at the places I’ve worked at!) I remember one chair would smell of BO because the woman who sat on it had BO.

If we think about it too much we can definitely be grossed out 🤢 I need to go and wash my hands now 😳

Oh please don't! I hate going in to a toilet and seeing the toilet lid open. It's like photos on estate agents website...why do people think an open lidded toilet looks okay?

Have you tried googling it OP? A google search is a far better bet for a question like this where 95% of people are going to think you're nuts and get drawn into a discussion about you wanting to 'force' your guests to close the toilet lid before flushing rather than helping you find a solution.

Here is one, for example -

https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/close-the-lid-toilet

You could also look at washlets if you want to go all-in, I am sure lots of those include automatic lid closing / flushing functions.

You do what now??

Why

"In our house, we close the toilet lid before flushing."

Are you Val Denton? (Iykyk)

I really do get it and relate but I have some words of warning. So first yes, you’re not unreasonable to dislike the thought of pee and poo particles flying around the room and landing on all your stuff. Who would like that thought? Same way none of us would like the thought of restaurant staff picking their nose then serving us our food. Or someone not washing their hands after having a poo then shaking our hand etc.
Noboby likes those thoughts because yes those things feel gross to think about.
However the big difference is that most people don’t think about these things. And they never come to any harm. They get to live without worrying or stressing about any of these things while also coming to no harm.
By thinking about these things sadly you are coming to harm. It’s causing you stress and worry and will damage your relationships (either you will put people off or start to avoid people).
Once you start thinking about germs it can really escalate. Because germs and bacteria are absolutely everywhere. So many things are completely gross the more you think of it. Every surface you touch. Door handles, light switches, shopping trolleys, items in the supermarket. Even papers and pen handed to you at work. What about public bus seats or toilet seats people have sat on and then come and sat on your sofa in the same clothes? I saw my mum on a public toilet and she just lets all her clothes bunch up and rub against the seat and lower part and she doesn’t bat an eye. She then sits on my kids play mat 😬
What if people have sprayed the poo particles all over their clean washing and then they come and sit on your sofa in those clothes? I hope you see the point I’m making, basically everything is rank when you think about it and I’ve previously gone down a really dark hole thinking of all of this and it was so damaging for my mental health. That’s the biggest risk for you here trust me. I would really encourage you to try not to think like this at all 🥺 please look up contamination OCD. It’s a quick and slippery slope. If you can shift to thinking that germs are everywhere but they cause no harm, you will be able to breathe a sigh of relief x

@Bridport i think I remember its poo on the peanuts. Also in the ice in restaurants as the server's don't always wash their hands 🤢🤢 @MerryBlimminXmas I can't see how you are going to "force" people to put the toilet lid down. Unless you are on patrol outside the toilet? 🤔🤔

Well this, or get toothbrush covers. Or can you stand outside the door and shout at the peeing guests !

Spray from a flushing loo is quite different to splashes from peeing from a height. Not bothered by the latter (doesn’t seem to be an issue tbh and even if it were, cleaning the floor / loo would address it). The former is a fine mist that coats literally everything, especially in a small space. So the entirety of the sink, hand towel, anything out basically is covered. As I said - loads of videos showing this online if you care to look.

Haha...we have the toilet flush behind the seat but still have (one in particular) friend (male) who obviously closes the lid to flush then opens it up again. So weird (and annoying)

Put your toothbrush heads in a toothbrush head case. Problem solved.

Also, most people don't want to poo in other people's houses, so it probably doesn't happen all that often.

Stop now 🤣🤣🤣

Have a detachable loo handle on an expandable cord that attaches to the toilet lid by magnet.

Or, just have a detachable loo handle that you keep in your pocket so people are forced to come out and ask you for it. Of course you would ask them if they’ve lowered the lid before handing it over.

Or, just have no guests! Or a toilet only for guests. That’s what we do.

Even if the lid was closed you wouldn't know if it was closed before or after flushing, it could be an after thought to close the lid so it looks proper.

I once went to a theatre in London where you could not flush the toilet unless the lid was closed (flush activated after lid closure). I suggest buying these for your home. Honestly most people don't care and would find it controlling if you asked or insisted that they close the lid before flushing so buying one of these toilets will make everyone happy.

Only solution is a self-closing lid, but as you said that is not perfect.

I’m like you, I hate when the lid is open when people flush and also hate when people leave it open when they leave. It just doesn’t look tidy - I don’t want to see the inside of the loo when entering the room.