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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flushing toilet at night...

127 replies

coconuttella · 07/11/2017 06:18

There’s the saying: “if it’s yellow, let it mellow; if it’s brown, flush it down”.

I was brought up to do this at night time if I needed the toilet, to minimise disturbance to other family members. I always wonder about the etiquette of this when staying with others.... not something I do much, but maybe once or twice a year. AIBU to think I shouldn’t flush the loo at 3am for a wee, or is this gross. I’ve tended to flush in these situations as hadn’t wanted to be seen as mucky, but is this unnecessary?

OP posts:
washingmachinefastwash · 08/11/2017 21:08

Lid down and flush. It’s quieter.

QuestionableMouse · 08/11/2017 21:10

Pee in the sink and save yourself all the worry. Grin

confused123456 · 08/11/2017 21:10

I'd always flush. It's not nice to have to face an unflushed toilet. If someone did that in my house I would feel sick.

Ttbb · 08/11/2017 21:11

Oh god of course you flush. I would've horrified if I found that a house guest had not flushed.

GreenShadow · 08/11/2017 21:14

If you were visiting me OP I would prefer you not to flush at night. I hate being woken up and find it hard to get back to sleep so the quieter the better as far as I'm concerned.

BusterTheBulldog · 08/11/2017 21:15

Always flush at night! I cannot stand walking in to see someone else’s wee. If my husband doesn’t Ill shout to him to do it! I’m already woken up by someone going to the loo, flushing causes no extra issue.

Deux · 08/11/2017 21:16

I wouldn’t not flush unless advised otherwise.

We flush here but the cisterns are silent-fill and fast -fill, so they’re not noisy.

pinyata · 08/11/2017 21:17

My partner doesn’t flush at night and I do it causes endless (light hearted) arguments.

If he doesn’t start flush I think I might ltb that is if my flushing in the night doesn’t drive him away first 😂

Trafalgarxxx · 08/11/2017 21:18

Having lived in a flat where flushing wasn’t just disturbing people in said flat but also people in the flats below, yes I still don’t flush.
Probably hasn’t been helped by dc2 and Dc1 being very light sleeper (one at night, the other early in the am).

Trafalgarxxx · 08/11/2017 21:20

You see vurentky in our house, you can use the loo next to our bedroom, which would wake one if up.
Or go downstairs. Noise of the loo is then minimal. Expect that when it has stop filling the citern it stops with a loud bang!
No winning there.

EastMidsMummy · 08/11/2017 21:22

Revolting. Flush the fucking toilet.

reluctantbrit · 08/11/2017 21:32

Not flushing is gross. I prefer waking up (which I also do when somebody actually goes to the bathroom so flushing is not the issue) than stumbling into the bathroom and discovering an unflushed toilet bowl.

DiegoMadonna · 08/11/2017 21:34

I don't flush yellow at night in my own home. Although I think you'd have to be a REALLY light sleeper (or a baby I guess) to get fully woken up by one toilet flush. I guess I do it more out of not wanting to waste water.

Anyway, there's something more gross about other people's piss than my own/my immediate family's, so I'd prefer guests did flush, and I would always flush when staying at someone else's house, unless asked not to.

HidingBehindTheWallpaper · 08/11/2017 21:35

Pee in the sink and save yourself all the worry

Great solution.

Personally I go by house rules and who is sleeping in the house. If its a house of adults then I'll flush unless asked not to. If there are young children or babies then I'll leave it.

FWIW I grew up in a cottage without mains drainage and we always flushed at night. I don't understand why some are saying that would make a difference.

Caenea · 08/11/2017 21:44

We do not flush wees in this house at night - the toilet is astonishingly loud.

Anything else is flushed. When my sister comes to stay (maybe two or three times a year), we ask her not to flush if she doesn't need to.

As an aside, is anyone else reading through this thread and starting to question the word flush? It's starting to look wrong.

melj1213 · 08/11/2017 21:52

In my own home, I will sometimes not flush during the night (usually only if DD is at her dad's house) but if I am at someone else's house or have guests then I will always flush, unless informed otherwise in advance.

For example my friend has a baby who takes a while to settle but once she's asleep she's dead to the world. When we go round, if she has not long put the baby down she will ask if anyone goes to the loo to not flush and just close the lid afterwards, then if someone goes up a bit later once the baby has settled into a deeper sleep they can just flush the closed loo when they go into the bathroom before they go themselves.

AllPizzasGreatAndSmall · 08/11/2017 21:52

To those saying they don't flush because they are on a meter, my son who has ASD flushes the loo over and over, and our bills have always been significantly lower since being metered.

paxillin · 08/11/2017 21:54

I have a distant relative who doesn't want any flushes for pee. Everyone just pees on top of stale pees. Until someone does a poo, that one is the flusher. Which means that you have to announce what you are planning to do on the loo. If poo, they all go pee before you. Boak. People don't visit often.

Allthewaves · 08/11/2017 21:55

In my own home we don't flush (unless it's a poo) as it's very noisy and child's bedroom is either sides of the toilet and. It does wake them.

DianaPrincessOfThemyscira · 08/11/2017 21:56

We don’t flush during the night if it’s a wee. A poo definitely.

One of my boys has particularly pungent wee though and I wish he would!

NauticalDisaster · 08/11/2017 21:57

I would be disgusted if a guest didn't flush in my house. Always flash, please, unless told otherwise.

DorisDangleberry · 08/11/2017 22:17

If I am a house guest somewhere of course I don't flush in the middle of the night. It is social death to wake someone with a flushing toilet. If I need a poo in the middle of the night, I creep downstairs and do it in the kettle.

CountFosco · 08/11/2017 22:19

Some of DH's family are non-flushers. I hate it. They clearly don't drink enough water and the toilet stinks. I want to know who wakes up when the toilet flushes anyway, my DC have slept through fire alarms, a flush wouldn't have a hope in hell of waking them.

paxillin · 08/11/2017 22:22

DorisDangleberry Grin

Mumof41987 · 08/11/2017 22:27

We never flush at night unless it's a poo

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