Are toilet roll holders a necessary evil or unbelievably naff?

[tattyfernackerpants]

Looking at refitting our bathrooms and I say we don't need toilet roll holders as toilet roll can go on the windowsill and DH says you HAVE to have a toilet roll holder.

Can the collective wisdom of mumsnet give us a definitive answer

I’d wonder what the hell was wrong with someone who refitted their bathroom and made a conscious choice not to have a toilet roll holder!

I don’t have loo roll holders. Mine sits on the cistern. Any fixed holders i’ve ever had have ended up working loose (and unable to tighten) somehow (either loose from the wall or just shonky loose joints). Balls, basically.

I also think they look a bit dated, tbh, in the realms of Next Directory/Argos matchy matchy fixed soap dishes, toothbrush holders and towel rail sets.

Our en suite has a loo between the bath and sink with nowhere to put a holder. Annoys me. Come the glorious day when we can afford to refit it, the toilet's moving so I can have a holder.

Nowhere to dispense loo roll (or loo roll roaming free around the bathroom/on window/on cistern behind) is really studenty. Not something I'd expect in a refurbished bathroom!

BettyBoo how far from the toilet is your pretty basket? Apparently faecal matter can travel up to 6ft when flushed! 💩

That’s why you put the lid down beforehand. All trained up in this house.

How can something to hang your toilet roll on ‘look dated’? it’s not the sort of thing that goes in and out of fashion.

"Any fixed holders i’ve ever had have ended up working loose (and unable to tighten) somehow (either loose from the wall or just shonky loose joints). "

off topic, but if a screw in the wall works loose, then either the hole is not deep enough for the plug and screw to penetrate brick, or the hole is loose. For a loose hole, clean out the dust with a hoover or water sprayer, insert the nozzle of a builders adhesive such as no-more-nails so it reaches the end, and fill the hole as you withdraw the nozzle. Push your plasplug in so it is embedded in the adhesive with no airspace. Wipe off any excess and leave it overnight to set. The next day, drive in your screw and it will be held firmly and not come loose.

Thank you PigletJohn! We have wobbly loo roll holders & towel rails (new build house, plasterboard walls) so it sounds as though we might need longer screws. I will be showing your advice to my DH this weekend! Back to the topic...

NamedyChangedy As gamerchick says toilet seat down when flushing! If you don’t do that yes you are right, fecal matter could land on anything though, just think what could land on toothbrushes and towels! I keep my tooth brushes in the bathroom cupboard to be extra safe!

on plasterboard especially, but other walls too, you are best off with a holder fixed at both ends, like
www.screwfix.com/p/franke-single-toilet-roll-holder-with-cover/66747

or second best, suspended from a central point like
www.wickes.co.uk/Croydex-Pendle-Flexi-Fix-Toilet-Roll-Holder---Chrome-Effect/p/139085

the worst possible is an L-shaped one, like a door handle
www.screwfix.com/p/swirl-curve-toilet-roll-holder-chrome/7838h

which has been designed so that any up or down pressure will lever the fixings out of the wall.

There are special plasplugs for plasterboard. I can't remember the name of a good one I've seen recently. Holdfast or something.i

We don't have them and have nowhere to put one anyway. Never occurred to me that people fret about them but I lean to them being in the naff, matchy matchy bathroom sets

Yup, my upstairs bathroom has one of those L shaped ones and it’s wonky. The downstairs was also l shaped and it too was wonky so I just removed it and use the free standing one now. Prob need to deal with rhe upstairs one. The other loo has one fixed both ends and it’s totally solid.

I can't believe people don't think they're a necessity. The germs on the inside of the cardboard roll that everyone has had their shitty and pissy hands round is gross...hence needing a holder so,you,only touch the pieces you use....lighthearted but it boils my piss, pardon the pun!

Best sort of loo roll holder for walls is a "dog bone" one, never looked back, after loads of wobbly ones with rubbish little grubscrews .

Lived in this house for 20 yrs and never had a loo roll holder. Use the windowsill. This is because the loo is that tiny the door nearly skims the loo and you have to stand beside the toilet to shut it. So no room for a bog roll holder

But then you have to twist to reach the windowsill (which I cant easily do) or stand-up and then have to find it after doing business! It only works if you know in advance to grab the roll.

For all those concerned about germs, surely if you wash your hands after using the loo, this is not an issue?

I’m with ‘totally studenty not to have a loo roll holder’.

My views on this are, better to have no holder at all than to have a badly situated one.
I.e. one that you have to dislocated your shoulder to get at, or, worse still, leave the loo with underwear
dangling, to reach.

Oh Bluntness, never mind your wedgewood pot, you’re letting the side down terribly with your free-standing holder. Very non-U.

So yes, OP, you definitely need one, and definitely needs to be attached to the wall. If you don’t have a holder you need both hands to tear the sheets off, so how are you supposed to carry on reading?

lights touch-paper, runs away

Off topic but the basket really doesn't make sense to me. There are rolls in there that might not be used for weeks / months. If not poo splashes then you'd probably be accumulating dust / other stuff you wouldn't want near your nethers. I'd always put spare loo rolls in a cupboard if I could.

^ Also, with the basket: how can you tell at a glance which roll is currently being used? Or do you just have several on the go at once? Seems...messy.

I’ve never seen a freestanding holder, but I don’t like them. Just another thing cluttering up the floor to mop around / get knocked over by dog, etc etc.

Viserion It's not just the germs that get on your hands that you have to worry about. It's the ones that are transferred between nether regions. If, for example, somebody (not necessarily a family member - it might be a guest, your cleaner, the plumber etc) used your loo and happened to have, say, Hepatitis C, the virus might be transferred via a drop of urine on the fingers, to your loo roll. And then two minutes later you come along to use the loo, and use some of the virus-laden loo roll after urinating. So the Hep C virus could then be in contact with your mucous membranes.

I have no idea if any research has been done into whether, under certain circumstances, infection could be spread in this way. But equally, I don't know for sure that it's not a possible route of infection.

You 'have no idea' is spot on. Hepatitis C is not spread through urine or faeces. And having a holder isn't going to stop people touching the next piece of paper. If it is the paper you are scared of, get a fresh roll out every time, or at least remove the outer layer. It was touching the inside of the tube that people upthread were claiming was an issue. I don't wipe with the inside of the tube, and there is always paper between me and my nether regions, so even if I have to touch the tube, I am not then touching myself.