Toilets, why are they not better designed?

When I was on our nursery committee, I used to have to go in to clean the village hall after a fundraising dance. Not sure why, but I always used to get allocated the men’s toilets! Euggghhh!! This was in the days of smoking, so also cigarette butts floating about in the beer and ??? soaked floors! (I did have three sons, so maybe the other committee members thought I’d be immune to the smelly mess )…

In our last house we had a wall-mounted loo with a concealed cistern. The outside was smooth with no nooks and crannies and the ceramic had some sort of finish that made it easy to keep clean. Also we had a water softener which completely eliminated limescale and kept the cistern from furring up.
Obviously there are disgustingly filthy people around who will foul up a toilet whatever you do to make it easier to clean. I think with horror of my two DSs who made everything so smelly, but they do grow up.

I have been to self cleaning toilets in France and that was about 20 years ago!

You know that something has been designed by a man if it is not easily cleanable.

There used to be what were called self clean toilets in some town centres in a sort of kiosk thing that used to stand usually in the middle of the street.
They were a bit strange as they looked like porta loos - you went into the compartment and after you had finished whatever, you had to step away from the pan and it sort of rotated under running water and was cleaned, then when you stepped out of the kiosk completely, the floor etc was showered , cleaned, then dried with hot air!
I don't think they were that successful as I think most have now been removed and if I remember you had to pay to use them anyway!

I was a cleaner in a pub, a secondary school and a nursery. I'm unsure which was the worst. We weren't allowed to use bleach in the nursery so did the best we could with the items at our disposal.

Agreed, there are too many twiddly bits to negotiate.

I used a public toilet, can’t remember where, but in this country. It was designed to have no seat at all, and it was immaculately clean. It did occur to me why do they have seats anyway? Is plastic very much warmer on the bum than porcelain? No nooks and crannies.

Some years ago I had a holiday travelling around South Africa, the cleanest public conveniences on the planet, probably because every single one had an attendant who obviously took huge pride in her job.

I meant Peasblossom !! Oh dear

Willow I was just about to ask the same question.

Please do tell us the brand of your lovely loo Peasbottom

Sorry Peasblossom!

Sorry that’s for Peasbottom

Where did you get it from? Doing up my downstairs toilet and would love one that’s easier to clean in such a small space!

I seem to recall a public toilet in a northern city which was self cleaning. It was not free, and I did not dare to use it in case the flush happened whilst I was inside, as I did not want to get soaked.

I’m not sure I’d feel safe using a loo that was connected to electricity! ⚡️ ⚡️

I remember going to Kefalonia about 13 years ago with friends who had 2 daughters. We were in a restaurant and one of the girls went to the loo, she came back and whispered something to her sister who immediately followed her to the loo. Then they both came back and my son went to the loo with them! When all three returned giggling we managed to get out of them that the toilet was self cleaning. When you flushed, the seat circulated and was wiped by a disposable wipe, this was then dropped into the pan then a brush cleaned the pan and the toilet flushed again. If I remember correctly it came from Switzerland, or maybe Sweden. And amazingly in a little restaurant on a smallish Greek island!

Airport toilets are a nightmare if you are travelling with only cabin baggage - just a small suitcase for me. You have to squeeze yourself and your bag in and then try to close the inward-opening door. Getting out again is just as awkward.

Fascinating ?

It's a while since we had a thread about toilets. Brings to mind Marydoll and the Rome toilet story.

Is it because they are designed by men?

JaneJudge they have hoses next to the toilets in the Middle East but they are for washing your nether regions…. Not the floor. My sister has one next to hers here in the U.K. IT IS COLD WATER. Sorry had to shout. Too horrible to contemplate IMO?

There are some self cleaning public loos in France. The floor and entire toilet are flushed by a sort of automatic shower and drained between users. The downside is everything is wet! I always fear I will get the timing wrong and get showered with bleach scented water!

Most of the motorway loos I use on my travels are kept clean. Pub ones are the worst.
Most public WCs have doors which open inwards almost touching the loo which involves squeezing against the wall then pirouetting round the door once it is closed. A bit more space or outward opening doors, which I’ve seen in Oz, would help. Heaven knows I’m not exactly slim but how larger ladies manage I have no idea ?

After retiring from nursing, I worked for a year as a cleaner in Waitrose. The women's toilets weren't too bad but the men's regularly got blocked, flooded the floor and none of the men ever reported it to me. It was always a surprise as to what I would find whe I went in there.
All I can say is, thank goodness for strong over the elbow gloves and a large capacity bucket!! ??

Oh they did work after all. Now it
Now it looks as if I’m obsessed with my toilet…

I too agree, not only cleaning but here we have intermittent vandalism in public toilets.I-am always wondering why they don’t provide anti vandalism ones, surely there must be such a thing? It would probably be a lot more sensible long term economically speaking.

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Oh the pictures didn’t work. I’ll try again