Toilet seats: should you leave them up or down?
Toilet seats are a household necessity. Not a day goes by that we don’t use them. In fact, they were invented two thousand years ago, so we can hardly remember a time without them. The hinged versions we know and love date back to the Victorian era, yet with their invention came a question that has divided us ever since: should you leave the toilet seat up or down?
At Plumbworld, we care a great deal about such topics, so we put this question to the people with an Instagram poll. According to our extensive research, 81% of respondents think you should put the toilet seat down after going to the bathroom while 19% think you should leave it up. There’s a clear winner here – but what are the reasons why? Below, we’ll take you through all the pros of putting the toilet lid down.
Advantages of putting the toilet seat down
It’s more hygienic
The most obvious reason to leave the toilet lid down is because it’s more hygienic. Toilet water contains microbes of… well, everything that goes down it, to put it politely. Many bugs and infections have also been found in toilets, including the common cold, flu, E. coli, salmonella, hepatitis A and shingella. When you flush the loo, a bacterial-riddled spray – also known as “toilet plume” – is released into the air and sticks to your toiletries, bathroom surfaces and even your toothbrush. If that’s not delightful enough to contemplate, you’ll be pleased to know it can linger for ages afterwards.
According to research by the University of Cork, flushing the loo with the lid down reduces the number of visible and smaller droplets of toilet plume by between 30% and 60%. While it was also found to make the droplets larger and more concentrated with bacteria, the broad consensus among scientists is that it’s more hygienic to flush with the lid down.
It's safer for pets
We’ve all seen animals drinking from toilets in films, but these comical scenes are no laughing matter in real life. The water in your toilet bowl has been sloshing around with all sorts of unpleasant bacteria. You don’t want germs like that on everything your dog sniffs, licks or chews, much less in their tummies. There’s also a danger that they’ll ingest harmful cleaning chemicals. In short, it’s better for you and your pet if you put the toilet lid down.
Dogs may be the prime culprits when it comes to drinking from the toilet, but cats come with their own problems. It’s certainly not unheard of for a cocky or curious feline to slip and fall in the loo. If you thought cleaning up after a toilet-drinking canine was bad, you’ve clearly never watched an angry wet cat ricochet off every wall and ceiling in the house.
It's safer for children
Children are less civilised than your average cat or dog and so might also fall victim to the allure of an open toilet. Flushing toys and valuables carries a certain thrill and might even block the toilet. An ambitious toddler may even succeed at falling in. According to parents everywhere, these kinds of mishaps are usually preceded by a short period of suspicious silence.
In addition, little fingers can easily be hurt by a falling toilet seat, one of the reasons why soft-close toilet seats are so popular. The seat can't fall if it's already down, therefore it's safer to keep the lid closed.
It's good manners
If safety and hygiene aren’t enough to sway you, what about etiquette? Putting the seat down is simply deemed to be polite and is considered good practice amongst professional cleaners. A quick and easy way to extend a warm welcome to visitors.
It allows you to show off your style
Toilet seats come in all sorts of different shapes, materials and styles. You can choose a fun or fashionable design or colour-coordinate your seat with the rest of your bathroom. If you leave the lid up, you’re wasting a great opportunity to show off your bathroom in all its glory.
What are the disadvantages of putting the toilet seat down?
So, are there any good reasons to not put the seat down? Not many. The best we could come up with were these.
Touching the toilet seat
One of the reasons some people may not like the idea of putting the toilet seat down is because it means touching a dirty toilet seat with your fingers. But you’ll be exposed to more bacteria by flushing with the lid up than you will from touching the seat. Plus, immediately after using the loo, you’ll be washing your hands anyway (we hope!).
Less time consuming
Admittedly, you might lose a few more seconds of your life each day putting the toilet seat up and down. But in our opinion, that tiny inconvenience is worth it if it means better health, improved safety, good manners and great style.
If all this talk of toilet seats has you thinking about upgrading, Plumbworld offer plenty of options including square toilet seats, coloured toilet seats, wooden toilet seats and more.
If you found this post useful, you might also like - How to Wash Your Body According to Statistics - 16 Things You Should Never Flush Down The Toilet - Are Toilet Seats a Standard Size?
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