Whether I'm alone or not it depends on what I using the bathroom for. I'll leave the door open when just brushing my teeth, but it's usually closed for other bodily functions.....and the window is open.

Very rare that i do. I was raised with 3 sister's, no brothers. We always left the door open. Dad had his own bathroom and never came into the girls bathroom, I mean never. We used his when necessary. I guess that is why I do not shut the door.

No I don't close the door unless I want my cats to stop bugging me.

Never. It ls just me and the dog so who cares? And he usually ignores me except when I have a bath and then he parks himself on the bathmat until I get out.

I have also been known to wander around the house in my altogethers :-) But then I live out in the woods with almost never any visitors unless expected.

No. Unless we have guests, and then I close the bedroom door so no one wanders inadvertently into our private space.

The main bathroom is bigger than the other, so I use it most often. It's situated right near the house thermostat. In the winter, especially, I pull the door but not latch it, so the heat from the bathroom (shower time) doesn't cause the thermostat to think it's warmer all over and turn off the furnace.

Yep...and I put the seat and lid down. We have a cat in the house and one never knows what kind of trouble he might try to get into.

Why do you want to know? (Just kidding)

Rusty

“Why do you want to know?”

Good question, but I for one feel a little more normal for having read this thread.

I’d join the “and sometimes when I’m not alone” group, adding that sometimes family members close it for me. 👃🤮

ETA: Amending this answer a bit as I had an opportunity to observe myself and the back of the door looked more familiar than I thought. Yet it’s not fully closed. So I think the more accurate answer is that I tend to leave it mostly closed but not fully closed.

In Cathedral City, my bathroom does not have a door, but the water closet does. I always keep my bedroom door closed, no matter what, but if that door is closed, I do not feel the need to close the door to the W/C.

Do you lock the door to the bathroom when you are not alone? I do not if only my brother is in the house, but if others are present, I do.

I have dogs.

Sometimes going in the bathroom and shutting the door is the only private time I get all day. LOL. So put me down as a definite yes - I shut the door. It's nice to be alone for a few minutes....

:)

On my downstairs main bath I do not. But my upstairs private bath has a pocket door. I don't keep much heat on up there, so in the winter, I turn on the bathroom heater for comfort and close the pocket door behind me to keep the heat in. So my answer is yes and no!

In winter I always close the door to the 'hot box' bathroom that is directly over a furnace, just to keep the heat in. Otherwise, I will partially close a bathroom door if I'm alone in the house. (Three of our four toilets have no natural light. Why waste electricity for a 60-second visit?)

Shall we enlarge this topic? DH and I close the stool before flushing a toilet. Judging by the photos I see of houses for sale, this is unusual. (Sellers: At least put the *seat* down, if only for the picture!)

Yes, always closed but never locked. In our house, a closed bathroom door means "please knock first".

Bathroom exhaust fans aren't of much use if the door is open.

The question asked whether we close the bathroom door when we're alone.

Me? No - why would I? Isn't closing the bathroom door intended for privacy? If I'm alone, don't I already have privacy?

If DH is in the house, yes. But that wasn't your question.

Never close it in the master bathroom.

Guest bathroom -- rarely, since I seldom use that one.

No, I don't close it. There's something freeing about not closing it when you're alone.

Okay, I guess my response presupposed that closing or not closing a bathroom door was something habitual for most people and not something anyone would stop and think about other factors (the occupancy of the household) before acting.

For privacy, partly. If just the two of us are home, I don't need privacy from my wife nor she from me, but it's also to be considerate. But to think "oops, I need to close the door, we have guests here right now" seems odd.

Sometimes we take separate trips and I'm alone for days or weeks. The door whether in a home or a hotel gets closed all the same. As before, it helps the exhaust fan do its job.

I don't close the door, but I always close the toilet before flushing as it helps prevent the spread of bacteria.

OK, to expand further... Two of our bathroom doors are kept closed. I close the door to the powder room in the back hall after using it; DH doesn't. The master bath door is open during the day and closed at night; its toilet room door is kept closed except on very cold days when it is left ajar to invite more heat.

Close the lid!

I don't close the bathroom door if I'm alone at home, and often shut the door without pulling it fully closed during the time that DH is also here. The understanding is that if a bathroom door is closed so that you can't see in, someone is in there and it's best to call out or knock.

Stacey_mb

I never closed the lid of the toilets until hubby was on chemo. Even though his was an oral chemo with a pill, it was still chemo.

The nurses and doctors said that the chemo chemicals can splash out of the toilet, so always close the lid.

We did it faithfully and I've done it ever since. If I'm using a public toilet that doesn't have a lid, it feels weird doing so.

Even when I'm alone in the house, I close the door. If I didn't, I'd have a magnificent view straight out the side door (downstairs bathroom) or straight down the hall and out the side window (upstairs bathroom). Just one of the quirks of this old house. (When we built our previous house, I took such care to situate the toilets where they would not be seen when the door was casually left open.)

I never close the door unless we have guests in the house and I am using said guest bathroom. Our bedroom door always stays closed and I do not shut bathroom door in there ever.

Depends: if I took a hot bath or shower then yes, to let the steam out of the room. Or if I made a little more 'scent' that I think may linger to the living room: yes. But if I just cleaned it, can't be bothered. I don't have a fan to suck out the air and for most of the year, it's too cold to leave the window open (right now -37C with the windchill. brrr!)

Nope

Living out in the country, the world is my urinal and there is no door. lol

this cracked me up! i can so relate. ;)

it's just me and the dog so nope, door stays open.

Never when I am alone especially when taking a shower because I don't have a fan in the bathroom

Nope

No, but my bathroom is at the back my bedroom and my bedroom door is closed. When I shower now since getting two exchange students, I do lock my bedroom door. I don't want to scar them for life accidentally, lol, but they have never opened my door. They knock and wait for me to open it, so that's good. I guess I'm afraid I'll answer them through the door one day, and they won't understand and then open it. So I still lock it.

Only time the bathroom door gets closed is when I put one of the cats in it. Either to allow others to eat peacefully or to give special food to the eldest. Even when husband was living here the door stayed open unless there was a guest.

Should The Bathroom Door Be Closed When The Exhaust Fan Is On? | Manufactured Home Parts And Accessories

nope

Embo, you've linked to a website for manufactured homes whose owner/sponsor is anonymous and undisclosed. No thanks, that's far from useful.

In my experience, there are two ways to exhaust odors or humidity from a room - negative pressure or positive pressure..

Negative pressure - an exhaust fan. In bathroom or WC room turned on. A window is first opened in that room or another room (in a house with no make up air system). Exhaust fan sucks air out, make up air for the room comes through the margins of the closed door (mostly underneath), the cracked window in the same room, or through an HVAC duct that connects to other rooms. Close the door, put on the exhaust fan, put your hand in these places to feel the incoming fresh air that replaces the air take out by the exhaust fan. If no make up air provided, the exhaust fan will turn but do little.

Positive pressure, for a house with ducted HVAC. Open a window a crack in another room, open a window a crack in the room you want to clear of smell or humidity, turn on the HVAC fan in fan only mode or heat or AC, whatever will get the system to blow. Close the bathroom door. The air you want to get rid of gets pushed out the window in the room. If you put your hand by the cracked window, you'll feel the flow.

Neither of these will do much with the bathroom door open. Simply opening one window and providing no air flow also does little. If the house has cross ventilation with a second window open, the humidity or smell will get blown out the window if the air current flow goes that way, or will be spread throughout the house if the wind direction is inbound through the bathroom window.

PS - same is true in a way for an exhaust fan over a cooktop. If you don't have a window open in another room (preferable, to avoid drafts), the exhaust hood fan won't accomplish much and sometimes won't accomplish anything at all. If you think your hood fan isn't working well, try opening a window next time, it makes a big difference.

I don't close the door if I am home alone. It would be a wasted effort as there is no-one there to see me. If anyone else is in the house, I close the door. That's what my family did when I was growing up so it became my habit.

Someone mentioned do you close the lid. As of today I have reason 17 to close the lid: so that if someone is in a hurry and takes their phone or 3 of their hip pocket so it doesn't fall in, but sets it down so quickly on the counter that it slides off the edge and into the bowl. (Note: *I* always close the lid, but DH does not.) Thank goodness the water was clean, the phone is pretty waterproof, and I have one of those PhoneSoap things thanks to a recommendation here.

No.....

Elmer, I clear the room with positive pressure.

(ok I’ll leave this thread alone now!)

Not usually but especially not when I shower because the cats dont like me taking a shower and they tell the world my life is in danger. When they can get in they sit on the side of the tub or up on the shower wall looking concerned.

"They tell the world my life is in danger" Thanks for the laugh!

Yes. Always. And lock it.

I believe I have some sort of complex though. As the youngest of 6, there were basically NO boundaries or expectations for privacy regarding me. My business was everyone's growing up. Even though I was very clearly expected to respect everyone else's boundaries. They (my siblings anyway) still try to cross some boundaries that I find intrusive. As they were older, their privacy was sacred, mine was considered "sneakiness." Plus my parents had a "no closed door" policy in their house.(that meant bedroom doors, not bathroom. But the bathroom doors did not have locks on them, they took them off) As someone who enjoyed being alone in a house of noise,and a naturally private person, I found this extremely difficult. So now, I close every door I get behind. Even if its just me and the fur heathens here.

Yes, I just feel more comfortable even if I' m alone. I close the door, but never lock it unless we have company.

My mother would never let us lock the bathroom door when we were growing up, because of an unfortunate incident with my paternal grandmother.

No for me

Yes, because the cats follow me.

If you don't risk strangers walking in on you, I think it's unwise to lock the bathroom door. It's not uncommon for medical emergencies to occur when people are in the bathroom (thus the pretty strict codes about the way doors swing in bathrooms). People head to the bathroom when they aren't feeling well, too. So locking it is not wise, should an emergency arise.

My grandson spends a lot of time at my home; I have never let him lock the bathroom door. I promised him I would NEVER walk in on him, in exchange for his agreement to never lock it. I also don't lock it when he is here; I would hate for him to have to deal with a medical emergency that involves me, but I figure it's better that he be able to figure out there is a problem and call for help than wonder about why he can't rouse me from the bathroom.

Olychick, I kind of agree. Have had 2 exchange students fall in the bathtub now. One passed out and the other slipped and fell. Luckily they both responded after a minute or two. I do have a "key" that I can unlock the doors with if I have to. Or i can easily bust open the door because they are flimsy. Not everyone does though.

DH and I only close the bathroom door when we have company or when we are trying to keep the bathroom warm in the winter when we're showering or to get into the linen closet behind the door.

Even when I'm alone I don't quite feel alone so I lock my door most of the time. When guests aren't here I am the only one that uses this washroom for the most part. Still it's a full house with five pets and three men and me so some dog or cat is bound to try to get in and leave the door wide open. ...Unless it's such an emergency that my bladder won't allow me to even stop to shut the door.. like after I come home...

I locked myself in our powder room when I was about four. Our nice next-door neighbor had brought his ladder to the (ground floor) window when I stopped panicking and figured out how to unlock the door (just turn the knob, Sue).

I'm curious about why you think toilets HAVE lids if you never use them? (Routinely closing before flushing also serves as a great way to break men of leaving seats up.)