Smelly toilet!

littlevet1

Hi everyone
This is my first post on the MSE forums, and I know the subject is a little strange but I'd quite like to get this sorted out, and you old-stylers seem to be a fountain of knowledge!
I live in uni halls and my bathroom is apparantly cleaned every week. However, my toilet really smells of urine and even though I've tried cleaning it to get rid of the smell (on top of the apparent weekly clean) it's still really bad. Under the rim there seems to be some brown limescale which I've tried to scrub away but no amount of elbow grease seems to shift.
Any suggestions?!
Thank you very much

loren83

When I was at uni I wouldn't even have thought to tackle the toilets so well done. Some one with more experience will be along shortly whith some good advice!

littlevet1

Well, it really does smell, sometimes when I'm sat at my desk I can smell it, even with the loo seat down and the bathroom door closed!

floyd

You might actually find that its not the toilet that smells, it could be the floor or even the walls if a mucky boy lived there before you. Urine is notoriusly hard to shift from carpets and floorboards once it has seeped through as no amount of scrubbing will remove or neutralise the urea. See if you can borrow a blacklight from someone as urine glows under blacklight, that will soon show you where its coming from.
There is a product on the market that I have used called Urine-off (from QVC) its not cheap but it certainly works as our cat took to marking our hall doormat and floor after another cat visited.

MushyPeas

Hi littlevet1, welcome! So glad you have posted this as I have the same question. I'm sharing a house with 3 blokes and the bathroom smells of urine. Actually, I noticed that the whole house smells! Apart from opening windows for a blow through, what are the best ways of 'deodorising' a place? Is there any OS magic thing I could leave in each room to eat up the horrible smells?

BTW the bathroom floor and walls are stained yellow, even after scrubbing

comping_cat

What sort of floor covering is in there? If its carpet, give it a good scrub and when dry, sprinkle with bicarb to help neutralise any smell. You could also make a paste of vinegar and bicarb, and put on the brown 'limescale' to help remove that. Like floyd says, if its a smell on the floorboards, im not sure what will shift it.

comping_cat

What sort of floor covering is in there? If its carpet, give it a good scrub and when dry, sprinkle with bicarb to help neutralise any smell. You could also make a paste of vinegar and bicarb, and put on the brown 'limescale' to help remove that. Like floyd says, if its a smell on the floorboards, im not sure what will shift it.

MushyPeas

Ooh, hijaking your thread, sorry littlevet1, mine is plastic flooring.

littlevet1

Thanks for the replies. The floor is lino, I think. I'm pretty sure the smell comes from the loo rather than the floor (I've had my nose in it!) so I'll try the bicarb/vinegar suggestion and hopefully that will help
Thanks again!

janeawej

could this horrid smell be coming from 'something' and we all know what that is! under the bit where the seat is joined onto the basin? maybe you could try taking the seat off cleaning the hinges and under the fstenings ect, also under the outside of the bowl and where it joins the floor cos boys do dribble! hope this helps! jane

pigpen

Better still.. buy a cheap loo seat and simply replace it.. They often have them for about £4-£5 in Wilkinsons.. bin the old one and add the new one.. or 'destroy' the old one to the handiman has to replace it if all else fails!!

Urine that has missed the loo entirely could have seeped in the gaps between the lino and the loo and under the floor covering.. pretty gross.. if it is wooden boards, they'll need replacing because NOTHING on earth gets rid of the smell, I had the same problem at my old house and nothing would work.