my answer depends on whether the toilet uses water (either Western style flush toilet or seat with holes over running water/sewer) or pit style. If it's the latter, you need some method to combat odor (lime, etc).
Ryan Good Waste should be in a toilet? I don't quite understand. Craig Hatler I mean, I don't have much. Mostly research. Dianne Harris That is probably a good idea. Arlene Medder Or train style, I guess.
Let me revise: what features, equipment, and style are important to you in public and semi-public toilets and toilet rooms that you encounter? That is, do please consider work toilets but probably not home toilets.
A way to keep your feet clean is probably the most important function of a toilet. So a hole, boards, pipes, something like that. Or complementary galoshes.
Arlene Medder Thanks! Privacy: Are the half-walls in many US public toilets ok? Odor Control: Agreed. Comfort: Agreed, despite knowing that a reliance upon sitting in our everyday lives is quite for us. This is probably not the place to change that norm. Cleanliness: Agreed.
a receptical that can take a variety of human wastes with minimal need for me to interact with it through contact, and one or more devices designed for the purpose of cleaning all of the various orifices and appendages. Basically just a shower with a good wide drain.
Waste should be in a toilet. Like shit and piss waste.
"Let me revise: what features, equipment, and style are important to you in public and semi-public toilets and toilet rooms that you encounter?"
Ahhhh! Ok, that makes more sense. An enclosed space with a secure door. TP within easy reach. Placing TP behind where you sit is not to my liking. Put it on the left or right. The place should be well ventilated, clean, not wet, and low traffic. The toilet should not be too tall.
William Nichols If it's unisex, no. Because some women's garments require disrobing to use facilities. If it's women only, then half-walls are fine; with the caveat of not having a direct line of sight to the door.
Ryan Good Not too tall? As in, it should be easy to sit on? Makes sense. Agreed, putting TP behind is difficult. How private should this be? Yanni Cooper Both! Arlene Medder I'd never thought about garmets that need to be removed. Interesting. Robert Bohl You raise a good point! I'd say separating you from the refuse, as opposed to the emphasis on the feet, but yes. Yours is basically the definition of "improved sanitation" worldwide.
OK, next main question: What annoys you the most about toilets and toilet rooms you've used?
Arlene Medder : To what extent would Dianne Harris 's notion of a shower with a big wide drain fix the cleanliness issues? Cameron Mount Agreed, the pretend privacy can be bad. And ventilation. Would a shower with a big wide drain assist with the cleanliness issues? Dianne Harris If there are never enough, then oen way to combat that is to increase the throughput by reducing the time taken per person. Ideas on how to do that?
Ryan Good The curiosity that I am heir to. Just read a book "Toilet" by Harvey Molotch, and am very interested in other people's perspective. I know my own, and not asking others would leave a lot of unexamined assumptions.
Stalls with walls from about 10" off the ground to around 6' off the ground and a door that latches is good. From my experiences in Ethiopia, I've also seen snail-shell walls work well, where there's no door but no line of visibility.
Yanni Cooper Not if these steps are taken: everything is waterproof or otherwise protected from water spray (ie plastic cover over the toilet paper) and the doors fully open. Spray those stalls down.
Water.
ReplyDeleteWhy is that, Craig Hatler ?
ReplyDeleteBecause otherwise it won't flush.
ReplyDeleteOh, so you are assuming a western-style toilet. Check.
ReplyDeletepipes.
ReplyDeleteWhy pipes, Ryan Ó Laoithe ?
ReplyDeleteWaste
ReplyDeleteI suppose I am. I don't have any other frame of reference.
ReplyDeletea hole, it's the only thing I can thinking of in common with all the types of toilets I have encountered. (composting, airplane, boat, squat, ect.)
ReplyDeletemy answer depends on whether the toilet uses water (either Western style flush toilet or seat with holes over running water/sewer) or pit style. If it's the latter, you need some method to combat odor (lime, etc).
ReplyDeleteRyan Good Waste should be in a toilet? I don't quite understand.
ReplyDeleteCraig Hatler I mean, I don't have much. Mostly research.
Dianne Harris That is probably a good idea.
Arlene Medder Or train style, I guess.
Let me revise: what features, equipment, and style are important to you in public and semi-public toilets and toilet rooms that you encounter? That is, do please consider work toilets but probably not home toilets.
By 'toilet', do you mean the room, or just the device? Also, would you consider a urinal to be a toilet?
ReplyDeletePrivacy
ReplyDeleteOdor control
Comfort (seating, due to the way I was trained)
Method to clean myself
method to clean my hands
Kevin Farnworth Both, and yes.
ReplyDeleteDepends on whether you mean the waste-disposal device specifically, or the room in which it's located...
ReplyDeleteA way to keep your feet clean is probably the most important function of a toilet. So a hole, boards, pipes, something like that. Or complementary galoshes.
ReplyDeleteArlene Medder Thanks!
ReplyDeletePrivacy: Are the half-walls in many US public toilets ok?
Odor Control: Agreed.
Comfort: Agreed, despite knowing that a reliance upon sitting in our everyday lives is quite for us. This is probably not the place to change that norm.
Cleanliness: Agreed.
Robert Bohl Serious?
ReplyDeletea receptical that can take a variety of human wastes with minimal need for me to interact with it through contact, and one or more devices designed for the purpose of cleaning all of the various orifices and appendages. Basically just a shower with a good wide drain.
ReplyDelete"Tell me what should be in a toilet."
ReplyDeleteWaste should be in a toilet. Like shit and piss waste.
"Let me revise: what features, equipment, and style are important to you in public and semi-public toilets and toilet rooms that you encounter?"
Ahhhh! Ok, that makes more sense. An enclosed space with a secure door. TP within easy reach. Placing TP behind where you sit is not to my liking. Put it on the left or right. The place should be well ventilated, clean, not wet, and low traffic. The toilet should not be too tall.
William Nichols
ReplyDeleteIf it's unisex, no. Because some women's garments require disrobing to use facilities. If it's women only, then half-walls are fine; with the caveat of not having a direct line of sight to the door.
William Nichols - Utterly serious. Hookworm is something awful. Protecting yourself from walking into shit is the foundational need for a toilet.
ReplyDeleteRyan Good Not too tall? As in, it should be easy to sit on? Makes sense. Agreed, putting TP behind is difficult. How private should this be?
ReplyDeleteYanni Cooper Both!
Arlene Medder I'd never thought about garmets that need to be removed. Interesting.
Robert Bohl You raise a good point! I'd say separating you from the refuse, as opposed to the emphasis on the feet, but yes. Yours is basically the definition of "improved sanitation" worldwide.
OK, next main question: What annoys you the most about toilets and toilet rooms you've used?
There are never enough of them.
ReplyDeleteinadequate cleanliness measures
ReplyDeleteArlene Medder : To what extent would Dianne Harris 's notion of a shower with a big wide drain fix the cleanliness issues?
ReplyDeleteCameron Mount Agreed, the pretend privacy can be bad. And ventilation. Would a shower with a big wide drain assist with the cleanliness issues?
Dianne Harris If there are never enough, then oen way to combat that is to increase the throughput by reducing the time taken per person. Ideas on how to do that?
Height... I find if I am forced to use the handicap stall, that they toilet is too tall for my liking.
ReplyDeleteHow private? For me the half walls are enough. Stalls without a door are is right out for #2. I would not like a roman style restroom.
So... why are you asking all of this? Or would knowing taint your results?
ReplyDeleteRyan Good The curiosity that I am heir to. Just read a book "Toilet" by Harvey Molotch, and am very interested in other people's perspective. I know my own, and not asking others would leave a lot of unexamined assumptions.
ReplyDeleteBasically everything Arlene Medder says gets a "what she said" from me. Also: a place to hang or set whatever you are carrying.
ReplyDeleteMeguey Baker Preference on unary rooms versus multiple person bath rooms?
ReplyDeleteStalls with walls from about 10" off the ground to around 6' off the ground and a door that latches is good. From my experiences in Ethiopia, I've also seen snail-shell walls work well, where there's no door but no line of visibility.
ReplyDeleteI've become a fan of the unary toilet. The single person, non-gendered, accessible thing. Chief concerns: space allocation, timing efficiency.
ReplyDeleteOther than that, I see no real problems.
The major issue with that would be the stalls would be a lot harder to clean...
ReplyDeleteYanni Cooper
ReplyDeleteNot if these steps are taken: everything is waterproof or otherwise protected from water spray (ie plastic cover over the toilet paper) and the doors fully open. Spray those stalls down.