Today is Works for Me (Backwards) Wednesday. This means that instead of sharing a tip with you, I will be asking for YOUR tips.
Calling all moms of little boys, and expert house cleaners! If you have little boys, this question will make you laugh, or cringe from flashbacks: How do you get horrendous urine odors from little boys' "near-misses" out of your bathroom?
Here's the situation: As you know, many little boys like to stand "like Daddy" when they pee. I try to discourage this with my boys, until they are old enough to really control their aim, if you know what I mean. My five year old recently started standing up, but unbeknownst to me, the three year old must have seen it, and started copying him. What's worse, both of them were standing off to the side a little bit, instead of standing right in front of the toilet. You guessed it, I started noticing yellow stains on the walls and my white shower curtain. The older one sometimes cleaned it up, but not well. I noticed this in the main bathroom, but I don't go in the children's bathroom as often, so sometimes it dried in there before being cleaned up.
Even worse, my daughter, for some strange reason, started not sitting up all the way on her potty seat on the toilet, resulting in a waterfall of pee onto the floor. Yikes! She, being sneakier, did clean it up--at least in the front. She then proceeded to hide her wet underwear and put on new ones. *sigh*
So at this point, you are imagining what the floor behind my toilet must be like. But my friends, it gets worse, because the idiots who built this house (don't get me started on them) put unprotected wood trim in the bathroom and no sealer or caulking between the trim and the linoleum! So after about ten times of trying to clean the bathroom with every known cleaner and deodorizer, I finally realized that the smell was most likely coming from the drywall behind the trim and the wood sub-floor under the linoleum, where some urine must have gotten into.
This is a rental home, so short of tearing out the drywall and linoleum, what can I do? Any tips would be appreciated. Tell me what works for you!
Have to agree with others and say vinegar. That is what my mum and aunty have both told me.
Posted by: Kathryn | November 07, 2007 at 02:19 PM
I recently swiped one of those odor sprays from a hospital. I keep the lysol or clorox type wipes next to the toilet (my boys are 6&8) for daily wipes, then a quick spray. It smells like a hospital, but used daily or every other keeps the other smell away. Hope that helps!
Posted by: Kendra | November 07, 2007 at 10:17 AM
Plain white vinegar. Also takes the smell out of clothes-- 1 cup in the rinse water. Does the same for cat/dog pee, too!
Posted by: Lisa | November 07, 2007 at 08:55 AM
My cousin and I were talking about that this weekend. Both of our bathrooms smell like a truck stop.
I've found vinegar to be the best for me. It's supposed to neutralize urine smell. All of the other tips are great, too.
Good luck!
Posted by: Alli | November 07, 2007 at 08:33 AM
I've had to battle this very thing since moving into our new home. The bathroom had a constant pee smell, and the vanity is water-damaged from a leaky sink. but we've conquered the pee smell!
Idea number one: Take apart the seat and clean out the hinges. I read this somewhere in the blogosphere and never would have thought to do it myself.. but sure enough, there was yellow nastiness CAKED inside the hinges of the toilet seat. ick!
Idea number two: Is the toilet caulked to the floor? if it is... that may be the problem. My DH recently pulled both the toilets in our *new* home to discover there was NO Seal! under the toilets. Apparently no one had thought to replace either seal since the house was built in 95. so the "waste material" was pooling up under the toilet, trapped in there by the caulk. We had no idea! We've been here almost 9 months now. once DH cleaned the mess and installed new wax seals, smell disappeared. **Word of caution though - if you pull the toilet up, you must replace the seal, whether it needs it or not.
Idea number 3: you said the trim was messed up now. rip it out and install new trim. Rip it off the wall, bleach the wall, then use a KILLZ primer on the wall under the trim, and then put up new, sealed wood, or even plastic trim. then caulk it to the floor and the wall.
That should do it. once you've cleaned out the pee smell, make it a habit to get in there once a day and, as FLYlady says, "Swish and swipe." Swish a toilet brush inside the bowl, and use a lysol wipe to swipe down the sides of the bowl, the floor around the bowl, and another one for the sink and tub. I know it sounds cheesy, but 5 minutes a day will keep the bathroom clean enough.
hth!
Posted by: Lorraine | November 07, 2007 at 08:27 AM
The only thing I've found that works for our 3 boys bathroom is BLEACH. I go in there about 2 times a week and pour a little in the toilet and fill the sink w/ water and add a little bleach. I let it sit for about 2 hours and then I flush and empty the sink. Voila.
Posted by: Kristin | November 07, 2007 at 07:39 AM
I've got the kids cleaning the bathroom every day, but I still have to go in there myself every two days or so and wash it really good. Make sure you've washed the whole bottom part of the bowl, and the floor, of course. Also, there are little tabs over the screws that hold the toilet seat on, and there is often urine in there. I think it pretty unlikely that it's coming from the wall, but I feel your pain. Good luck!
Posted by: Jennie C. | November 07, 2007 at 06:46 AM
Okay, I'm laughing at your post, b/c just yesterday I was talking to a mother of 8- with 7 of them being boys- and she was lamenting about this very same problem! In fact, she said she walked into the boys' bathroom and walked right back out, it was so disgusting! Her solution was to make them clean it after school.
I foresee this as a bigger problem in my future with 4 little boys of my own!
Best of luck!
Posted by: Christina | November 07, 2007 at 06:13 AM