You are serenely humming your favorite song in the shower, and all these objects are just waiting to kill you, injure you or infect you with an infection.
We're joking, of course, but still be careful with them. Especially when you bathe a child.
1. Gender
Do you disdain to go without slippers in the shower of a fitness club? Your own bathroom floor isn't much cleaner: Australian scientists estimate that it contains, on average, 200 times more than sanitary standards.
How to escape? Wash the floor with disinfectants and place a washable rug on it.
2. Spilled water
Every year, about 450 people die from slipping on wet floors. Children and the elderly are at risk.
How to escape? Choose a shower stall with a door rather than a curtain. Install tiles with an uneven surface. There are also special mats that do not slip on the floor.
3. Toothbrush
London professor John Oxford said that the bathroom is a difficult place to plan. Every day, dirt from our own bodies scatters throughout the room and settles on objects that outwardly seem clean.
A study by British scientists says that up to 100 million people can live on a toothbrush. Some of them can be almost fatal: E. coli, fungi, streptococci, etc. Hygiene in shared bathrooms suffers especially badly: germs from the toilet scatter within a radius of 180 cm.
How to escape? Store brushes in a case or put special caps on them. Alternatively, you can put the glass with brushes on a closed shelf.
4. Shower curtain
Always damp and warm - ideal for the growth of bacteria and fungi. the curtain can cause intestinal diseases and inflammation of the genitourinary system.
How to escape? Wash (or better yet, change) once every three months. After you have taken a shower, straighten the curtain and open the door. This will make it dry faster.
5. Shower head
American researchers have found that almost a third of shower heads contain pathogens. The fact is that they always contain warm water, which bacteria love very much.
How to escape? Before taking a shower, run a stream of hot water through the nozzle.
Dampness that occurs when certain rules are not followed in the bath is inevitable, no matter how hard you try to prevent it. Due to the high level of air humidity, the likelihood of mold and dampness is very high. And they are an excellent environment for the emergence and reproduction of various microorganisms.
Why and where does dampness come from?
Mainly due to problems with the ventilation system, if the ventilation is clogged or completely blocked, then the moisture simply has nowhere to go and it begins to accumulate and then penetrate into all the cracks and crevices.
The second cause of dampness is poor heating; when hot, humid air comes into contact with icy walls, a condensation process occurs - the transition of a substance from a gaseous to a liquid state.
Another reason could be pipes with cold water; condensation constantly accumulates on them. High humidity can also be due to long-term storage of water containers and large amounts of drying wet clothes indoors.
In extreme situations, dampness in the bathroom can cause the appearance of beetles and other insects that feel at home in damp and damp places.
They are not numerous, you can find such insects as: silverfish, butterflies, mosquitoes, cockroaches. As well as woodlice and millipedes - nooks and flycatchers (which are not insects at all).
How can you tell if your bathtub is “infected”?
Stains, black and green plaque on the walls, damp and peeling wallpaper, unpleasant odors, insects - all this serves as an alarm bell for taking measures to treat dampness in the bathroom.
How to get rid of dampness in the bathroom?
First of all, to prevent the appearance of new fungus and mold, you will need to remove all sources of moisture: if there are leaking plumbing (broken taps, toilets, broken hoses, etc.) - fix, clean and adjust the sewer pipes.
To remove already formed plaque in the form of a fungus, you can use soapy water, bleach, copper sulfate, any detergent and bleach. When using chemicals to remove mold, you need to wear rubber gloves so as not to damage your hands.
To clean all “damp” areas, you need to thoroughly rinse them with a sponge and detergent several times, then with water, then wipe with a dry cloth and treat with an antiseptic or waterproofing agent.
After this and eliminating the causes of dampness from the inside, the bathroom needs to be dried as much as possible using a portable electric heater, a hair dryer or a heat gun.
If, despite all your efforts, the smell of dampness in the bathroom remains, perhaps you have not found the true source of the mycelium, which is hidden deep in the walls, floor, ceiling or sewer system, and the problem is fundamental.
Then you will have to urgently completely destroy the bathroom, destroy and clean everything that was deeply hidden, completely treat the entire room and re-do the repairs, already doing everything in advance to prevent this from happening again.
Preventing dampness
Ventilation
In the absence of any ventilation in a closed room, the appearance of dampness is predetermined. If there is one, but the ventilation hole is clogged or closed, you need to clean it and install an additional fan inside the hood to draw out moisture.
In order for the moist air to leave faster, you need to ventilate the bathtub as often as possible: do not close the door, leave it wide open at least at night, and if there is a window or window, open it sometimes to let in fresh air.
Waterproofing
To protect the surface from unnecessary moisture, paint the ceiling and walls with waterproof paints, and cover them with a waterproofing coating before tiling.
Temperature
If possible, install a wall and floor heating system, then you won’t have to do a bunch of different manipulations to eliminate excess moisture, but simply turn on the heating. Or you can use a converter battery and a panel radiator. Try to maintain the temperature in the room at least twenty degrees, then the moisture will disappear before it appears.
- Dry wet things on the balcony, street, and not in the room
- Check the ventilation systems regularly; if problems are detected, it is better to contact a specialist and only as a last resort, clean them yourself
- Buy heated towel rails, they can not only dry towels, but also warm up the bathroom walls
- After taking a shower, do not close the doors until the room has been ventilated.
- Do not store large containers of water in confined spaces for long periods of time.
Photo of a bathroom with dampness
Most people are used to looking at their bathroom as a secluded place from the whole world. They never thought, even for one second, that sometimes this place could be extremely unsafe. Recent studies have shown that one of the biggest omissions in most home safety plans was the bathroom.
Look at the bathroom itself. When you're in the bathroom, you're surrounded by slippery tiles and hard ceramic surfaces. They are more likely to cause injury and bruises if you slip and fall on them. Believe it or not, it's quite likely that accidents are more likely to occur in your bathroom than in any other room in your home.
Any person who has ever slipped in the shower will certainly attest to this fact. The general lack of safety awareness in most homes means that most bathrooms are just waiting for an accident to happen.
Your bathroom is filled with water - it's everywhere - from the drain to the bathtub or shower stall itself. Walking barefoot in the bathroom increases the risk of injury by 100%. It's surprising how many people don't use special shower mats or flip-flops when walking on tiles covered in soapy water. Most modern bathtubs and showers are sold with special etched floors that are designed to prevent slipping. Also, having rugs in the bathroom or shower room will not hurt you. If you do not take precautions, you are even more susceptible to injury risks. It's quite sad that people die from falls in the bathroom every single day. Follow safety precautions to avoid falling into this group.
It's time to take a closer look at the bathroom floor. What type of coating are they? If the bathroom has tiles on the floor, then make sure that they are not slippery tiles or that the surface is such that they cannot slip and fall on. If you can't find anything to cover them, then you need to use rubber-lined bath mats to cover the bulk of the floor area - especially around the sink and the bathtub itself. There's always the option of re-covering your bathroom floor with hard industrial carpet (it's not very attractive, but you'll never slip on it) or replacing the slippery tiles with another type of tile that's designed specifically for bathrooms. Most people use regular wall tiles for their bathroom floors - this is very dangerous.
Now, finally, take a look at the various fixtures and fittings that are found in the bathroom. There are shelves, cabinets, nozzles, taps and furniture hanging everywhere in the bathroom. Basically, all bathrooms are designed for looks and aesthetics as opposed to functionality and safety.
You may find faucets with tapered edges, mirrors without frames or unbreakable coating, etc. Such fixtures in bathrooms most likely expose you to the risk of injury, and therefore, you should first of all worry about ensuring safety in the bathroom when moving to a new apartment/house.
Why neglect safety in your bathroom when you would never consider neglecting it in any other room? Only when you pay your attention to the possible dangers will they really become clear. Hopefully, all the above tips have given you something to think about in this regard.
Health
No one usually thinks about any danger when soaking in a hot bath.
In fact, there are sometimes quite serious (and in some cases even fatal) health hazards lurking in your bathroom.
According to the Home Safety Council, home injuries were the fifth leading cause of death in the United States in 2007.
The most dangerous places in the house are bathrooms, kitchens and stairs. What is the danger?
1. There is water everywhere
The biggest danger in the bathroom can be nothing other than water - it is everywhere: in the shower, bathtub, sink. Many suffer injuries, sometimes fatal, due to falls. The problem is that sometimes water can be where it shouldn't be. It's easy to slip on a wet floor if, for example, you didn't close the curtains properly while taking a shower and water leaked onto the floor.
Advice: Ideally, the shower should be equipped with a shatterproof glass or plastic door, and not just a curtain. To reduce the risk, be careful not to allow water to leak onto the floor when you take a bath. For example, you can install the curtain so that it falls inside the bathroom rather than hanging outside. To prevent the floor from being too slippery even if water gets on it, install tiles with an uneven surface.
There are also special mats that help prevent slipping and which can be placed near the shower or bathtub. Ordinary rugs can also be dangerous, so you should choose ones that absorb moisture well and do not slip on the floor surface. If you decide to make renovations, it would still be better to take care of special tiles on the floor.
2. Slippery bathtub or shower
When taking a shower or bath, we usually use various products. The problem is that shampoos, conditioners, shower gels, scrubs, shaving creams and bubble baths settle on the surface and make it very slippery.
Advice: Bathtubs and showers should be cleaned regularly after use. This will help get rid of detergent buildup on the walls and reduce the risk of slipping next time. Slippery surfaces are especially dangerous for the elderly or those with balance problems, so the use of special mats inside the bathtub or shower is especially recommended for such people.
3. Dazzling shine in the bathroom
Clean, sparkling bathrooms look great, but the combination of light, white surfaces and reflective objects (mirrors and chrome) can be disorienting. For people with poor vision, shine in the bathroom can cause serious harm, especially for older people. Also, with the blinding shine, you can easily not notice the water on the floor and slip.
Advice: Matting regular bright light bulbs can reduce shine in your bathroom. When decorating a bathroom, you can combine tiles with wallpaper that does not reflect light so much. You can also paint the walls in contrasting colors if one of the residents has poor eyesight or problems with orientation.
4. Electric heaters in the bathroom
People who want to heat a bathroom for the elderly, children, or those who are sensitive to cold temperatures often use electric heaters. Like other electrical appliances (hair dryers or shavers) that are used in the bathroom where there is a lot of water, heaters are very dangerous and can cause electric shock.
Another danger is that someone could slip, fall on the device and get burned. Any towel, rug or piece of toilet paper near the appliance can cause a fire.
Advice: If keeping your bathroom warm is a must, install heating systems specifically for bathrooms. Or you can turn on the hot water and heat it with steam before an elderly person or child uses the bath.
5. Broken shower door
Glass shower doors gained popularity in the 1980s as an alternative to vinyl curtains. Basically, of course, they are useful. But sometimes they tend to break if installed incorrectly. They also break easily if you slip and hit them.
Most doors are made of tempered glass, so they break into very small pieces. Even small pieces can easily cut themselves, especially for children and the elderly.
Advice: You don't have to replace the glass door if you already have one installed in your shower. Some glass doors have towel bars installed on them, so to reduce pressure on them, ask your family not to hang towels on these bars. Instead, install a coat rack on the shower wall.
Check these doors regularly to ensure they do not develop small cracks. Make sure that the door does not scratch. Some craftsmen claim that frosted glass is more fragile than transparent glass, but there are no exact indicators of harmlessness yet. If a glass door or mirror in the bathroom does break, place a towel on the floor to avoid stepping on the broken pieces, and then thoroughly clean and vacuum the bathroom when everything is dry.
The bathroom is one of the most important rooms in any apartment or house, despite the fact that it usually occupies a very small area. The bathroom should be extremely functional, safe and at the same time comfortable and relaxing. Our article will tell you how to avoid the most common mistakes in planning and decorating a bathroom, provide everything you need and not try to save on vital things.
Cerasa
Choose the right materials for your bathroom
According to statistics, most home injuries occur in the bathroom, so experts categorically do not recommend using smooth floor tiles in this room. Just a few drops of water can be enough to turn it into a skating rink, which is especially dangerous if there are children or elderly people in the family. For the bathroom, choose slightly ribbed floor tiles, preferably with a special anti-slip coating, for example, textured artificial stone.
Tiles that imitate the appearance of wood will help create coziness in the bathroom, Ceramiche Gardenia Orchidea
You should also pay attention to the ceiling finish. A popular and budget-friendly finishing option is plastic panels, but you should remember that they definitely won’t save you from a possible leak, and besides, there will be unappetizing stains on the surface. The optimal solution today is considered to be a suspended ceiling, which will reliably protect even from a large-scale flood from above. To drain the water accumulated in the ceiling, it will be enough to make just one small puncture of the surface.
Correctly calculate the number of tiles
There is nothing more disappointing when you only need a couple of tiles to complete your bathroom, and the store cheerfully informs you that this collection has already been discontinued. Unfortunately, errors when calculating the required amount of material are very common, which is why you need to be as careful as possible when taking measurements and take tiles with a reserve.
Don’t be afraid to combine tiles with mosaics - it looks very impressive, Lea Caramiche
Memo: when laying tiles diagonally, you should take 15% of the required amount, when laying horizontally - 10%.
Don't skimp on faucets
If the goal is to save money, set your priorities correctly: Italian tiles from a fashionable designer or a bathtub with a hydromassage are by no means essential items, but a leaking faucet that does not regulate the water well can definitely ruin the life of the whole family. Instead of regularly replacing one low-quality faucet or toilet with another of the same level, it is better to choose from the very beginning, albeit not the most stylish, but reliable option.
Rubinetterie F.lli Frattini
Take care of high-quality ventilation of the room
We tend to underestimate things that are invisible at first glance. One of them is the ventilation system, which is more important in a room with high humidity than anywhere else. To prevent mold and similar untidiness from growing in the bathroom, check the quality of natural ventilation in the room and install forced (fan) ventilation if necessary.
Advice: An additional fan sometimes turns on automatically along with the lighting, however, this is not always convenient. It is better to provide an autonomous switch for forced ventilation.
Pay attention to the height of the bathtub and sink
Obviously, the sink should be at a comfortable level for the user. As a standard, this height is 85 cm from the floor and is designed for people with a height of 1.65 to 1.85 cm. Accordingly, if the height of family members differs significantly from the standard, it makes sense to choose a hanging model and install it at a comfortable level.
The wall-hung sink can be equipped with additional rails and cabinets, Cosentino Group
Very often, due to the laying of additional pipes, it is necessary to increase the height of the floor or install the bathtub on a podium. In this case, it is also necessary to take into account that a high side in combination with a podium can be inconvenient, especially for short people, which increases the risk of slipping or injury. In this case, you should choose a different bathtub model, abandon the podium or provide steps or steps in it.
Memo: if the bathtub is built into a tiled podium, do not forget to provide a hatch in it, in case you need to change pipes or repair something.
Do not install the toilet opposite the entrance - it is not a throne
The toilet is, of course, an important and necessary thing, but it is still not worth making it the center of the bathroom interior. It is advisable that it is not located opposite the door and does not fall into the line of sight from other rooms. Sometimes it makes sense to install it diagonally or hide it behind a small wall projection or partition if we are talking about a combined bathroom.
Ceramica Cielo
Memo: remember that expanding wet areas, moving the toilet to another place and combining the bathroom can only be done in agreement with the housing inspection.
Make the right choice: shower or bath
Most of us want to soak in a spacious bath, but objective reality is often far from the dream. In a small bathroom, it makes sense to install not just a shower stall, but one that will take up minimal space.
A minimalist shower will not visually clutter the space and will not take up much space, Dimasi Bathroom
Advice: the best option for many may be a combined model, which is a hybrid of a cabin with a splash screen and a full-fledged bathtub.
Combined bath and shower, Jacuzzi Europe
Take care of lighting
Few of us can boast of a bathroom with a window. Accordingly, there are no natural sources of lighting, which means that artificial sources will have to be used as much as possible. Recommended layout: built-in ceiling lighting around the perimeter of the room and additional lamps near the mirror in front of which you apply makeup or shave, and in the sink area.
Options for placing additional lamps in the sink area, Kerasan
Memo: in the bathroom, the location of lighting sources should be planned at the renovation stage, since due to high humidity, all lighting fixtures require additional insulation and grounding.
As much as you might want to avoid clutter in your bathroom, you can't do without storage. Additional hanging shelves in the corner, baskets for dirty laundry, a cabinet or a neat box for small items - all this will require its own space, which should be provided for in advance.
Built-in wardrobes with glass doors in the bathroom, Falper
For fans of order and minimalism, built-in niches or cabinets with closed doors hiding numerous vials and jars from prying eyes can be a way out.
An unusual solution for a storage area, Moma Design
Memo: In addition to plumbing fixtures, the bathroom must have furniture for storage, at least minimally. Towels, detergents and cosmetics, hair dryer, etc. it must be kept at hand, and not in another room, otherwise there can be no talk of any comfort.
Remember the outlets
Some seemingly insignificant details can significantly ruin your life and mood. One of them is the lack of sockets, because in every room of a modern house there is a lot of available equipment. In the sink area it is worth providing at least one socket with special protection against water ingress, and also provide additional sockets for a washing machine, boiler, etc. devices.
A socket for a hair dryer, electric razor and other devices will definitely come in handy, Duravit Italia