# Bathroom door: open or closed? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 24, 2017, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-door-open-or-closed/802590 "2017-11-24T14:25:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2017, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-door-open-or-closed/802590/21 "2017-11-24T20:12:18Z")
Door open, light off, fan off with the exception that just after a shower, it’s door closed light off fan on to exhaust the moisture. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2017, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-door-open-or-closed/802590/22 "2017-11-24T20:24:45Z")
I don’t have a policy, but do have a dog that will drink from the toilet given the opportunity. When I leave the bathroom is usually left with the lid up and door open(dog goes with me) When I come home I usually close the door rather than put the lid down. ---
**Author:** ![PoppaSan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/poppasan/32/189_2.png) [@PoppaSan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoppaSan)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2017, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-door-open-or-closed/802590/23 "2017-11-24T22:59:26Z")
Two different rules. Downstairs bathroom is also the laundry and is just off the living room. When laundry is being done it is door closed for noise. Empty room has lights and fan off always. Otherwise during summer it is door cracked open. It is unheated so in winter the door is left open otherwise it would be too cold to use. Upstairs has a 3W LED light that burns 24/7. No window and little kids that can’t reach the switch (at last when it was built.) Door swings shut to a crack by itself if left open. Main lights and fan are off. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2017, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-door-open-or-closed/802590/24 "2017-11-24T23:20:54Z")
I live by myself, but I have three cats and a dog. I feed the cats on the counter in the bathroom so the dog can’t get to their food. The litter box is also in the bathroom. Therefore, default position is door open, lights off, fan on. (The bathroom has two windows to the outside, so in the daytime, lights not needed. The fan is a small fan that sits on the floor and circulates air.) ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2017, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-door-open-or-closed/802590/25 "2017-11-24T23:30:44Z")
Door open and fan off when unoccupied. \*Most \*of the time. For ten minutes or so after dropping a toxic neutron bomb of a load, it’s door-closed-fan-on, until the next time I walk past. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-door-open-or-closed/802590/26 "2017-11-25T01:40:55Z")
Also, SEAT DOWN. This was a really important rule, back when we had well water, so when there were no guests in the house, we had a “let it mellow” rule. And we had dogs. So, seat HAD to be down. We have both gotten into the habit of preferring the seat down. We don’t have a dog right now, although we have a cat who would probably play in it, if given the chance, because she plays in water everywhere else, and we are on the sewer line, so we no longer let it mellow, but we still put the seat down, every time. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-door-open-or-closed/802590/27 "2017-11-25T01:54:36Z")
Door open, light and fan off, toilet lid down. My husband keeps his meds on a shelf above the guest bathroom toilet and I don’t trust the cat not to knock anything into the commode, so lid closed. Plus, frankly, I think an open toilet is tacky, and it just won’t do! ---
**Author:** ![CelticKnot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/celticknot/32/3392_2.png) [@CelticKnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CelticKnot)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-door-open-or-closed/802590/28 "2017-11-25T02:04:34Z")
unoccupied: door open, light off, icky rental doesn’t have a fan. For people who want a light at night, street light outside provides enough. ---
**Author:** ![Lickety\_Split\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/67e7ee/32.png) [@Lickety\_Split\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lickety_Split_1)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-door-open-or-closed/802590/29 "2017-11-25T02:14:42Z")
But it depends on whether or not I am home alone, of course. If I am not, then the door is closed. This seems to me to be a common courtesy. This while thread reminds of stories I have read about how LBJ was notorious for leaving the door open, even when amidst conversation with other in the next room, and when he was dropping a deuce. LOL ---
**Author:** ![SamuelA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@SamuelA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SamuelA)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-door-open-or-closed/802590/30 "2017-11-25T02:52:18Z")
I did something I’m proud of. I started with a bathroom (in a very humid climate) that had no fan. So I bought one of those kits where the fan and light are combined, and the light is recessed, [like so](https://www.amazon.com/Broan-744-Recessed-Light-75-Watt/dp/B002OU1G98). I then installed an exhaust wall vent and hooked it all up, using about half a roll of that metal backed tape in the process. I then wired it with a motion sensor switch, set to vacancy mode. So basically, if I want to #2 or use the shower, I push the switch. That causes it to suck vapors and smelly gasses out of the bathroom for 30 minutes after I leave. A second switch is motion sensitive and turns on a light, on a shorter timer, for when I want to use the sink or just take a late night piss. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-door-open-or-closed/802590/31 "2017-11-25T03:18:52Z")
> [@Biffster](#): > > Why fan off ever? I take it you eat a lot of burritos? Main bath downstairs: lights off, door open and welcoming to the next pilgrim. Half bath upstairs off the dining room — previous owner built it out of the old dumbwaiter — lights off, door closed. Because it opens onto the dining room. ---
**Author:** ![Dancer\_Flight](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dancer_flight/32/7601_2.png) [@Dancer\_Flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dancer_Flight)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-door-open-or-closed/802590/32 "2017-11-25T06:42:59Z")
When I lived with a cat: Unoccupied - Door closed Occupied - Door Locked Lid down, Bog roll with tail to wall. Now: Unoccupied - Door Open Occupied - Door Closed Lid down, Bog roll tail out. In both cases, lights on only when in use. Fan on when occupied or recently so. My current bathroom only has one switch for both functions. -DF ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-door-open-or-closed/802590/33 "2017-11-25T22:11:07Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > What is this fan you speak of, and why would I want to have a noisy thing in my bathroom when God already invented windows? And why would anybody have a fan going in an empty bathroom, do they really really really like noise? Many apartments are arranged so that the bathroom does not share an exterior wall. So no window. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-door-open-or-closed/802590/34 "2017-11-25T22:15:11Z")
I don’t think of it as a rule but all my doors are left open because all my windows are left open most of the time. So no lights or fans on in unoccupied rooms. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2017, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-door-open-or-closed/802590/35 "2017-11-26T01:43:34Z")
We don’t have a fan and lights depends partly on the time of day and what we’re doing in there but -------- our door is almost always open. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-door-open-or-closed/802590.md?page=1)