# Best products to eliminate bathroom odor? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 20, 2004, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-products-to-eliminate-bathroom-odor/240930 "2004-04-20T00:34:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rostfrei](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7bcc69/32.png) [@rostfrei](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rostfrei)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-products-to-eliminate-bathroom-odor/240930/1 "2004-04-20T00:34:21Z")
I can’t stand it anymore! My office is next door to the womens restroom and I can no longer tolerate the funk. There’s a lady who goes in there every afternoon and bombs the place. We’ve tried the normal Glade sprays, etc, but it just makes it smell like someone took a crap in a rosegarden. Are there any products or potions that will stop odors in their tracks? ---
**Author:** ![START](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@START](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/START)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-products-to-eliminate-bathroom-odor/240930/2 "2004-04-20T01:20:02Z")
Buy air Neutralizer products or this brand called Ozium. Mostly anything that says Air Neutralizer will not just cover over the smell but eliminate it or you could could get an Ionic Breeze air purifier system if it’s really, really bad. The Ionic Breeze makes my house always smell like it just rained. ---
**Author:** ![Dragonblink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Dragonblink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragonblink)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-products-to-eliminate-bathroom-odor/240930/3 "2004-04-20T03:54:33Z")
As a short-term, emergency solution you might try putting a cup of ground coffee in the bathroom. Shake it up every time you go in there, and usually all you can smell is coffee. (It’s what we call the “Starbucks Air Freshener” 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-products-to-eliminate-bathroom-odor/240930/4 "2004-04-20T04:06:54Z")
You’re thinking all wrong. You gotta attack the source of the problem. Narrow down Bomber Lady, and next time she comes out of the can, yell “JESUS CHRIST, WOMAN! HOW ABOUT A COURTESY FLUSH FOR THE REST OF US?! F\*CKING HELL, DID THE GERBIL DIE OR WHAT!?” One way or another, the smell will no longer be your problem. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-products-to-eliminate-bathroom-odor/240930/5 "2004-04-20T05:02:35Z")
Don’t bother with smelly sprays. Just buy a box of those kitchen matches. Nothing overpowers an odor like lighting and then blowing out a match. [sub]Not that _I_ would ever, um, need anything like that. Everything that comes out of my body smells like roses.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-products-to-eliminate-bathroom-odor/240930/6 "2004-04-20T05:08:13Z")
> [@Giraffe](#): > > Not that _I_ would ever, um, need anything like that. Everything that comes out of my body smells like roses. So this is why you had no qualms about eating that sandwich, eh? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-products-to-eliminate-bathroom-odor/240930/7 "2004-04-20T13:04:56Z")
Buy a little bag of zeolite at your local hardward or health food store. This amazing mineral will take the smell of anything out of anything. We used once in a basement where the tenants had left their three big dogs every morning and let them out every night without once going down there. If zeolite can handle that, your problem should be a breeze. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-products-to-eliminate-bathroom-odor/240930/8 "2004-04-21T06:37:40Z")
> [@Dragonblink](#): > > As a short-term, emergency solution you might try putting a cup of ground coffee in the bathroom. Shake it up every time you go in there, and usually all you can smell is coffee. > > (It’s what we call the “Starbucks Air Freshener” 🙂 ) problem with this is that you will never be able to drink coffee again without associating it with the bombed toilet smell… ---
**Author:** ![gum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bbe5ce/32.png) [@gum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gum)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-products-to-eliminate-bathroom-odor/240930/9 "2004-04-21T07:16:26Z")
I so agree on those rose smelling ‘refresheners’. Nothing is as bad as poop mixed with roses. Try a lighted candle. [AND maybe the lady can say a prayer in front of it, asking not to stink so much] Lemon juice helps too. But I can’t imagine you squeezing a lemon every time someone used the bathroom. What if you yell: “CLOSE THE DOOR”? ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-products-to-eliminate-bathroom-odor/240930/10 "2004-04-21T13:09:12Z")
Why not put a note on the stall door so she reads it as she is in there : \*\*Courtesy Flush \*\* ---
**Author:** ![King\_Eumenes\_II\_of\_Pergamum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@King\_Eumenes\_II\_of\_Pergamum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/King_Eumenes_II_of_Pergamum)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-products-to-eliminate-bathroom-odor/240930/11 "2004-04-21T13:14:04Z")
Sounds like a venting problem. I know you might feel uncomfortable mentioning it to management, but putting a vent in is not really expensive in the scope of most maintenance budgets, and probably the landlord, not your company, would pay for it. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-products-to-eliminate-bathroom-odor/240930/12 "2004-04-21T13:14:06Z")
I caved in a bought for my son \*\*Pokemon \*\* cards. Instictively, he seems to know how to play this game. I want to learn this info so that I can 1) have a bonding time with my son and 2) actually win . ---
**Author:** ![yellowval](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/919ad9/32.png) [@yellowval](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowval)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-products-to-eliminate-bathroom-odor/240930/13 "2004-04-21T13:30:17Z")
My favorite bathroom freshener is made by Watkins. The Cranilla and the Baked Apple Pie are both very good. At work it seems we’re always trying something new. Two of my co-workers are very sensitive to smells and complain whenever anyone sprays “too much” freshener in the bathroom. (Must resist urge to use “eyeroll” smilie.) Apparently they’d rather smell poop, and have our customers smell it, instead. We recently got some of that new Oust air sanitizer. I must say it’s much better than your typical Glade freshener. But it would only be my choice if the Watkins kind is not available. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-products-to-eliminate-bathroom-odor/240930/14 "2004-04-21T13:40:30Z")
[QUOTE=Giraffe] Don’t bother with smelly sprays. Just buy a box of those kitchen matches. Nothing overpowers an odor like lighting and then blowing out a match. Ahh, my mother’s air freshener of choice. When you get right down to it, I’d rather replace the bad smell with a good smell. The match thing doesn’t do more than just overpower, and with a really bad smell. Yes, it’s cheap, but a can of Glade only costs 88cents at Wal-Mart. I vote for poop in a pile of roses (or Fresh Linen, or Citrus Sensation) over the match thing any day. And if you put up a Courtesy Flush sign, better define the term. I never heard it in my life until I started visiting SDMB. (My family was very big on the not wasting water thing) ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-products-to-eliminate-bathroom-odor/240930/15 "2004-04-21T13:41:19Z")
Find out whatever **Lieu** uses… ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-products-to-eliminate-bathroom-odor/240930/16 "2004-04-21T14:40:42Z")
Just don’t invite my husband’s buddy over and you won’t have a problem to begin with. The phrase, “Toxic Dump” was invented for him. ---
**Author:** ![Qburn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/bc79bd/32.png) [@Qburn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qburn)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-products-to-eliminate-bathroom-odor/240930/17 "2004-04-21T16:39:26Z")
Go Pro grade, you need something like this: [TimeMist® Classic Metered Aerosol Dispenser](http://www.cleansweepsupply.com/pages/skugroup28273.html) The restrooms in my building have them. Set 'em, forget 'em continuous operation. Mounts on the wall. The website has a few models of this type. ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-products-to-eliminate-bathroom-odor/240930/18 "2004-04-21T20:26:48Z")
> [@Giraffe](#): > > Just buy a box of those kitchen matches. Nothing overpowers an odor like lighting and then blowing out a match. That’s the wierdest damn thing. Works everytime, too. Kitchen matches or the freebie matchbook paper ones you get at the convenience store. ---
**Author:** ![bookbuster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9bd4f/32.png) [@bookbuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bookbuster)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-products-to-eliminate-bathroom-odor/240930/19 "2004-04-21T22:22:25Z")
In [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=252137) we see the future of deodorizing/crude oil alternatives. > [@](#): > > In a “related” concept “gas suckers” could be placed within the basins of all public restrooms serving a dual purpose. One they would provide the equivalent of an automatic “courtesy flush” and provide the added benefit of additional gas collection. Unfortunately, this won’t be happening in any of our lifetimes. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-products-to-eliminate-bathroom-odor/240930/20 "2004-04-21T23:11:54Z")
> [@kittenblue](#): > > When you get right down to it, I’d rather replace the bad smell with a good smell. The match thing doesn’t do more than just overpower, and with a really bad smell. Yes, it’s cheap, but a can of Glade only costs 88cents at Wal-Mart. I vote for poop in a pile of roses (or Fresh Linen, or Citrus Sensation) over the match thing any day. Fair enough. Personally, I like the smell of matches, and don’t really like scented sprays. Let alone poop in a pile of roses, which is making me think of American Beauty for some reason. :eek: [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-products-to-eliminate-bathroom-odor/240930.md?page=2)