# ICK!! Cleaning the hinges on a toilet seat. No, seriously **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 13, 2020, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ick-cleaning-the-hinges-on-a-toilet-seat-no-seriously/846339 "2020-01-13T05:17:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [January 14, 2020, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ick-cleaning-the-hinges-on-a-toilet-seat-no-seriously/846339/21 "2020-01-14T22:18:40Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > I have a Toto toilet. I remove the seat and clean it in the shower. Not a Toto but I’ve always done the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2020, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ick-cleaning-the-hinges-on-a-toilet-seat-no-seriously/846339/22 "2020-01-14T22:58:00Z")
Well, isn’t hydrogen peroxide good?? It seems to bubble everything icky out? ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2020, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ick-cleaning-the-hinges-on-a-toilet-seat-no-seriously/846339/23 "2020-01-15T15:22:33Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Man, so long as you don’t have any open wounds on your hands, just wipe/scrub them with a sponge or cloth, and wash your hands after. What’s the problem? When I pull the seat off the toilet bowl there is always gunky pee residue where the hinges are. Where does it come from?😕 Bad aiming by young grandsons I assume. Also, maybe some splash up. Sometimes I can see that it has dripped down from where the holes for the seat bolts are down to the floor bolt area. So there is definitely a good reason to remove the seat to clean on occasion. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2020, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ick-cleaning-the-hinges-on-a-toilet-seat-no-seriously/846339/24 "2020-01-15T16:18:33Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > My fingers and the sponge can’t quite reach everywhere. Pee is omnipotent > > (So are other bodily fluids that I care not to name…) > > Hence, the inclusion of wooden toothpicks as cleaning devices. > ~VOW If you can’t reach it, it won’t hurt you. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2020, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ick-cleaning-the-hinges-on-a-toilet-seat-no-seriously/846339/25 "2020-01-15T17:38:38Z")
Do you listen to Toto when cleaning a Toto toilet? Might help. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2020, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ick-cleaning-the-hinges-on-a-toilet-seat-no-seriously/846339/26 "2020-01-15T17:46:13Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Man, so long as you don’t have any open wounds on your hands, just wipe/scrub them with a sponge or cloth, and wash your hands after. What’s the problem? Pretty much, I have godsprogs, nieces and nephews - with kids around you learn to cope with pee, poop, vomit and whatever the green goop is they just brought in from outside by just cleaning it up and washing afterwards. Ditto kitty boxes and garbage cans. Depending on various things, I might put on a face mask to protect my eyes and face from spray, and nitril gloves for chemical contact, but that is the old hazmat training kicking in. I have previously posted on the boards that I have bathed a poopy baby in the kitchen sink [YAY for sprayers!!!] and use a 2 gallon stockpot as a vomit bucket. Look, the damned things are freaking stainless steel, and cleaning up returns them to foodsafe condition, ye gods and little fishes! ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2020, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ick-cleaning-the-hinges-on-a-toilet-seat-no-seriously/846339/27 "2020-01-15T21:41:45Z")
> [@DummyGladHands](#): > > Well, isn’t hydrogen peroxide good?? It seems to bubble everything icky out? Yes I think that would work great too. And it’s a greener product perhaps, or more economical? I think it comes in different strengths too. PUt it a spray bottle, and spray away? ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2020, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ick-cleaning-the-hinges-on-a-toilet-seat-no-seriously/846339/28 "2020-01-17T20:58:34Z")
In the interest of SDMB “Science,” I devised an experiment. My target was a notorious bathroom pee stain. Not near the toilet seat hinges, unfortunately. Test Number One: hydrogen peroxide. I pour the peroxide on the stain, and the peroxide just sat there. It smirked at me. It did nothing. Test Number Two: baking soda and vinegar. I heavily spread the baking soda on the stain, then I dribbled white vinegar all over it. Lots of bubbles, lots of fizz. As I wiped up the final products of the reaction, I was heartened by the lightening of the stain. Alas, the improvement was merely residual baking soda. Wiped up the residuals, and the stain was marginally cleaner. Test Number Three: bleach. Boy, howdy! Bleach brightens the world! The stubbornest parts of the stain still remain, but they will probably stick around for some archeologist to uncover in 150,000 years. I do not want to disappoint that archaeologist. My main complaints with bleach is the long drying time, and the fumes \*wheeze wheeze." ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2020, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ick-cleaning-the-hinges-on-a-toilet-seat-no-seriously/846339/29 "2020-01-18T03:45:50Z")
My toilet seat has little plastic snaps that I unsnap and take the whole thing off. I put it in the bathtub and spray it down with hot water and scrub it with a brush. Not very often, though. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2020, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ick-cleaning-the-hinges-on-a-toilet-seat-no-seriously/846339/30 "2020-01-18T04:09:19Z")
This is why God gave us little scrubbing bubbles. Seriously, the foaming spray bathroom cleaner is the way to go here. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2020, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ick-cleaning-the-hinges-on-a-toilet-seat-no-seriously/846339/31 "2020-01-20T17:00:39Z")
As a woman now living alone I haven’t actually had to use this feature because my dad died only a couple of weeks after I installed it, but my new [toilet seat](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0015C962K/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1) is theoretically quick to pull off and hose down in the shower. I didn’t realize it came with said feature, and it was confusing to install because it came without instructions, but I liked the idea once I worked out _why_ the bolt arrangement is different from any other toilet seat I’ve had. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2020, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ick-cleaning-the-hinges-on-a-toilet-seat-no-seriously/846339/32 "2020-01-20T18:22:39Z")
> [@naita](#): > > If you can’t reach it, it won’t hurt you. It’s not going to grab you by the throat and rip out your esophagus. But lurking pee stains stink in that particular “eau de toilet” smell. Or as my retired Army spouse says, “It smells like a latrine in here!” ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2020, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ick-cleaning-the-hinges-on-a-toilet-seat-no-seriously/846339/33 "2020-01-20T18:39:14Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > Or as my retired Army spouse says, “It smells like a latrine in here!” Tell him it would smell less if he sat down to pee . . . ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2020, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ick-cleaning-the-hinges-on-a-toilet-seat-no-seriously/846339/34 "2020-01-20T23:43:54Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > Tell him it would smell less if he sat down to pee . . . Or if he called it a “head”. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ick-cleaning-the-hinges-on-a-toilet-seat-no-seriously/846339/35 "2020-01-22T02:57:52Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > Ditto on the gloves, but I recommend bleach. And a wood toothpick to get in all those nooks and crannies! > ~VOW I’ve thought of using toothbrushes but never have. Also thought of pouring rubbing alcohol in a stream and lighting it on fire (perhaps cackling maniacally). I also can’t get out of my head the scene in Full Metal Jacket, where the Marines with toothbrushes arr ordered to get the toilet so clean “the Virgin Mary would be proud to take a dump in it.” I ran that by Mrs. Bloom and she said I needn’t set the bar so high. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ick-cleaning-the-hinges-on-a-toilet-seat-no-seriously/846339/36 "2020-01-22T20:56:55Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > In the interest of SDMB “Science,” I devised an experiment. > > My target was a notorious bathroom pee stain. Not near the toilet seat hinges, unfortunately. > > Test Number One: hydrogen peroxide. I pour the peroxide on the stain, and the peroxide just sat there. It smirked at me. It did nothing. > > Test Number Two: baking soda and vinegar. I heavily spread the baking soda on the stain, then I dribbled white vinegar all over it. Lots of bubbles, lots of fizz. As I wiped up the final products of the reaction, I was heartened by the lightening of the stain. Alas, the improvement was merely residual baking soda. Wiped up the residuals, and the stain was marginally cleaner. > > Test Number Three: bleach. Boy, howdy! Bleach brightens the world! The stubbornest parts of the stain still remain, but they will probably stick around for some archeologist to uncover in 150,000 years. I do not want to disappoint that archaeologist. > > My main complaints with bleach is the long drying time, and the fumes \*wheeze wheeze." > > ~VOW Don’t mess with fumes, seriously. I"ve had good results with a stain eraser sponge. I used to have a teak bathmat in the shower enclosure and picked it up one day and about fell over from fright. THe gunk and mildew and odors, egad i won’t mention the hairball oh wait I just did…anyway I used a Mr Clean magic eraser after I tried mildew spray, bleach soft scrub even toilet bowl cleaner it didn’t touch it. But that little sponge wiped it up like it was nothing. And all the stains in my white sink, gone! THose things are amazing! ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ick-cleaning-the-hinges-on-a-toilet-seat-no-seriously/846339/37 "2020-01-22T21:46:10Z")
> [@chela](#): > > Don’t mess with fumes, seriously. > > I"ve had good results with a stain eraser sponge. I used to have a teak bathmat in the shower enclosure and picked it up one day and about fell over from fright. THe gunk and mildew and odors, egad i won’t mention the hairball oh wait I just did…anyway I used a Mr Clean magic eraser after I tried mildew spray, bleach soft scrub even toilet bowl cleaner it didn’t touch it. But that little sponge wiped it up like it was nothing. And all the stains in my white sink, gone! THose things are amazing! I became a believer in Magic Erasers ages ago! Those things are either a miracle from God, or the Devil steals a piece of your soul each time you use one! The cool thing is that you can buy GENERIC Magic Erasers, and save bucks! I got a huge box from an industrial cleaning supply place. I bought it for sixty dollars, and we’re still using them, ten years later. I’ve also given bags to friends and relatives as gifts! Alas, if you use the Magic Eraser on the toilet seat hinges, the hinges might get clean, but the eraser will crumble away. ~VOW [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ick-cleaning-the-hinges-on-a-toilet-seat-no-seriously/846339.md?page=1)