# Why Don't They Put Urinals In Houses? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 11, 2002, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-they-put-urinals-in-houses/102981 "2002-04-11T05:36:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-they-put-urinals-in-houses/102981/21 "2002-04-11T13:53:46Z")
I have a friend who installed a urinal in one of their bathrooms when they remodeled a few years ago. The fact that they have four sons and no daughters may have had something to do with it. ---
**Author:** ![glilly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/48db29/32.png) [@glilly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glilly)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-they-put-urinals-in-houses/102981/22 "2002-04-11T14:57:26Z")
People probably don’t want urinals in their houses because they seem so industrial and un-home like. Of course that’s just because so few people have them. I’m guessing that the reason so few people have them historically is that spacious bathrooms (and houses in general) are a newer phenomenon, and smaller houses couldn’t afford the extra space taken up by superfluoush (badum-ching!) toilet, especially when water conservation wasn’t mandated. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-they-put-urinals-in-houses/102981/23 "2002-04-11T15:27:16Z")
I think a urinal would be about as high as the bathroom sink. Hey, that’s an idea & every bathroom already has one 🙂 I don’t want a urinal cause of the smell, plus the splashback, plus they don’t save any water. I would like one of those paperless toilets. ---
**Author:** ![Aro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@Aro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aro)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-they-put-urinals-in-houses/102981/24 "2002-04-11T15:32:14Z")
What is a ‘paperless’ toilet? Do you mean a bidet??? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-they-put-urinals-in-houses/102981/25 "2002-04-11T16:36:14Z")
All right, all right, if you people will pause for a moment while you trade “ick” imagery, logical alternatives do exist. A casual search for “dual flow toilet” turns up [this](http://terrylove.com/wc/caroma/) little number, an Australian model that has two flush settings, 1.6 and 0.8 gallons, for solid and liquid waste disposal. The unit is possibly more expensive than installing a conventional toilet and urinal (though I doubt by much), and you don’t have to waste as much space in your bathroom, though you _do_ have to explain its function to your guests, while a urinal is pretty obvious. In areas where water consumption is strictly regulated, this seems a viable solution. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-they-put-urinals-in-houses/102981/26 "2002-04-11T17:05:07Z")
It is also a question of space. I don’t really want to make my bathroom bigger to add a urinal at the expense of less living space in the house. ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-they-put-urinals-in-houses/102981/27 "2002-04-11T17:15:34Z")
When I was teaching English in Japan, one of my fellow teachers (a Japanese woman of independent means who taught school mainly as a hobby) had a urinal in her bathroom, and I thought - how sensible. Regarding the dribbles on the floor- first of all, those get bad only in bathroom that aren’t cleaned often enough, as each succeeding guy ends up standing further away to avoid stepping in it. Second, some urinal designs are worse than others - I 've found that in general the larger, deeper (I mean front-to-back) urinals don’t have that problem. ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-they-put-urinals-in-houses/102981/28 "2002-04-11T21:54:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ski \* > \*\*Since some people seem to not like the idea of having a proper urine disposal device in the room where these functions are to be carried out, I suggest putting a urinal in the garage. That way as I’m drinking beer with friends talking about cars, I don’t even need to go inside! And it’s much cleaner than just going in the bushes. \*\* If memory serves, I saw a Penn & Teller profile on E! or A&E or MTV or some other station with letters in it. Penn Gillette has a urinal right in his TV room, so he doesn’t have to miss any of the game. Of course, he also lives in a former penitentiary in the desert outside of Las Vegas, so he has quite a few interesting design elements. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-they-put-urinals-in-houses/102981/29 "2002-04-11T22:49:14Z")
“What is a ‘paperless’ toilet?” A brilliant american thing, I think from the 70’s. It had a button you would use that would spray warm water on your butt & another one that would spray warm dry air. I don’t know what happened to them. ---
**Author:** ![Kamandi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5daacb/32.png) [@Kamandi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamandi)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-they-put-urinals-in-houses/102981/30 "2002-04-11T23:35:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by voguevixen \* > \*\*Penn Gillette has a urinal right in his TV room, so he doesn’t have to miss any of the game. Of course, he also lives in a former penitentiary in the desert outside of Las Vegas, so he has quite a few interesting design elements. \*\* [slight nitpick] Penn’s house (“The Slammer”) was designed to _resemble_ a penitentiary. It’s never been anything but a residence. [/sn] ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2002, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-they-put-urinals-in-houses/102981/31 "2002-04-12T00:57:31Z")
Quoth **glilly** : > [@](#): > > I’m guessing that the reason so few people have them historically is that spacious bathrooms (and houses in general) are a newer phenomenon On the contrary. In my mom’s house, for instance, nearly a century old, the (only) bathroom is the same size as the bedrooms. At the time that the house was built, indoor bathrooms were still somewhat new, and nobody thought to make them any smaller than any of the other rooms in the house. It was only once folks started getting used to bathrooms that they started shrinking down to the size of the fixtures. And **handy** , what you describe is called a bidet, and it’s about as far from being an “American thing” as you can get. I understand that they’re rather popular in Europe, but they’ve never caught on here. And it goes without saying, of course, that they don’t particularly save water. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2002, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-they-put-urinals-in-houses/102981/32 "2002-04-12T01:41:35Z")
I can’t find the Thread , but it was covered a year or so ago. Men are **NOT** the only people who stand while urinating. You want the Straight Dope? [Here Ya Go](http://www.restrooms.org/standing.html). Don’t say I didn’t warn you. It’s graphic but entirely accurate, and as far as I can tell, it is NOT a put-on at all. Live and learn. 😉 Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2002, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-they-put-urinals-in-houses/102981/33 "2002-04-12T01:58:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kamandi \* > \*\* > > [slight nitpick] > > Penn’s house (“The Slammer”) was designed to _resemble_ a penitentiary. It’s never been anything but a residence. [/sn] \*\* My bad. I was only half watching the show at the time and must’ve misheard. (I thought it looked like an awfully nice jail, penitentiary!) ---
**Author:** ![Osakadave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f07891/32.png) [@Osakadave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osakadave)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2002, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-they-put-urinals-in-houses/102981/34 "2002-04-12T03:56:39Z")
My uncle also has one in his downstairs bathroom. He lives in El Paso, so water conservation was probably a factor. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2002, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-they-put-urinals-in-houses/102981/35 "2002-04-12T04:16:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by adam yax \* > \*\*Do you suppose that a bidet could also function as a urinal? \*\* Why get a bidet, though, when you can use the sink! It’s there, and it’s at just the right height … Uhhh … forget I said that. ---
**Author:** ![JillGat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2002, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-they-put-urinals-in-houses/102981/36 "2002-04-12T04:39:08Z")
My dad\* had one put in our bathroom when I was a kid. I thought it was pretty disgusting, but I tell you, it’s better than the seat being left up on the toilet and worse - the toilet seat _being left down and being covered with piss_. (\*My dad is also from El Paso…) Jill ---
**Author:** ![Earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2002, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-they-put-urinals-in-houses/102981/37 "2002-04-12T05:42:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ski \* > \*\*Since some people seem to not like the idea of having a proper urine disposal device in the room where these functions are to be carried out, I suggest putting a urinal in the garage. That way as I’m drinking beer with friends talking about cars, I don’t even need to go inside! And it’s much cleaner than just going in the bushes. \*\* [It’s been done](http://www.urinal.net/bay_village/). ---
**Author:** ![MarkyDeSade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@MarkyDeSade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarkyDeSade)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2002, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-they-put-urinals-in-houses/102981/38 "2002-04-12T07:26:31Z")
My house in Aomori prefecture had a urinal in the downstairs bathroom. It was _tres chic_ ! I thought it was the coolest thing in the world, as did my friends. I haven’t seen one since. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Frink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Mr.Frink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Frink)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2002, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-they-put-urinals-in-houses/102981/39 "2002-04-12T07:30:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by handy \* > \*\*“What is a ‘paperless’ toilet?” > > A brilliant american thing, I think from the 70’s. It had a button you would use that would spray warm water on your butt & another one that would spray warm dry air. I don’t know what happened to them. \*\* American? I was always under the impression that they were from Japan. Whatever the case, they are _extremely_ popular in Japan. My father used on on his visit there–he loved it so much he had one imported & installed in his master bathroom. He LOVES it… ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2002, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-they-put-urinals-in-houses/102981/40 "2002-04-12T07:37:10Z")
Urinals are common in older Japanese houses. The toilets are separate rooms from the bath/shower/sink area. Also the other toilet is most likely a squatting toilet. Nowadays Japanese houses use Western style toilets, albeit with some high-tech twists. (Yes, all the stories you heard about high-tech Japanese toilets are true.) Japanese trains often have urinals, which is a bit strange. The urinal-only toilets do have doors, but with a tinted window at head height and no lock. You’d be walking through the train and see the back of the head of some guy using the urinal. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-they-put-urinals-in-houses/102981.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-they-put-urinals-in-houses/102981.md?page=3)