In this post, meowpossum says that “the default bathroom door position […] is open – a closed door indicates the room is in use”. Which got me thinking, Hey, not in my house. And then I started wondering how you people do things because, hey, I like knowing random stuff about you guys.
My bathroom door is always closed. I have a small boy running around and a cat, and I prefer that they stay out of there. It’s usually just Alex (small boy), Mister Gay (cat) and me (umm, me) here; if anyone else happens to be around, I’ll knock before I go in. When I’m in there the door is either open or locked, depending on what’s happening.
I don’t have a bathroom door. It was taken off its hinges two months ago so that I could get in and out of its tiny confines without falling and hurting myself after breaking my leg.
I live with roommates, so I have to keep it closed. When no one else is around or is planning to be around, then I leave it open. I leave the bedroom door open a lot too while my roomies always close it before they go to bed at night.
We leave the bathroom doors open, but usually just slightly ajar. When they’re closed, you knock first if there is any question of occupancy.
Also, ours is a old joint with all hardwood floors, so there is enough room under the door to see if the lights are on. This is always a clue in the downstairs bathroom (no windows), and a giveaway for the upstairs WC at night.
Our kids are all grown (the youngest is 25), so worries there. I don’t usually lock the door, as no one opens the closed door without knocking, but my wife usually locks it.
Having five children it doesn’t matter if the door is open or closed, they never seem to notice.
I keep it closed when the heathens are home and awake, but open when I am by myself or it’s the middle of the night.
Open now since the cats’ litter box is in there. But a previous cat of mine simply loved to unroll the toilet paper then shred it into confetti so I used to keep it closed when I had him.
I used to keep it closed because I have this OCD thing about closing doors. I do lock and close it when I’m in there even when I’m alone in the apt (maintenance has barged in while I was in the shower before because I didn’t answer the door when they knocked – cause I’m in the shower, duh). If it’s after danger-of-maintenance guy hours, sometimes I’ll leave it open so I can hear the radio from the next room.
Rest of the time, it stays open though. Twice after I’ve moved in here, the damn door has somehow mysteriously locked itself while it was closed. I couldn’t figure out why it was happening to prevent it, so I never shut the door completely now. The way the door lock works, no one could have it locked and then turn the doorknob to shut the door, or had it locked and opened it… so I have no idea what’s up with that.
When I live alone, I don’t close it ever (unless I have company). My cats throw a fit if they can’t come in and watch Mom use the litter box.
I’m living with my parents now. I’m in the basement and they’re on the main floor. When I’m alone down here, open. When they come down to watch the tube or something, closed.
Open. Only visitor I’ve ever had when taking a bath or er, uh, doing business was Isidore the ringneck parrot, who occasionally gets bored and follows me around the house.
Upstairs: open, unless what we’re doing is particularly stinky or it’s cold in the house while showering.
Downstairs (half bath): open almost always, unless there is company (if my friend E is using it…also open which is weird to me). The litterboxes and washer and dryer are in here too.
My default is open. The number 1 reason for this is that I’ve noticed that inadequately ventilated bathrooms, if kept closed, tend to become mildewy and to develop a stinky odor.
We have three bathrooms. Two are always closed and one is always open. It started when we found out that our Azzy-cat really, really likes the tastes of q-tips with earwax on them. She will dig in the trash to find them, and then nibble on them until the cotton is in tatters, and then will drag them around the house. After finding shredded q-tips everywhere for a couple of days, I made the command decision to keep bathroom doors closed.
Our master bathroom is the only source of natural light to our bedroom. We keep that door open. I purchased one of those metal trashcans with the step-lever. It keeps curious Azzies away because the lid is too heavy for her to lift.
In practice, however, it seems that we always have one of the kitties in the bathroom in us. Raiju always wants to be in on the action whenever one of us uses the toilet. If we keep her out of the bathroom while doing our business, her little paws try to get at us under the door, and when we finally open it, she barges in and runs around the room, inspecting!
Azzy always wants to watch us shower. There’s a window ledge about the same height as the top of our glass shower in the master bath, and she will sit up there and try to swipe at me. She also just stares. When I get out of the shower she will poke her nose into it and sniff, sniff, sniff until I think she may pass out. When I take a bath she will sit on the rim of the tub and watch me disapprovingly. Then she will drink out of the tub.
This was much too complex for such a simple question :o
