Tips to help stop bathroom germs

Color code hand and bath towels

It might seem like a stupid idea but each family member will know which towel is theirs. Each time you dry yourself off, are depositing germs on your towel. Just a skin flake can contain bacteria. They may not be sick but it can affect you. If you don’t want to color code, use a waterproof marker on the labels. Not only do you prevent someone from using your towel but you don’t make the same mistake.

Never share toothbrushes

Make sure everyone has their own toothbrush and the best way to identify them is by colour-coding. You can simply buy toothbrushes in different colours. Here’s why: every time you brush your teeth, you remove plaque and particles. Sometimes you press too hard and your gums bleed. Any bacteria you have in your mouth, is deposited onto your toothbrush. It becomes contaminated. Replace your toothbrush each time after you’ve been ill because you will get infected again. Remember that germs survive a long time. The best practice is to store toothbrushes roughly 1 inch from each other. This prevents germs from spreading from one toothbrush to another.

Flush your toilet with the lid down

Flushing your toilet with the lid up is like setting of a flare. The water vapor that erupts from the flushing bowl is polluted and it takes several hours for these particles to settle. Do not store your toothbrush openly near the toilet as it gets contaminated by the particles.
Clean high-touch surfaces

Clean high-touch surfaces

A high-touch surface is something you use your hands on. The bathroom has a lot of them. These include the taps, door handles, toilet lids, bath handles and your towel rack. Any high-touch surface carries a lot of germs. Use a disinfectant spray or anti-bacterial wipes. These will kill the bathroom germs living on your surfaces. Rhinoviruses that cause cold can actually survive for up to three hours. So when you are sick, make sure you disinfect your bathroom.

Use a paper cup dispenser

A plastic or ceramic cup can spread a lot of germs. The fact is that a few people in the household probably uses the same cup. Your best defense it to keep a paper cup dispenser in the bathroom. This allows everyone to have their own cup and dispose of it when they are done. It might be a bit expensive but you stop people from infecting each other when they are sick.

Choose functional tissues

There are loads of different types on the market today and the latest is virucidial tissues. These tissues actually kill germs as soon as you use it. Blowing your nose or coughing into it can help to stop the spread of germs. These viruvidial tissues may be expensive but it depends on the manufacturer and store.

Wash your hands after you do your business

This may be second nature but people forget, especially children. You should always wash your hands after coming into contact with any body fluids such as blood, nasal secretions and vomit. This applies when you are visiting the toilet, changing diapers and of course, after you clean any area of the bathroom.

Scrub the inside of the toilet bowl

The toilet bowl actually has a lot of germs. Make sure you clean it a couple times a week with products that contain bleach. The bleach actually kills the germs and also leaves your toilet clean and ready to be used.

Let the water run before you shower

Bathroom germs can grow in shower heads. It might not seem possible but as soon as you turn off the water, they become active and easily multiply. Let your shower run fully on hot water for about a minute or two. This will flush out the germs before you get in.

Scrub showers, bathtubs, and counter-tops

Bathroom germs grow in your showers, bathtubs and on your counter-tops as well These should always be cleaned to reduce the spread of viruses, fungi and bacteria. Do it at least twice a week with a disinfectant product that contains bleach. You can easily get more germs if you don’t clean your bathroom because they enter through the mouth, nose, eyes, and broken skin or just about anywhere they can. Your overall load of bacteria can increase and you may get ill with a cold, infections or viruses. This can be because you didn’t clean the bathtub, got in and touched your mouth or even get into the tub with a cut or an open wound. You’re always in danger of being infected, especially when you are already sick.

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Bathroom shower history:

The first showers were something nature has to offer.  Ancient tribal people would cleanse themselves by standing under falling water. This included waterfalls and rain.

Showering and bathing became more commonplace when civilization began to progress. The ancient Egyptians would have jugs of water poured over hem by servants.

The ancient Greeks invented the precursor the modern showers. They used aqueducts and sewerage systems to pump water into communal shower rooms. Water spouts on the sides of fountains were also used as outdoor showers.

Romans continued this bathing trend by creating their famous bathhouses. These were huge communal baths where large numbers of people would go to wash themselves.

Good hygiene became a religious taboo and a sign of vanity with the rise of Christianity. Cleanliness became popular again after a third of Europe died from the Black Death in the 14th century. The health benefits began to be more widely recognized.

William Feetham was a stove maker from Ludgate Hill in London. He was granted the first patent for a shower in 1767. Early showers had a hand pump to pump water from a storage container. Showers became more popular than baths because they used less water.

Showers continued to grow in popularity after the health benefits were recognized. The first designer was created in the early 19th century. It was named The English Regency.  The shower was invented anonymously. It consisted of a metal frame painted to look like bamboo. A hand pump pushed water through a tank.

In 1850 indoor plumbing was invented. Free-standing showers could be connected to a running water source.

In the 20th century, tankless water heaters became popular for their ability to generate an instant supply of hot water without relying on a hot water tank.

In the 1980s,  shower manufacturers began to respond to customer demand for more versatile showers. Body jets, colored lights and drencher heads followed soon after.

In the late 1990s, a rough estimate of 62% of people in developed countries had showers in their households.

In 2001, a UK company by the name of Aqualisa, pioneered digital showers. This brought a new era to the world of showering. It allows the user more control over how the shower operates.

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Prefabricated shower surrounds and fancy imported tiles are undoubtedly good looking but they are very expensive and often too pricey for most of us to afford. That does not mean you cannot have a great looking bathroom for just a few rands. It does not matter what the cost or quality of the materials are. Your shower wall will either look well made or very bad depending on the amount of time and effort you put into the project. One of the main points is appropriate attention to detail.

Broken Tile Mosaic

You can visit construction sites, tile shops and DIY stores and ask them for free broken tiles. Be creative and try out a few designs on a scrap piece of wood or paper. When you are happy with your design, use it as a guide to install the broken tiles on the shower walls. If your shower walls are not waterproof, you can use cement-fiber board as a subsurface. Leave at least about 1/8 inch between pieces so you could grout between them.

Pebbles

You can use a technique similar to laying tiles to create a shower wall that reflects the seaside or a river’s edge. Instead of broken tiles, build a mosaic of interesting, small, polished river pebbles. Use a sand-colored grout between each pebble to resemble the beach or a riverbank. If you want to make it more interesting, intersperse seashells or beach glass. This whole project is free to collect, except the tile glue and grout. If you cannot collect your own pebbles, purchase pebbles from a quarry or pebble tiles that already attached to a backing for easy installation.

Galvanized Sheet Metal

If you want super cheap but durable shower wall, you could use ordinary galvanized steel roofing. It is easy to install, horizontally or vertically, with ordinary screws and rubber washers to prevent leaking around fasteners. It comes in many lengths to suit different ceiling heights, and you can cut it with tin snips or drill with ordinary metal bits or hole saw for installing fixtures. Coat it with a clear sealer to keep it bright and shiny, or allow it to oxidize naturally for a mellow rust effect. If it rusts too much, replacement is cheap and easy as well.

Stained Glass

Like broken tiles, broken glass is a resource often overlooked or disposed of. Set clear or colored glass pieces with white tile adhesive that dries to allow the colors to show at the best they can. These techniques works equally well with broken mirror pieces. With a little bit more effort, you can use a glass cutter to cut pieces to interesting shapes before installing them for added appeal. A dark grout between colored pieces of glass, will give it a stained glass effect.

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