The smell of urine is one that many people are familiar with. It’s a strong, stinky odor and no one wants to have a stinky toilet.
If your toilet keeps smelling like urine and you’re having trouble pinpointing the cause, this article may help provide some answers.
Why Does My Toilet Smell Like Urine?
The smell of urine is a sign that the toilet bowl or surface has some urine droplets that need to be clean. There are many reasons for your toilet to smell like urine. The urine smell can linger even after several attempts of cleaning. Multiple factors contribute to the urine smell, including poor ventilation.
Clean the floor around the toilet and replace the wax ring. The toilet seat cover can also cause issues with urine seeping out of the base, so make sure to clean it thoroughly as well. Good ventilation is important for controlling odors.
If urine is pooling in the grout around a toilet, it needs to be cleaned out before it starts to smell. Instead of getting urine out of the toilet, you can use a plunger to suck up the liquid and then clean up any remaining goop with bleach or vinegar
What Causes a Toilet to Smell Like Urine?
The smell of urine in a toilet is often caused by droplets of urine that remain on the seat or under the tank. This may be due to accidentally peeing outside of your bowl, and some will stay on the seat or under the tank.
If this is not the cause, it may be due to bacteria growth. In order to fix this, clean all surfaces of the toilet with a disinfectant and allow it to dry completely before using it again.
How Do I Fix a Smelly Toilet?
Here are some of the ways you can do easily in order to fix a smelly toilet:
1. Use a Black Light
If your toilet smells bad, don’t worry! There are a few things you can do to try and fix the issue. One way is to use a black light.
A black light is designed specifically to detect urine, so it will be easy to see where the odor is coming from.
So, if you detect any urine using a black light, you just need to clean that spot and hopefully, the smell will be gone.
2. Clean the Area Around the Toilet Base
If your toilet smells like urine, one of the first things you should do is clean the area around the toilet base. This can be done with a toothbrush or a small brush. You can also use a cleaning solution of bleach and water to kill bacteria and remove any stains left behind by fluid.
If the liquid goes underneath the bowl, it can cause an unpleasant smell. In this case, you may need to remove the toilet and scrub it with a plastic knife. Be sure to clean the floor around your toilet with detergent and a brush as well. This will help eliminate any smells coming from your toilet.
3. Use Natural Ingredients
There are many ways to clean a smelly toilet using ingredients that you may already have at home. For example, you can make a paste out of baking soda and vinegar. The paste should be thick like cake batter and will require rubber gloves if you’re squeamish about handling raw materials.
The areas you need to clean can be rubbed down with the paste, but make sure to use gloves when doing so because of the potential for bacteria in your fingertips. Allow everything to set for 15-20 minutes before pouring in vinegar. Pour half a cup of vinegar into the toilet bowl, then wait another 15 minutes or more.
Spray vinegar on all areas that smell, including the air around you. If these methods do not work, there are other natural ingredients that can be used such as Borax or bleach.
4. Use Strong Cleaning Agents
Cleaning urine from grout around a toilet is simple, but be careful using cleaning solutions with bleach. A few drops of bleach can cause damage to the porcelain and may not remove all the urine stains.
You can buy online or at your local supermarket to buy strong cleaning solutions that will get rid of urine stains in the grout. These agents are usually ammonia-based and work better than bleach when it comes to removing tough urine stains.
5. Clean All the Items in The Bathroom
It never hurts to clean all your bathroom items once in a while as the smell can easily get attached to your bathroom materials. Also, there can also be some urine droplets in some of the items which can cause the smell to get bad.
In order to clean all the items in your bathroom, you will need:
- vinegar
- baking soda
- dish soap
- water
- hydrogen peroxide (optional)
- plastic gloves (optional)
- a toothbrush (optional)
6. Wash The Walls
If you can see urine buildup on the walls of your toilet tank, it’s time for a good scrubbing! Make sure to wear gloves so you don’t get any of the vinegar and water mixture on your skin.
Use a brush to scrub off any visible buildups, then flush the toilet tank with vinegar and water to remove any remaining urine, bacteria, or buildup from inside the tank.
7. Deep Clean Drains
If your drains smell bad, it might be time for a deep clean. Here are some tips to help:
- Clear anything stuck in the drain catcher.
- Flush the drain with near-boiling water and Dawn Dish Soap.
- Use a ready-made drain de-clogger product here, or try Febreze Small Spaces for 45 days to prevent lingering odors.
- Regularly flush near-boiling water down the drains to prevent odor buildup.
- Use vinegar and baking soda to deodorize your toilet bowl, if you’re really keen on it.
- Take some time to establish a bathroom cleaning routine.
- Pay attention to nooks and crannies, making sure they are cleaned regularly.
8. Mop The Floor
Before you start cleaning the floor, remove anything that could be causing a smell. Make sure there is no loose dirt, hair, or dust on the floors before mopping them up.
If you have hardwood floors, use a Swiffer Sweeper to keep them free of debris and mop with cleaner water at the end of your clean-up process.
9. Try Out Bleach Solution in Every Inch of Your Toilet
When it comes to getting rid of pee odor, bleach is probably one of the best ways to go. In order to achieve optimal results, you should:
- Bleach your shower curtain with cloth – this will absorb any piss and get rid of the odor.
- Spray & scrub the tile grout around your toilet and bathroom floor before using a brush to clean it for 10-15 minutes.
- Wipe down any remaining areas with a brush before moving on to the walls.
- Dilute bleach with cold tap water and use a mask, gloves, and apron when cleaning just in case any gets on your skin or clothing.
- Keep diluted bleach away from other cleaning products.
- Discard diluted bleach after 24 hours if you haven’t finished all of your cleaning tasks.
- Scrub the walls with diluted bleach solutions for 10 minutes before wiping everything clean.
- Next, refill the tank with water and flush twice or thrice to get rid of unwanted bacteria in the toilet bowl, tank, or pipes – depending on where the smell is coming from. If you’re still not confident in how much bleach to use, contact a professional plumber for assistance
10. Apply the Shaving Cream
The shaving cream is used on the floor, toilet seat, and wall. Apply it for two minutes, and then mop the area to eliminate foul odor.
Is It Harmful to Have a Toilet that Smells Like Urine?
While it’s certainly not ideal, a toilet that smells like urine isn’t necessarily harmful. In fact, the smell is often caused by bacteria, which can be avoided with proper maintenance and cleaning. Urine typically ends up in places other than the toilet bowl, so it’s important to clean all surfaces regularly. The majority of the odor is actually created by bacteria that use urine as a food source.
Odor-causing bacteria can penetrate porous surfaces, grout, and even etched porcelain causing odor issues in restrooms if not maintained properly. Waterless urinals are a great way to keep restroom floors fresh – since they don’t have a water reservoir to stagnate any liquid or debris – but they won’t fix an underlying issue with bad bacteria.
What Are Some Common Causes of A Smelly Toilet?
There are a few reasons why your toilet might smell bad. One reason is that urine evaporates and leaves behind the urea which gives off an unpleasant smell. Another reason is that public restrooms are often dirty, with pee and bacteria everywhere.
Additionally, certain chemicals such as bleach can also make your toilet smell bad. And lastly, different types of food and liquid waste can produce an unpleasant odor as well.
Final Thought On Why My Bathroom Smells Like Urine
I hope this article was helpful in providing some solutions to the problem of a smelly bathroom. It’s important to identify and clean the source of the urine smell, as it can be unpleasant and embarrassing.
Be sure to scrub down the toilet tank once or twice a week to get rid of any dried urine or feces. And if all else fails, you may want to consider calling in a professional cleaner. Thanks for reading!