I’m a microbiologist – here’s why you should ALWAYS close the lid before flushing
A microbiologist has revealed how dirty your bathroom is before and after flushing, and the results have germaphobes squirming.
After testing his bathroom smell for bacteria, Utah’s Tim Call found an alarming amount of bacteria that made people think before flushing.
The 32-year-old microbiologist came up with the idea of conducting the experiment after becoming curious about how air quality was affected by bathroom activities.
In viral clips on TikTok, which have nearly 25,000 views at the time of writing, Tim revealed why you should always cover the toilet before flushing by running a series of tests in both his private bathroom and a public restroom.
Tim Call, from Utah, is a microbiologist who revealed how dirty your bathroom is before and after flushing, and the results have germaphobes squirming
After testing his bathroom air for bacteria, 32-year-old Tim discovered an alarming amount of bacteria that made people think before flushing
Tim started the experiment by placing a petri dish on the tank that stores the water above his toilet and left it open for 10 minutes without flushing.
When he did this, he found only two colonies of bacteria on the petri dish.
He did the same test again, but this time with lavage and feces in the bowl.
And this time he found five colonies of bacteria.
He performed the experiment again, but this time with a clean bowl. Again it yielded the same results as the previous one.
Of his results, Tim said that “two to five bacteria” was “surprisingly clean” for a bathroom and it really depended on the flush.
To do further research, the microbiologist did more tests on a public toilet with a ‘stronger flush’.
He each placed a petri dish at the front and back of the toilet.
The one placed in the front “had crap,” adding that there still wasn’t that much bacterial growth.
It had six bacterial colonies.
Meanwhile, the one from the back of the toilet seat only had two.
“It turns out not nearly as rude as I and probably you initially thought. Sorry to disappoint you,” Tim added at the end of the video.
The microbiologist conducted two tests in his private bathroom (left) — one was a 10-minute wash with no rinse and the second was one with a rinse and feces in the bowl. The second test yielded five bacterial colonies (right)
The second location for his experiments was in a public bathroom where he placed petri dishes at the front and back of the toilet.
The microbiologist came up with the idea of conducting the experiment after becoming curious about how air quality was affected by bathroom activities. Pictured are the bacteria found on the petri dish that sat on the back of the toilet seat in the public bathroom
Tim explained that he decided to conduct the experiment because he wanted to find a “visual” answer to the many questions he had about floating germs.
“I’m making this content because I’ve always been curious about what was growing around me and I wanted to see it visually. It’s starting to visually answer a lot of people’s questions,” he said.
The microbiologist added that he was surprised by the findings and hoped to run the tests again.
“This time I found that the air wasn’t nearly as dirty as I thought,” he said.
“While this was a sample of one and I plan to test more, the results are still very surprising.”
Tim added that he would use a larger sample the next time he ran the tests.
“I’m extremely interested in increasing my sample size to determine if this test was just an outlier or if the air in the bathroom isn’t nearly as dirty as we thought,” he said.
Tim’s 255,000 TikTok followers are horrified – both by the results and by the idea of someone flushing a toilet without closing the lid first
On his TikTok account, Tim also tested the amount of bacteria in strawberries (left photo), a used mask (right photo) and more
On his TikTok account, Tim also tested the amount of bacteria in strawberries, a used mask and more.
Tim’s 255,000 TikTok followers are horrified — both by the results and by the idea of someone flushing a toilet without closing the lid first.
“People don’t close the lid before flushing?!” wrote one shocked user.
Another TikToker added: “I close the toilet lid and then flush!”
A third person said, ‘I’m disappointed! I’m a firm believer that the seat lid should be down before you flush.’
“It means my roommate who told me flushing the toilet would get poop on her toothbrush was wrong, I win,” someone else added.
Tim replied, “With this first test, it looks like she may have overreacted,” followed by a laughing emoji.
Another TikTok user said, “I’ve had several arguments with my husband because he won’t close the damn lid! However, I am SO happy to hear that I have virtually no fights lol.”
“I flush it even when I’m still on the toilet,” one person wrote.
“Who doesn’t close the lid?” added another user.
“For this reason I always wear a mask in public toilets,” said another.
“That’s why I said NO to having my toilet in the same room as my bathroom with my toothbrush and towels in it,” one comment revealed.