Toilet (room)

Toilet in Delftware style.

A toilet room is a room containing a toilet and sometimes a sink (washbasin).

Alternative names

A toilet room, often shortened to just toilet, may also be called a lavatory, or WC, short for "water closet".

In places such as North America where the norm in residences is for there not to be a separate room, the toilet is almost always in the bathroom and a separate room may be referred to euphemistically as a bathroom or "restroom", washroom,^[1] "half bath" or "powder room". This is often downstairs, with a sink, primarily for the use of guests.^[2]

Informal words for the toilet, such as "loo", "Room 100", "lav" (lavatory), "clo" (closet), "john", "head" (from boating), and "the necessary" may also be used to refer to the room.

History

Before effective flush toilets or composting toilets were available the place containing the toilet often consisted of a small external outhouse containing a pit toilet, pail closet or similar. Indoor toilets were first provided in houses for the well-to-do and gradually spread to the lower classes; for example in London in the 1890s, separate building regulations for working-class housing did not require indoor toilets, and after 1900 some small working-class houses were still being built with outdoor toilets; some houses were built with an upstairs toilet and an outside one, presumably for servant use.^[3] In Leeds and Halifax, there was a transitional stage where toilet rooms were placed inside the house but accessible only from the outside.^[4] Indoor washing facilities were separately introduced, beginning with a sink near the bedrooms, the original meaning of "lavatory"; working-class residences often had only a collapsible tub for bathing, and in houses with both a toilet and a bathroom, they were placed side by side in the back extension above the kitchen and scullery for plumbing reasons. Bathrooms became standard in new housing later than did toilet rooms, and only became normal in working-class housing in the UK after World War I.^[5][6] After 1919, all new housing in the suburbs of London had an inside toilet; where it was placed in the bathroom, the reason was cost savings.^[7] Hermann Muthesius had noted in 1904 that "a lavatory is practically never found in an English bathroom; indeed it is considered downright inadmissible to have one there", despite the impression created by plumbers' catalogues.^[8] Separate toilet compartments remain common in British homes,^[6] and are still a builder's option when there is sufficient space even in places where the norm is for the toilet to be in the bathroom.^[9] In some countries, such as France and Japan, a separate toilet room remains the norm for reasons of hygiene and privacy.^{[2][10][11][12]}

Modern toilet rooms often also contain a sink. In Japan, special toilet slippers are traditionally left for use in the toilet room,^[12][13][14] and the toilet may have a built-in sink whose waste water is used for the next flush, so that the user can wash immediately.^[15] France is unusual in Europe in separating bathing and toilet rooms, although families say it saves time when several people need to use the facilities; however, in France, there is often no sink in that room.^[16]

Gallery

• A pit toilet, or 'dunny' in New South Wales, Australia

• A traditional western toilet with elevated cistern and chain attached to lever of discharge valve.

• A modern toilet room in an Australian home

• A toilet room in a Japanese temple hotel, with squat toilet and toilet slippers

References