Lay My Hat

Hello!
I do not like hanging up signs, but OH thinks that we need to put something in our bathrooms because our drain system from toilett has narrow pipes which tend to easily clog and we have an antiquated septic system (on our renovate To DO List!). We used to ask guests to bin the tissue but several have been offended by this....so OH thinks a sign of some sort in loo suggesting soiled tissue be binned...
Does anyone have ideas/suggestions on phrasing/does anyone do this...tactfully??!!??? Thanks

Would it be too much of an expense to upgrade your soil pipe connection from 75mm. (3 ins.) diameter - which I am guessing it is now - to 100mm. (4 ins.) and solve the dilemma that way?

It's a difficult subject, aasta. We're on septic tank too so we try to make a joke about it during the meet and greet, normally along the lines of "drying and polishing papers in the bin please".

If you're not happy mentioning it to every guest on arrival, then a sign would be best. Perhaps something along the lines of

"Delicate antique plumbing which cannot cope with anything unless it has been previously digested."

Thanks for the tip PW...OH thinks it is very funny,but wonder if our guests would agree????

We cannot due any digging/renovating/replacing of pipes until Nov.....need to live with the pipes until then...

PW in Polemi wrote:"Delicate antique plumbing which cannot cope with anything unless it has been previously digested."

Very clever, PW, but given the huge warehouse of brain matter left behind at Gatwick airport, I wonder if its too subtle for most guests?

"Please do not flush nappies or towels down the toilets, use the bins provided - Thank you for your cooperation",
blah & blah.
We had these little laminated signs made after one of our first guests stayed with their new baby and blocked the drain requiring the plumber to be called out at quite a cost during the next turnaround. Placed just above the cisterns we've had no problems since! We never did get around to translating it into German & French but not a bad idea.

aasta wrote: We used to ask guests to bin the tissue but several have been offended by this....

Well, I would respectfully suggest that that's your guests' problem and not yours!

Whenever I've travelled in Greece, I've always been told (sic) not to put loo roll (I'm assuming that that's what you mean by 'tissue'?) into the loo but into a dedicated bin for that purpose. For exactly the same reason as yours - that the pipes are too narrow to take anything that hasn't been through a human body. C'est normal.

We have a septic tank, like most of rural France - small amounts of loo roll are okay, but it has to be biodegradable, not hulking great four-ply stuff. We supply two bathroom bins - one for loo stuff (loo roll, tampons, etc) and another for non-loo stuff. It's all written up in our house book, I talk about it on arrival, and have a bi-lingual cartoon in a frame next to the loo. Never had a problem.

If you're easy with the situation and simply introduce it to guests as something quite normal, then I'm sure they'll feel okay with it.

French Cricket wrote:Whenever I've travelled in Greece, I've always been told (sic) not to put loo roll (I'm assuming that that's what you mean by 'tissue'?) into the loo but into a dedicated bin for that purpose. For exactly the same reason as yours - that the pipes are too narrow to take anything that hasn't been through a human body. C'est normal.

Not anymore FC. Well not in the tourist areas and that's just about all of Greece. We have the EU Commission with their building regulations to thank for that, I believe!! To our horror one or two guests, just a very few, do bin it off their own bat. We actually ask them not to do that in our information sheet, and wording that request was even harder!

PS. The new septic tanks round here are so huge you could live in them!

Ah - nothing's changed in the backwater places where I stay, AndrewH!

I'll have to swot up on septic tank rules. I simply ask people not to put anything down the loo apart from human waste and toilet roll. I wasn't aware that the latter might be a problem for the tank itself.

Depends on the loo roll, Casscat - here one can buy extra thick, nasty perfumed / softened stuff, which is like Death on Legs for our two septic tanks as it will never biodegrade and can clog up the entry pipes. We simply supply more than enough for the guests' stay - we use recycled (no, not like that ) and tell them not to use any Andrex-type stuff that they've brought with them!

In Spain you can hardly find the uber-thick 'you could probably stitch it into a serviceable patchwork quilt' type loo roll - it's generally that thin stuff. Coming from a UK obsessed with 'luxury' arse wiping products this lack of pillowy, 25 ply 'tissue' confused me slightly but I kind of get it now

Over here, unfortunately some shops are now stocking the UK type heavy duty umpteen ply quilted stuff that does not disintegrate when wet and is stronger than kitchen roll. However, I only buy the local brands (obviously designed for septic tanks ) which practically disintegrate on use - but of course, if a large wodge is flushed away, it does play havoc with the pit and we have on occasions had to lift the lid due to a very nasty niff emanating from the tank, only to discover that so much "UK" type has been flushed down that it has made a thick solid lid on top of the waste, preventing the bacteria from doing their job.

We always mention the septic tank/loo paper in bins on arrival, have reminder notices stuck to the top of the flush tank saying that loo roll should go in the bin, as well as a section in our house book about it.

We've just recently not been able to convert an enquiry to a booking because Madam was insistent that she could not go anywhere where she had to bin the used loo roll. It's just so second nature now that last time I flew to UK, I had a panic moment in the loo "Where's the bin??" !!!!!

I have been going for over five years. At first, I was worried about notices and avoided them. Now I do have selective laminated notices where they are useful e.g. recycling information next to kitchen bin etc. Guests appreciate being informed.

So, after having to foot a bill of £800 for a second time for a blocked loo, I do now have a large sign next to it (it operates on a Sani-flo system) explaining what can and cannot be flushed down it with a note about how much it costs us if it blocks. I haven't had an adverse comments. But I have made sure that the wording is friendly and I think that helps.

Having a bin for loo roll is acceptable to guests if the loo is one of those bidet-loos they have routinely in Greece and Turkey, but they are not common in the rest of Europe. I think they're a great idea personally and wish they'd catch on more widely but I can perhaps understand why blasting your undercarriage with a jet of cold water might not be too popular in the UK