Dealing with a lingering urine smell in your bathroom will make visiting the bathroom or taking a shower a very unpleasant experience. But with the right deodorizers and cleaning detergents, you can get rid of the urine odor inexpensively. Acknowledging that you have a nostril-piercing, pungent smell in your bathroom is the first step to eliminating the gnarly urine smell. Remember, your bathroom should be a comfortable sanctuary where you can sing harmlessly as you shower, relax, stock plush bath towels, and brush your teeth topless without catching an offensive whiff of urine smell. This article explains why your bathroom smells like urine after shower and how to keep it fresh at all times.
Why Does My Bathroom Smell Like Urine After I Shower?
If your bathroom odor smells like urine after you shower, your first action should be to find out what is causing it. It could be that the room is too hot or too humid, which causes the smell to become more unpleasant. Even though it is frustrating and disgusting to sniff around and try to find out what is causing the smell, knowing what is causing it will help you solve the mess fast. However, if you have not cleaned your bathroom thoroughly in a while, you should do that first. If you have already done all that but the problem still persists, don’t lose hope just yet.
Possible Causes Of Foul Bathroom Smells
Here are a few things that could trigger the strong urine smell in your bathroom:
1. Old Urine
That urine smell may also be caused by old urine in the shower drain. Interestingly, around 70 percent of people admit to urinating while taking a shower. Sometimes, we do not completely flush out the bathroom after showering; thus, the urine smell will linger in the drain, especially after a shower. We recommend removing old urine odor quickly using Clorox Pro.
2. Mold On The Shower Walls
Your bathroom could smell badly due to the mold growing in your bathroom tiles or shower walls. Fortunately, regular bleach can destroy mold easily. If there are any cracks or smudges in your grout that allow water to drain behind, it is quite normal that urine odors will smell. It is possible to get rid of the problem by covering parts of your bathroom with plastic sheeting.
3. Medicine Cabinet
Check if any medicines smell bad, like old vitamins that smell bad or old cotton wools that smell like they have mold on them. You may have thought there was no problem with the bathroom cabinets, but it’s possible that the smell could be coming from there.
4. Potted Plants
There could also be some smell in the bathroom if you have potted plants in there. This is very common. Potted plants or bath mats in the bathroom commonly cause unpleasant smells. If you leave the water in the pot, it will turn smelly and slimy over time. Removing the plants might just get rid of the urine smell. Check for leaky toilet seats or a loose wax ring around the toilet and have them fixed by a qualified plumber.
But, if you’re a handy person, simply take out the seat by unscrewing all the bolts that are underneath the toilet and remove the wax ring that is under the unit. This will help solve the problem because the toilet may not be level with the floor. When you have a toilet that leaks, a horrible urine smell will persist as it will get underneath it. When the humidity in the room increases, that urine will also pass through the toilet and onto the floor.
How to Eliminate Urine Smell from the Bathroom
There are many options to make sure that you don’t get a urine smell from the toilet again. For example, you should try sealing the edges of the toilet bowl with silicone grout. That will prevent the smell from coming back again.
1. Replace Old Brushes or Bath Mats
Sometimes, the odor comes from a dirty scrub brush that has accumulated dirt and hasn’t been deodorized. You may have to buy another scrub brush if that is the case. Urine splatters on bath mats or shower mats may cause an unpleasant smell. You can choose to either deodorize or buy new ones. If you have a bathroom with a shower, your pipes can leak urine from the floor. If that happens, you need to clean the drain thoroughly.
You will need baking soda and vinegar to clear the odor. Use 14 cups of baking soda to deodorize the drain and 12 cups of white vinegar to clean the drain. It is normal for white vinegar and baking soda to make a nice foam when you pour them down the drain. After you have done that, cover the drain and leave it to sit for 30 minutes.
2. Regular Mildew Cleaning
Keep your bathroom clean by using mildew cleaner regularly. You can make a homemade mix of vinegar and water or get some commercial bleach. Bleach mixed with hot will effectively clean your shower walls, tiles, and floors. Besides mold and mildew growing on the shower walls and ceiling, the shower curtain is another perfect breeding ground for mold. Hence, buying mold and mildew-resistant shower curtains will prevent the problem from occurring.
Use a mildew and mold removal gel to thoroughly clean hard-to-reach places such as around the tub and under the sink. Keep doing a thorough clean every time you do a bathroom clean. Clean the tub, shower area, shower curtain, showerhead, and the toilet itself meticulously. Having a great-looking bathroom is very hygienic, after all.
It would be best if you also cleaned any areas that are often left neglected, like the water traps in the sink or bathtub or the soap dish on the wall or under the shower doors. To keep your bathroom sparkling clean, you should regularly wipe down the walls and doors and leave them to air dry. Use a shower spray cleaner that is non-toxic and safe for your skin.
3. Ventilate Your Bathroom Frequently
If you smell urine in the bathroom, something is likely wrong. Remember, humid areas are a breeding ground for mold. When you shower, you should open all the windows in the bathroom. You should also run the bathroom exhaust fan for about 30 minutes after you have a shower.
4. Hire a Plumber
It’s not an amusing feeling when you get ready to take a nice bath or shower, only to be met with a foul-smelling odor coming from the shower drain. Even worse is realizing the shower water isn’t going down when you need it to after you towel off. Clogged shower drains are very annoying, especially if it happens frequently.
If you can’t get rid of the lingering shower drain smell on your own, and if the water doesn’t drain properly, there might be a problem with the line that feeds your sewer or your septic tank. Most shower drain odors and clogs are easy to eliminate if you know how to do it correctly. But this is likely not a DIY job, so if it happens to you, you should get some help from a qualified, experienced plumber. Just make sure that the plumber you hire is licensed and insured.
5. Clean Your Shower Drain Regularly
Clean your shower drain monthly to remove any stuck soapy sludge or other non-biodegradable materials. If several people use your shower frequently and have long hair, cleaning the drain every other week is better.
Clogged drains should be cleared as quickly as possible using a toilet plunger, drain snake, or commercial drain cleaner. You can easily clean slow-running drains or drains that smell if you use household products such as baking soda and chlorine bleach. Use only products that are specially formulated for cleaning drains. Trying to mix household chemicals, such as chlorine bleach and vinegar, may cause harmful gases to form.
The best defense against a blocked shower drain is an excellent old-fashioned toilet plunger. Place the rubber bell over the drain opening of the tub or shower and plunge away. The force of the water pressure should cause the clog to disappear and allow the water to flow down the drain. If the shower doesn’t drain completely or drains slowly, try draining it again. Follow the instructions on the package very carefully.
What You Need:
- Chlorine bleach
- Toilet plunger
- White vinegar
- Drain snake
- All-purpose cleaner
- Baking soda
Wrapping Up
It is annoying when you feel like something smells in your bathroom after you shower. However, this should not cause you to have sleepless nights. First of all, you need to identify the cause of the problem. It could be old urine that leaks down your drain, mold that grows on your shower walls or floor, medicine that has expired and is hidden in your medicine cabinet, or even an infected plant that is growing in your bathroom. Baking soda and white vinegar will help you get rid of the disgusting urine smell or any other smell in your bathroom. You can use this detergent to thoroughly deodorize the drains in your shower, get rid of mold, and disinfect the shower and any flooring in your bathroom.