Poor old doorknobs often get quite a bad rap. We are culpable for contributing to it ourselves … blog posts report on the footpull used to avoid germy bathroom doors (where 34% of men, and 12% of women don’t wash their hands!), and also on the bactericidal properties of brass. But we only just recently came across a wealth of information on other ways and means people have of avoiding horrible, horrible public door knobs … which are nothing like your gorgeous home ones!

There are the old standbys – low tech but high wastage methods like using a paper towel to touch the actual doorknob. Unfortunately though, if there is no rubbish bin installed right outside the door, you either have to carry around a supposedly germy paper towel (ewww … they’re crawling around onto me!), or chuck it on the ground. Definitely not good for the planet, or the look of halls outside public bathrooms. Or you can try to throw it in the bin next to the door as you are leaving – but you have to be quick and tricky, because there is no going back in! Logically flawed, that solution is.

Another solution by the nephew of Vidal Sassoon (hairstyling and hygiene! What more can there be ;-), is the HySo© – a device which sprays the bathroom doorhandle periodically with fast drying sanitizer. The handle is not meant to stay wet – but I can imagine what the bathroom would smell like! A chemical factory of some description… and also another ongoing expense, refilling disinfectant dispensers.

In the same vein of ideas is the Sanihandles® – door handles connected to ultraviolet lamps. UV light kills germs (so yes, sun-drying your hands after opening the bathroom door is a valid option!) … and casts an eerie blue glow over your surroundings as you use the room. Cue Twilight Zone music …

Getting into the realm of more useful ideas, there are now sensor-opened doors in public toilets – but they cost a pretty penny to install, at about $1000 each. Obviously, no contact is required, so they are infinitely more sanitary than the rest of your life is. But it is doubtful that many will be installed, at that price tag. There is also the Sanithandle (wear your tongue out by saying that really fast!), invented by Matthew Fulkerson in the US, which uses your forearm to open the door.

But we still believe that brass is infinitely better! Self-renewing sanitization … classical stylings … gorgeous colours … and much cheaper, and easy on the eye, than giant L-shaped plastic SanitGrasp® handles or crazy blue glowing toilet doors 


Related Article: Restroom Decor: Germy Doorknobs Inspire Inventors by Conor Dougherty in The Wall Street Journal

          

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