Most people have encountered—on more than one occasion—a public or commercial bathroom left with overflowing trash bins and wet surfaces.
Such restrooms negatively color a guest’s impression of an entire building or facility, even if the rest of the spaces are well maintained. Now more than ever, it’s important to demonstrate your dedication to cleanliness and hygiene in order to keep customers coming back. Here are three simple design ideas to help eliminate unsightly commercial bathrooms.
1. Place Trash Receptacles in Easy Reach
Trash is usually the most significant problem area. Paper towels generate a staggering amount of waste—13 billion pounds per year in the United States alone. To make matters worse, many people routinely take more paper towels than are actually needed when drying their hands in a public restroom.
If bins are not conveniently placed, paper towels and other trash will accumulate quickly, which is why we recommend integrating trash receptacles directly into the countertop. Most paper towel dispensers are located close to the sink, so keeping the trash bin nearby encourages visitors to use it.
2. Minimize Water on the Floor
Replacing your standard faucet with a combination faucet/hand dryer helps keep water off the floor where it can pose a safety hazard as well as being unattractive. By giving users the capability to wash and dry their hands in one place, you effectively eliminate the drippage that occurs when walking from the sink to the paper towel dispenser or separate hand dryer.
A combination faucet/hand dryer also offers hygiene benefits. Touchless sensor activation reduces points of contact, helping to curtail the spread of germs. In addition, proper and complete hand drying is as important as hand washing. Did you know that damp hands can transfer up to 1,000 times more bacteria than dry hands? High-speed hand dryers take only 10 to 14 seconds to dry hands completely.
3. Choose the Right Fixtures and Materials
Sleek, wall-mounted toilets, urinals, and sinks don’t just look good and save space, they make cleaning a breeze. When the cleaning crew comes in, they can easily mop the entire floor from corner to corner. Lifting your fixtures off the floor also means you have far fewer nooks and crannies where bacteria can hide and grow.
The materials your fixtures are made from and how they are constructed can also eliminate hiding places for germs and bacteria. Stainless steel is a highly sanitary, easy-to-clean material and is the predominant choice in hygiene-critical applications such as hospitals and commercial kitchens. Besides iron and carbon, stainless steel also contains chromium, which forms a protective surface layer that gives stainless its corrosion-resistant properties. Because corrosion results in rust and pits that are hard to clean, stainless steel is ideal for the moist restroom environment. It is non-porous, so bacteria is easy to remove.
Like stainless steel, resin and solid surface materials are non-porous, smooth, and easy to clean. Soapy water or any ammonia-based cleaner will remove most dirt and stains. SteriTouch, an additive which reduces the growth of harmful bacteria, can also be added to cast resin and solid surface countertops.
For more information about Neo-Metro and our commercial plumbing products, please contact us.
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