Everyone likes a clean and welcoming space, but nowhere is it more important in public spaces than in shared restrooms. Strong bad smells elicit strong negative reactions. Perhaps it is because unlike home, in public spaces we share this private area with people we don’t know very well. When your office restroom smells bad, visitors and occupants in your building are forced to confront the unpleasant and stinky realities of bathroom business and really, most of us would rather not think about it. Restrooms make an impression, good or bad. Even if everything else in your facility is sparkling and clean, one dirty restroom can leave a lingering poor impression of the overall cleanliness of your facility.
Restroom odor can be an issue in any facility. It is a periodic problem that can plague even the most well-managed and well-maintained facilities. Facility Managers from all over tell us that keeping restrooms adequately cleaned and smelling fresh is near the top of the list in terms of maintenance headaches. So what is the deal with the stinky situation? Is it that your janitorial services company isn’t doing their part? Or is it that the frequency of your restroom cleaning just isn’t where it needs to be for your building’s traffic level? Or do your restrooms need repairs and some deep cleaning to get back to a base level of clean? Maybe there are issues with your current ventilation that must be examined. It might even be that porous materials and dated, corroded fixtures or plumbing problems are contributing to the stinky situation. Even if your restrooms LOOK clean, if visitors notice offensive smells, they will perceive your restrooms, and your facility overall, as dirty and poorly maintained.
Why do restrooms smell bad to begin with? Of course the business of doing your business can be stinky but this alone doesn’t explain lingering restroom odors. In clean, well-ventilated restrooms, normal odors associated with the restroom shouldn’t linger. Lingering odors typically go beyond just normal use issues. In restrooms, especially the men’s restroom room, odors usually point to a build up of urine. Urine eliminates water and salt from our bodies and some of the compounds present in urine, including nitrogen, chlorides, proteins and urea can create disagreeable odors when allowed to evaporate and concentrate in your restrooms. These urine salts not only create odor themselves, they attract a host of bacteria that also produce offensive odors. An ineffective restroom cleaning service is most often to blame in this area as grout, areas around urinals and toilets, and such must be thoroughly cleaned to remove the compounds.
If you are noticing that your restrooms start clean but over the course of the day become funky or in disarray, you might need more that a twice weekly or even daily evening cleaning. Some busy facilities need nightly cleaning as well as a dayporter or daytime cleaning service to keep up with the daily demands of high traffic buildings. Along the same lines, busy restrooms need more than a cursory once over whether you are utilizing nighttime cleaning, day cleaning or a day porter service. Periodic cleaning and restocking is a good option in between deeper, more thorough cleanings but it cannot be the standard. Trash removal, supply restocking, spot cleaning and a quick mop of the floors is fine to keep a busy restroom tidy and in commission but the compounds most associated with restroom odor can’t be effectively eliminated with a once over with a mop. Furthermore, if your janitorial services company isn’t changing their mop heads frequently enough, all that quick mop is doing is spreading that stink around your restrooms and even to other areas in your facility. Is your restroom cleaning service mopping your lunchroom floors with the same mop used to sop up urine? Hope not.
Your restroom cleaning services must do their part in keeping your restrooms clean and fresh and stopping foul odor in its tracks. We talk to Facility Managers every day who have made use of a restroom cleaning checklist to measure the performance of their janitorial service and even take corrective action to get them on track. As a Facility Manager, it is important that you know exactly what good restroom cleaning entails so you can exact the level of service you need fro your cleaning company. The more you know, the more you can get the best value from your cleaning budget. A restroom cleaning checklist can be a useful way to acquaint yourself with the specific tasks and duties that make for a sparkling clean, fresh smelling restroom.
The best way to keep restrooms smelling good and looking their best is to do periodic deep cleaning. This entails a thorough examination and cleaning of all surfaces including counters, floors, urinals, sinks, toilets, stall partitions and more. Every inch of your restroom should get a detailed cleaning with the use of appropriately chosen and applied chemical disinfectants. If your cleaning company can eliminate the urine compounds and bacteria, they can banish the smells that make your nose wrinkle. Cleaning enzymes and chemical disinfectants have been demonstrated effective against germs, bacteria and odor but they need time to work. These products all come with manufacturer recommended dwell times, or the time the product should sit wet on a surface to effectively kill and reduce germs before being wiped away. If recommended dwell times are not followed, the removal of the bacteria, and therefore the odor, is less effective. In an ideal world, your janitorial company’s employees should spray down areas and let the disinfectant sit and do its job while they perform other duties like restocking supplies, cleaning mirrors and removing trash.
If your restrooms are stinking and your commercial restroom cleaning is lacking, it’s likely time to rethink your janitorial services. Maybe you have put off making a change because you think Michigan commercial cleaning companies are all the same but that is NOT the case. There are many reputable, professional cleaning companies who would welcome the opportunity to earn your business and deliver the consistent, responsive professional service you and your facility deserve. There are also tools to help you find these companies including CIMS, the Certified Industry Management Standard, a professional certification that identifies those commercial cleaning companies positioned to deliver a high level of service. Find the right Michigan janitorial company and you can forge a partnership that assures your restrooms smell fresh, look clean and your overall facility maintenance shines!