Restroom and Locker Room Renovation - Best Products and Procedures
Introduction
Restrooms present one of the largest challenges in cleaning. Even though they typically account for a little over five percent of a school's area, they are the second most time consuming area to clean. In this article, we're going to talk about all the steps needed to deep clean a restroom to keep it clean throughout the year.
Step 1: Prepare the room and the custodial staff
Since the goal is to deeply clean wall-to-wall, the first step is to clear everything from the room. If it's not attached to the walls, remove it from the room to expose all the areas that might hide dirt. In general, as we clean the room we will clean from floor to ceiling. Make sure the custodial staff is well equipped with the proper personal protective equipment (PPE). For some of the chemicals we recommend below, you will need protective gloves,
protective clothing, eye protection, and face protection. Train the staff to follow the directions found on the product label.
Step 2: Apply a heavy duty bowl cleaner to the urinals and fixtures.
In this step, we are going to treat the toilets with a cleaner that will remove oily spots, remove uric acid, dissolve hard water stains, and remove rust. These products need some dwell time to work, so just apply them in this step. We will scrub the fixtures later, in step 4. We recommend the following products for this step:
- Extra Strength CSP Cleaner - Effective, versatile, phosphoric acid-based cleaner clings to both horizontal and vertical surfaces and delivers superior cleaning action. Removes hard water spots, soap film, rust and oily residue with ease. Cleans a wide variety of surfaces including ceramic, stainless steel and porcelain.
- Liquid Swabby II - An excellent detergent thickened bowl cleaner, formulated with a combination of HCL and a heavy concentration of deep cleaning, high- sudsing detergents, synergistically blended for efficient removal of organic material and hard water build-up.
Step 3: Deep clean sinks and fixtures
While the chemicals work on the toilets and urinals, we will turn our attention to the sinks and fixtures. Apply Creme Clean to a wet cloth, brush, or sponge. Loosen the soil with a rubbing action. Finally, rinse the surfaces. For a bright shine, polish the sink and fixtures with a soft dry cloth.
Step 4: Return to the toilets and urinals
Now that the chemicals have had time to dwell, scrub the toilets and urinals with a brush.
Step 5: Renovate partitions
If there's any graffiti on the partition walls, remove it with GR-1000 Graffiti Remover. GR-1000 Graffiti Remover is designed to remove paint, crayon, marker, pencil, pen, lipstick, paint pens, marking paint and most any form of graffiti from large surfaces such as bridge abutments, portable toilets, street signs, walls, and sidewalks. Dilute GR-1000 per the label's instructions. Use a rag for painted surfaces and a brush on masonry. Difficult problem areas may require standing time for the product to work.
Step 6: Deep clean the floors
For unfinished floors, use a combination of Suprox Multi-Purpose Cleaner and a Trident FMD20 Orbital Floor Machine. Dilute the Suprox Multi-Purpose Cleaner per the instructions and apply it to the floor. Clean with the FMD20 Orbital and let the area remain wet for ten minutes to disinfect the floor. Recover the cleaning solution with a wet/dry vacuum or squeegee it into a floor drain.
For finished floors, either strip and refinish or top scrub and recoat the flooring. The floor should be completely stripped and refinished every three to five years.
For shower rooms
Hillyard has specially formulated for cleaning shower walls, designed to remove both soap build-up and rust.
- Shower Foam Cleaner - Fast-acting cleaner specially designed for use with the Hillyard Foam Gun. Quickly dissolves away the weekly build-up of hard water deposits and soap film from shower walls and floors without scrubbing. Spray it on, allow it to work and rinse. Covers wide areas with just a sweep of your Hillyard Foam Gun. High-foaming Shower Foam clings to vertical surfaces while it attacks soap film and hard water deposits. Can be used on any acid resistant surface.
- Suprox Heavy-Duty - Heavy duty, highly concentrated formula contains stabilized hydrogen peroxide and natural citrus solvents that deliver effective cleaning for heavily soiled and greasy surfaces. The hydrogen peroxide formulation also aids in brightening grout, enhancing the appearance of tiled surfaces.
The CC17 Touch-Free Cleaner is the perfect tool for shower room cleaning. Use the low power setting to apply the foam cleaner to the shower walls. Then rinse with the high-power setting to clean away soap and soil.
Maintaining restrooms throughout the year
The best method to keep a school restroom clean is to establish a routine cleaning schedule and adhere to it consistently. This involves cleaning and disinfecting all surfaces, such as sinks, toilets, urinals, floors, and walls, using effective cleaning products daily. In addition to regular cleaning, it is essential to ensure that the restroom is adequately stocked with supplies such as toilet paper, soap, and paper towels. Proper disposal of trash and waste should also be emphasized to maintain cleanliness. Finally, educating students and staff on appropriate restroom etiquette, such as flushing toilets after use and washing hands thoroughly, can help promote a hygienic environment. Following these practices can keep a school restroom clean and safe for students and staff throughout the year.
Hillyard representatives can help you select the best products and train your custodial staff. Use the “I’m Interested” form at the bottom of this page to have one of our representatives contact you.