Without clean restrooms and facilities, it’s difficult for students to stay focused on academic success. In fact, 88% of students believe that poorly maintained buildings can be a distraction to their learning experience. Here’s how you can be certain that your school’s restrooms don’t impede student performance.
How to Clean a School Restroom
While cleaning a school restroom isn’t fundamentally different from any other type of facility maintenance routine, some additional steps need to be taken for cleaning and disinfecting hard-to-reach and high-touch areas. The first place to start is by making sure your team is equipped with the proper personal protective equipment (PPE), including gloves, goggles, and masks. Once equipped with the appropriate safety equipment, check that your cart is stocked with all the supplies and materials you need to clean the bathroom. You’ll need:
- A cleaning checklist
- Disinfectant spray
- Restroom supplies
- Microfiber cloths
- A high duster
- An extension duster
- An angled broom
- A dustpan
- Rubber gloves
- Scrubbing sponges
- Cream cleaner
- Green scratchpad
- Trash liners
- A mop
Before entering a restroom, put on disposable gloves and take the time to knock and announce yourself. If nobody responds, you can assume the bathroom is unoccupied. Leave a sign at the entrance to ensure that nobody enters while you’re cleaning. If the restroom is currently occupied, wait for occupants to exit while directing anyone who tries to enter to another nearby bathroom. Once you’ve confirmed that the restroom is empty, you may now safely enter. Prop the door open, wheel your cart in, and move the sign so that it blocks the entrance.
Start With a Visual Inspection
Starting at the door, begin with a visual inspection of the restroom. Look for debris, broken items, spills, or biohazards so that you can take care of these issues before you start your cleaning regimen. By taking this step now, you can save time later by minimizing the chance that you’ll be disrupted after you begin cleaning. Toss debris and broken items into trash receptacles. Clean up any spills to ensure that you don’t accidentally slip while cleaning. For biohazards, follow your organization’s protocol for reporting safety hazards before cleaning.
Begin Your Cleaning Regimen
Once you’ve verified that the restroom is ready to clean, start by spraying disinfectant on sinks, urinals, toilets, and surrounding areas. Depending on the disinfectant you’re using, let the disinfectant settle on surfaces for the recommended period of time. Make sure to lift toilet seats and spray underneath at this stage. While you’re waiting for the disinfectant to settle, now’s a good time to check restroom supplies and restock hand soap, toilet paper, paper towels, and disposable seat covers as needed. Double check all battery-operated dispensers and replace batteries for devices that aren’t operating.
Restroom Cleaning Standards
After restocking the bathroom, empty any sanitary boxes and replace clean bags as needed. Now, it’s time to dust and spot clean the restroom. Start with a high duster to clean restroom vent covers and ensure proper air circulation. Next, spray a microfiber cloth with disinfectant and wipe down the restroom door and all horizontal surfaces. You should also use this cloth to spot clean all high-touch areas like door handles, kick plates, towel dispensers, soap dispensers, trash receptacles, and hand dryer stations. Make sure to remove any smudges, fingerprints, or visible marks at this stage.
Now, use an extension duster to dust restroom baseboards (except under urinals and toilets). If the pipes and pipe covers beneath sinks are exposed, you should dust those as well. Once you’ve completed dusting, use an angled broom to sweep the entire floor, starting with the outer edges and gradually moving debris to the middle of the room. Once you’ve swept up all debris, pick it up with a dustpan and empty it into the trash receptacle on your cart.
How to Clean School Toilets and Sinks
With dusting and sweeping complete, it’s now time to start scrubbing sinks and toilets. Put on yellow rubber gloves over your disposable gloves. Wet a scrubber sponge and apply a dime-sized amount of cream cleaner. Scour the inside of sink bowls, then rinse the area with water. Rinse the sponge and return it, along with the cleaner, to your cart. Wipe away any residue with a power towel.
Next, take a microfiber cloth and spray with disinfectant. Use this to polish sink faucets and then wipe down the sink countertop until everything is shining. When complete, place the microfiber cloth into a laundry bag. Now, use paper towels and multipurpose cleaner to clean the mirrors, starting at the top and working your way around until all spots and smudges are gone.
If the restroom has toilet urinals, start with those first. Flush the urinal twice to ensure it’s thoroughly rinsed. Then, spray the screen with disinfectant on both sides and set it on a paper towel on the floor. Now, apply the cream cleaner to a green scratch pad and scour the inside of the bowl. After scrubbing, flush and rinse until all cleaner has been washed away. Replace the screens. Grab a fresh microfiber cloth, spray it with disinfectant, and wipe down the outer surfaces of the urinal along with the wall and partition surrounding the urinal. Repeat until all urinals are complete.
For toilets, follow a similar procedure. Scour the toilet bowl with a green scratch pad, starting after you’ve flushed the bowl three times when the water’s at the lowest point. Start with the lowest part of the bowl and work your way up. Spray a fresh microfiber cloth with disinfectant and wipe down the toilet area, including handles, flush handles, pipes, the walls, the toilet seat, and the outer bowl in that order.
After cleaning the toilets, disinfect the rubber gloves by spraying them down with disinfectant. Remove them while keeping your disposable gloves on and set them aside for use later on.
The Finishing Touches
With all surfaces now clean and disinfected, you can empty the restroom’s trash receptacles. Tie a knot at the top to ensure no trash escapes and place it in your cart’s trash bag. Replace the liner for each trash receptacle, ensuring that it’s snug around the rim.
Starting at the door, perform another visual inspection of the restroom to ensure that you didn’t miss any areas. Look out for:
- Spots on mirrors
- Hair in sinks
- Debris on floors
- Unpleasant odors
If you notice anything amiss, take care of that before moving on to the next step.
Now, it’s time for the last step—mopping the floors. You can now close the restroom door to ensure that you clean the floor behind the door. From the entrance, work your way around the restroom, starting at the outer edges and working your way back to the door. Move trash receptacles as needed to ensure you don’t miss any spots while making sure you do not step on any wet areas. After exiting the restroom, make sure to leave the caution sign at the entrance. You can now remove your disposable gloves, discard them, and wash your hands—but not in the restroom you just cleaned.
Once the floors are dry, you can remove the caution sign, so patrons know the restroom is available for use. At this stage, you’re all done, and you’re ready to tackle the next project.
Simplify Restroom Maintenance at Your Building
If your team needs some help with restroom cleaning and maintenance at your high school or university, contact Carlson Building Maintenance today. We’ll work with you to customize a cleaning regimen that keeps restrooms shining and stocked, day in and day out.
