What Does It Mean to Deep-Clean a Public Restroom?
Restrooms are among the most important areas when it comes to commercial cleaning services. Whether you are talking a professional business, an industrial or manufacturing environment, an educational institution, or even a medical practice, restrooms are a haven for germs. They need both surface and deep cleaning on a regular basis.
Surface cleaning is easy enough to understand. Cleaning crews come in and wipe down, sanitize, and disinfect all visible services. Sanitizing and disinfecting can often be accomplished with the same cleaning chemical. As for deep cleaning, it goes above and beyond addressing common services like sinks and fixtures.
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Nothing Left Behind
Deep cleaning is the process of cleaning virtually everything in a restroom. You could say that deep cleaning done right leaves nothing behind. It addresses:
- toilets and urinals.
- sinks and fixtures.
- soap and towel dispensers.
- mirrors, lights, etc.
- floors and walls.
- grout, caulk, etc.
Deep cleaning involves both sanitation and disinfection as well. Literally nothing is left untouched during a deep cleaning. When it comes to public restrooms, this is the way it must be. No other space in a commercial property – with the possible exception of commercial kitchens – requires deep cleaning as desperately or frequently as public restrooms.
Best Done After Hours
Commercial cleaning services like All Pro Cleaning Systems tend to schedule deep cleaning public restrooms for after hours. Why? Because deep cleaning takes a lot of time. Cleaning crews need to be diligent and thoughtful. They need to be incredibly careful about what they do.
Keeping a public restroom closed long enough to do a good deep cleaning is difficult during regular business hours for obvious reasons. It is often better to wait until after hours when no one is around. In the case of a facility that operates around the clock, deep cleaning can be reserved for those times of the day or night when traffic volume is at its lightest.
Scrubbing Is a Big Deal
Another thing to remember about deep cleaning restrooms is that scrubbing is a big deal. Whether you are talking toilets, sinks, floors, or walls, scrubbing agitates dirt and germs. It loosens said dirt and germs so that they are more easily removed with a good cleaning solution.
It is generally a good idea to deal with surface dirt before getting down to scrubbing. That means sweeping floors and wiping down walls and countertops before doing anything else. Addressing loose surface dirt will make scrubbing more effective.
As far as toilets go, scrubbing bowls with a stiff brush and an appropriate cleaning solution goes a long way toward eliminating germs. The thing about scrubbing toilets is that it should be part of a public restroom’s routine cleaning. It should not be left only for deep cleaning.
Frequency Is the Tricky Part
The tricky part in all of this is determining how frequently public restrooms should be deep cleaned. There is no hard-and-fast rule. Rather, decision-makers need to find a way to get a handle on traffic volume and restroom use.
In extremely busy environments, it may be necessary to deep clean on a nightly basis. Airport restrooms are a perfect example. An airport restroom could be visited by thousands of travelers in a given day. The cleaning crew cannot do a deep clean just once a week.
If you operate a business of any kind, there are public restrooms on your property. Those restrooms might be used exclusively by employees or shared between employees and visitors. Either way, surface cleaning should be enhanced by regular deep cleaning. You need to go deep to get a restroom truly clean.