Five Hacks To Reduce Bad Odours In Your Business Bathroom
Your employees spend a large part of their lives at your office, and chances are high that after too much coffee, too many rich doughnuts or a hearty lunch, they may need to deposit a few odours in your bathroom. Unfortunately, many of the most effective tricks that you use at home – such as lighting a match to dissipate the smell – aren't appropriate in a professional environment. However, if your business bathroom stinks, here are some tips to help keep odours under control:
1. Embrace Vinegar For Its Odour-Killing Properties
White vinegar makes a perfect treatment for urine smells. If bleach and chemical-laden bathroom cleaners are not getting rid of the urine smell in your bathroom, clean your toilet bowls with vinegar.
Do not be shy about how much you use. Pour 500 mL of vinegar into the toilet bowl, scrub, flush and repeat as needed until the smell dissipates. As urine is likely to splash onto the floor – especially in a unisex or male bathroom – wash the grout with vinegar as well.
2. Professionally Clean The Drains
In a bathroom, hair clogs are one of the biggest causes of drain odours. If your employees brush their hair in front of the mirror, they are likely to leave the odd hair or two in the sink. Eventually, these hairs congeal together and create a clog in the drain. As water cannot easily move past the clog, it begins to pool and stagnate, thus causing odours.
To stay on top of this threat, have your commercial cleaners check and clean the drains in your bathroom sinks on a regular basis. Additionally, keep a strong drain cleaner on hand so that you can deal with clogs as soon as they appear.
3. Ventilate Or Clean The Air In The Bathroom
If you have stagnate air in your office bathroom, odours will continue to build up in that space. Make the most of your ventilation system. Have vents open to the outside, and professionally clean vents and fan blades on a regular basis. If dust and debris build up on your filters or fan blades, it causes the ventilation system to run less efficiently. As a result, your bathroom air will hold onto smells.
If there is not a filtration system in your bathroom, do not rely on aerosol cans or plug-in deodorisers. Although these options can add a nice scent, they do not clean the air and are ineffective in the long term. Instead, buy an air purifier. These machines take in air and remove bacteria or other odour-causing elements before recirculating the air back into the bathroom.
4. Remove Dampness With A Desiccant
If you have problems with a musty smell – this can be common in basement bathrooms or particularly humid areas – invest in a desiccant. Often used to thwart dampness during shipping, desiccants consist of negatively charged particles which attract and absorb the positively charged damp and smelly particles in a space.
You simply place small packets of desiccant around the bathroom, and let them absorb the wetness and odour. Once the smells are gone, you may be able to revive the desiccant by heating it in a microwave or in the sun. That allows for multiple uses.
5. Avoid Fabric Towels Or Window Treatments
Cotton towels and fabric window treatments can add a homey touch to a business bathroom, but they also attract and hold odours. In a busy bathroom used by lots of people, avoid fabric items. Instead of fabric window treatments, use plastic shades on the windows, and instead of cotton towels, use paper towels or electric hand dryers.
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