High-traffic areas in commercial buildings are known to be prone to foul odors, dirty floors, and standing water. These spaces need extra attention to maintain cleanliness, or they will likely leave a negative impression.
Pay attention to the “hot spot” areas of your facility’s restrooms to ensure they are free from rodents, cockroaches, and flies that are attracted to them.
1. Floors
In commercial kitchens and public restrooms, floors can take noticeable abuse from high-traffic. Cracked and damaged tile or missing grout can easily collect small bits of food waste and debris. This creates a fertile breeding ground for flies and a food source for other unwanted pests.
Maintenance personnel should be mindful when mopping floors with wet mops because dirty water left behind can attract pests, and the wet mop heads can serve as a breeding ground. Ensure that floors and mops are washed and dried properly to avoid attracting pests.
Consider using a cleaner like Simple Green to break down stains and gunk from the floors in your building. Simple Green is powerful, effective, and environmentally friendly. The concentrated, biodegradable formula provides up to 30 times the cleaning value.
2. Drains
A buildup of organic material can accrue in both floor drains and service drains, creating a great opportunity for small flies to use it as a breeding ground. Regular drain cleaning can help prevent this from happening.
Any stagnant water around drains can also serve as a breeding ground for pests. Be sure to pay attention and keep areas around the drains clean as well.
Drains with P-traps can become dry and emit odors that cockroaches are attracted to. Green Fix is the solution for this common problem. Green Fix is a saturated paraffin oil that seals drain traps to prevent odors and pests from permeating the trap and endangering the health and comfort of your tenants. It is a simple add it and forget it solution, ready to use directly from the container.
3. Toilets
When toilets and urinals are not properly maintained and sanitized, they can produce odors that pests are attracted to. You can ease maintenance throughout a busy day by installing automated systems into your building’s restrooms.
Hands-free flushing can reduce the spread of bacteria through manual contact. Making the change to automatic flushing in your facility means that the opportunity to forgetting to flush and the subsequent odors lingering in the restroom are eliminated because it is taking care of the flush without the need to think about it. The top and side mount options provide models to suit the needs of any commercial restroom.
While implementing automatic systems into restrooms does help take some of the burden of regular daily maintenance from your staff, it is important to remember that regular cleaning by hand is still necessary in these areas.
4. Sinks and Faucets
If your facility has a dishwasher, install a splashguard to prevent the surrounding walls from becoming saturated with water. A wet wall combined with humidity from the dishwasher provides an environment for pests to thrive in.
Fix any broken or leaking sinks in bathroom fixtures. This will help to prevent pests as well as prevent water damage. Be sure that any small crack that a pest could make a shelter in is filled.
Caulk any cracks and crevices with Loctite Re-New silicone caulk. It's flexible, waterproof, and adheres great to existing sealant. Loctite Re-New kills, repels and prevents mold from growing once properly applied.
5. Habits
Unwanted pests will sometimes come in the same way you do—through the door. Keep regular habits in mind to limit the access pets have to your building. In the coming summer months especially, your tenants may be tempted to leave doors and windows open, providing easy access into your building for pests.
Communicate with the people in your building to promote awareness to the risk of unwanted pests when doors and windows are left open for long periods of time.
6. Odors
There are solutions for any troubling odors in your building. The Whiff Wizard is a versatile solution that can eliminate odor in virtually any setting. Simply open the container and place near the offending odor, and the Whiff Wizard’s powerful charcoal-infused formula will provide up to 90 days of odor control.
The Splash Hog urinal screen will help to reduce odors from urinals. These urinal screens come in scents that last up to 60 days—twice as long as most urinal screens. Splash Hogs are also embedded with an enzymatic drain cleaner to reduce build-up down the line.
Aerosol air neutralizers come in a variety of scents to leave rooms in your building smelling great. Pairing the aerosol with an automatic dispenser will help to prevent foul odors all day long, even through periods of heavy traffic.
By taking these practical steps and staying vigilant for activity, facility managers can keep building pest-free this summer.