bathroom woes

[ms. suds]

Is it mandatory to have a public restroom by law in a laundromat?

I have lots of problems with people from the streets or even certain customes who seem to just leave the bathroom plain filthy. Then the other day I had a customer complain to me that everytime she comes there the bathrooom is never properly clean. I explained to her of people who go in there and do not clean up after themselves. Now she is trying to tell me how many times to clean my bathroom a day. She says every 4 hours. I just laughed. My attendant cleans it at nights since I have a 24 hr mat.

Is there something I can do to fix this problem?

[Howard]

There is no requirement for restrooms except in food service establishments in Oregon.

You will probably consider a coin operated restroom door. My experience with that method is not good. The quarter becomes an entitlement to certain people to lock the door, take a sink shower, make themselves at home, and feel that they have paid to have someone clean up behind them.

Since you are unattended, there doesn't seem to be much you can do unless you close it up. Is there another restroom within walking distance of your mat? Does your competition offer a restroom?

You can try peer pressure through signage, but the people that make these kind of messes usually don't or can't read.

[Kitty]

I went to several unattended mats in a market I was looking into. One store locked it up, no one could use it. The others were so filthy I would never consider using it.

All 3 stores are attended and one of the issues we harp on is cleanliness, whether it is inside the mat, the machines themselves, the walls and baseboards, out side walkway or parking lot, or both bathrooms..........these areas are to be clean at all times. Having a clean laundromat is essential to the success, and the bathroom is as important if not more so.

I bet in unattended markets the bathroom is a nightmare. People are disgusting at times and many have no personal hygeine standards and simply will do the grossest thing. If I could not maintain a clean bathroom more often than not and was unable to present a clean environment to my customers I may consider closing the doors and not allow any use.

[Gary C]

I locked my restroom. I did however leave a key hanging next to one of the soap machines and told my regular customers where it is, that way it's public sortof. Close enough for me. If our local goverment wants it open to everyone then they can come clean it too. I don't think they realize the problems they cause when they set codes like that.

Gary

[JeffLange]

In my unattendant store the bathroom is always open. My customers are lowlifes but as long as the bathroom gets cleaned twice a day it is fine. I get numerous compliments on how clean it is and many locals that are not washing come by to drop their goodies off in my toilet. Bathroom is part of the business.

[Westlake]

I have an attended mat and keeping the low life’s out of the bathroom is still a challenge. I ask my attendants to check it hourly and it is still a struggle to keep it clean. But even bigger problems have been:

One customer ripped the strainer out of the drain in the sink, stuff paper towels into the drain then left the water running. We didn’t notice until the water came running out from under the bathroom door.

On many occasions the attendant has found *?**?**?**?* on the floor, walls and ceiling.

One customer flushed a ton of paper towels into the toilet, backing up the mainline and flooded the laundry. Today customers dry their hands by shaking them in the air.

I have been temped many times to just shut it down, but my customers need it. It’s just part of doing business.

[mike]

Just a passing thought, I wonder if those of you with card systems could have some sort of card reader on the bathroom door that would allow free access to the bathroom ? Possible or not ?

[Anonymous]

Mike, yes that would be easy to do. All you would have to do is have an electronic lock that would be activated by the card system when it reads the card, the price could be $0.00 / use

[Anonymous]

Personally, I hate having a bathroom at my laundromat.......

However, I don't seem to have many problems. I am 24/7 and unattended. Sometimes there will be some graffetti on the walls, but I just prime & paint over it as soon as possible.

I don't have the water to the sink turned on - they can wash their hands at the wash tub in the main area of the mat. Also, I don't offer soap, paper towels, etc. They are on their own in that regard.

I do have a lot of folks stopping in just to use the toilet, even though they are not doing laundry. Really confuses me..... what's the big deal about MY bathroom? It's moderately clean, but not THAT clean to go out of your way for. Also, I'm accross the street from a grade school/playground. I get lots of kids in there. But every now and then they'll buy soda or candy, so I guess they are somewhat of a customer.

I have thought about locking the door and shutting it up. However, I fear that may lead to worse problems. I would be afriad that the goofballs might decide to do their business in my machines, or just unload on the floor. That would be a mess.

It's a pain, but I guess I'll put up with it for the time being.....

[Howard]

In my book, the idea of using the card system to enter the bathroom is a great one. It is the first real, solid advantage that I can see for a card system.
Even the customers would buy into the concept and no one could complain that they are a customer and couldn't use the restroom.

[pete f]

I always say maintaining bathrooms sucks, is the worst
part of the biz. But it is a part you learn to deal with.

In my county it is against the law to lock it and not give access.
I was cited for this once. I run unattended for those who did not know. If I get a string of trouble, still lock the door. I try to do it durring the week from Tue to Friday, by then the trouble person will have moved on. This is rare I have to do it. It does not always work, once someone retaliated by peeing in the trash cans next to the bathroom. Guess that was better than the floor.
You can buy a faucet that only lets water come out when you press on the button. I have those installed. I have the toilet paper on chains so it can't be stolen or the dispenser ripped off the wall. I provide no paper towels except in one location, it is a heavy duty dispenser style that locks the roll. I clean them every nite, use Clorox tablets in the toilet to help with smells. My bathrooms are very clean for the most part, probably why the strangers use them..I would not go thru the trouble but if one woman customer needs to use the bathrom, I want it clean for her. Everyone else is in for the ride.

[Anonymous]

I'm lucky.... I get to fix my leaky toilet tonight. Have to pull the tank and install new screws, washers, etc. between the tank and the stool. I REALLY like working on toilets....... Actually, I'd rather be poked in the head with an ice pick rather than mess with a toilet.

Sometimes I wish I would've been a plummer. Seems everytime I call a plummer to have some work done, they are always booked "for the next couple of weeks". Hence the reason I'm doing it myself.

I thought about one of those timed faucets, but I just haven't installed one yet. I plan to do an entire makeover of the head sometime soon. Will probably think about that, and the paper towel think at that time.

I guess it's just a necessary evil.....

[Fred50]

Dave,

Are those timed faucets ADA approved? I have the long handled ones, but I may change them if I have problems.

Thanks!

[danskines]

In my store the bathroom is always open for all of my customers to use. There has been one major incident with one customer who sort of missed the bowl and it was all over place. I am sure you know what function I am referring to. Well this happened right before I got to the store that day and the guy just grabbed his wet clothes and left the store real quick. When opened that door, forget about it. I haven't seen this guy since the incident.
Well now I only clean the bathroom with the dirty mop at night. I just give the thing a quick mop down and that's it. If they want it dirty they can have it dirty. I have a problem with people stealing the hand soap, so now they have no soap. When they ask for it I say use your detergent.

[Anonymous]

Mark: I don't know. I really haven't looked into it that much...... Again, should've been a plummer then I would know the answer :-)

[JeffLange]

The automatic faucets are ADA compliant. Also why use paper towels when you can get a hand blower. Too bad they didnt make a blower to replace TP. My bathroom got a extra good cleaning last night since I had too take care of some of my own business in there.

[Anonymous]

Sure glad I don't have a bathroom!

[Fred50]

Since we are on the fascinating subject of bathrooms I have a question.

Do you use soap in a pump bottle or the commercial soap dispenser attached to the wall or bar soap?

I have heard that bar soap is gross and gets lifted, pump bottles are neater, but they get stolen.

However, the wall mounted dispenser soap is expensive and I've heard that they are messy as well.

Opinions? Alternatives?

Thanks!!

[Westlake]

I use the wall mount unit, 2 squeezes of dish washing soap and the rest water.

[mike]

I have the air blower, and people use it to dry their clothes !!

[JeffLange]

The blower is also great when the bums wash and set their hair.