How To Build a Touchless Commercial Bathroom
The Importance of a Touchless Restroom Experience
Since the beginning of humanity, lavatory designs have aimed to ensure better hygiene throughout society. Ultimately, restroom designs, technology, and equipment improved to further increase sanitation and keep surrounding communities safe and healthy. For example, various innovations to flush valves in the 1700s-including the valve-type flush toilet and S-trap-increased toilet performance, helping create cleaner bathroom environments.
Flash forward to today, and touchless bathrooms are increasingly more popular, especially in commercial settings with lots of foot traffic. In fact, many businesses financially benefit from automated soap dispensers, flush toilets, hand dryers, and sink faucets. This is because these devices control resource consumption, diminish wasted products, and reduce power consumption. Combined, these three advantages help buildings save significantly on monthly operation costs, such as resupplies and utility and power bills.
However, touchless commercial bathrooms are not one-trick ponies. Aside from the many financial and cost-saving benefits, automated restrooms are also exceptionally hygienic. Much like past innovations, touchless equipment greatly mitigates one of humanity's greatest health risks: cross-contamination.
Cross-contamination refers to the spreading of foreign antibodies from one person to another through a shared surface. For instance, countless individuals touch the handle of a manually-operated paper towel dispenser every day, and some of these individuals don't practice proper handwashing behaviors. With a touchless hand dryer, these unhygienic bathroom guests are less likely to leave behind harmful germs for the next visitor.
Therefore, a thoughtfully designed commercial restroom consisting of multiple automated devices possesses superior cleanliness, as this environment poses minimal opportunities for cross-contamination.
That is the basic thought behind designing touchless commercial bathrooms eliminate cross-contamination, protect the health and well-being of individuals throughout your building, and save a buck on operational costs. Many businesses implemented these automated devices following the global pandemic as an effort to safeguard their employees, students, or clients, as well as surrounding communities. And due to the overwhelming importance of providing restroom guests with a sanitary environment, the trend of touchless lavatories will continue to rise in popularity.
Installing Automatic Restroom Equipment
So now you know why switching your restroom equipment to touch-free alternatives is important, and you're ready to turn your commercial restroom into a state-of-the-art, touchless experience. But where should you start? There are many options to consider when designing your automated bathroom, but the ones you should prioritize are as follows: flush valves, sink faucets, soap dispensers, and hand dryers.
Automatic Flush Valves
Automatic flush valves are installed or retrofitted onto existing toilets to provide touchless flushing capabilities. Often, these valves feature a motion detector that activates when a restroom guest waves an extremity past the sensing component. Once triggered, a preprogrammed volume of water flushes, ensuring optimal performance without overconsuming energy. Furthermore, the lack of a handle or lever mechanism makes flush valves more sanitary than manually operated alternatives.
When considering automatic flush valves, contact experts to determine if retrofitting-connecting the flush valve to existing toilet hardware-is more practical than installing new equipment.
Automatic Sink Faucets
Traditional sink faucets are notorious for wasting water and promoting the spread of illness through cross-contamination. Since they are manually operated, restroom patrons control factors such as the volume of water used and duration of use. Therefore, individuals with poor hygiene and bathroom habits can create a less sanitary environment for everyone. Like automated flush valves, commercial automatic faucets dispense preprogrammed volumes of water. Most importantly, these quality devices provide a comfortable yet suitable water temperature to better eliminate bacteria.
Automatic Soap Dispensers
Soap is one of the most wasted resources in any given commercial restroom, especially when dispensed from a manually-operated device. Furthermore, manual soap dispensers require frequent soap replacements, device maintenance, and consistent cleaning around the surrounding area. Automated soap dispensers eliminate all of these drawbacks by neatly providing small, suitable amounts of soap. And since these devices can make resources last significantly longer than traditional dispensers, your guests will always have access to an effective handwashing station.
Automatic Hand Dryers
The last automated device worth installing in your commercial restroom is a hand dryer. Similar to touchless soap dispensers, automatic hand dryers dramatically reduce the cost of sanitary resupplies. Specifically, hand dryers eliminate the need for paper towels, which eat through your profits, negatively impact the environment and surrounding ecosystems, and often end up anywhere but the trash can.
Additional Touchless Considerations
Aside from soap dispensers, hand dryers, flush valves, and sink faucets, there are plenty of other upgrades for you to consider. The following automated equipment won't increase sanitation, but they provide valuable benefits that enhance the overall restroom experience for guests.
Automatic Air Freshening
No one likes using a smelly bathroom, and custodial staff certainly don't want to waste time spraying fragrance bottles in each stall throughout the day. Ultimately, using candles, spray bottles, and other manually-operated odor control methods is inefficient and ineffective.
Instead, consider implementing automated air freshening machines into your restroom design to control foul smells without lifting a finger. These devices passively dispense small amounts of odor-masking scents to create a more enjoyable lavatory experience.
Automatic Lights
Automated lighting systems are practically a must-have feature for any commercial restroom. By eliminating light switches, businesses can save thousands of dollars each year on energy bills. Plus, these upgrades help reduce carbon emissions and negative environmental impacts. Lastly, automatic lights can give your restrooms and building a more modern and luxurious ambiance.
Follow this guide on building a touchless commercial bathroom experience to ensure your restroom guests can enjoy a more sanitary environment. These upgrades help keep building dwellers and bathroom patrons healthier and reduce operating costs for businesses looking to increase profits.
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