Public Restroom Odor Control & Deodorizing Solutions
Restroom odors are a huge deterrent to your customers. Walking into a stinky restroom ruins your customer’s experience & lowers their impression of your whole business. Bad restroom odors have serious and lasting consequences. Restrooms reflect the quality of service provided throughout your business. In fact, a recent survey by Cintas revealed 89% of people consider a restroom dirty if it smells bad. The good news is, you can effectively prevent and eliminate bathroom odors for good. Commercial restroom odors are problematic all year round, but the busier the facility, the more problems we see. We also tend to see more issues in warm, humid weather. Here are the top 5 causes of restroom odors.
Top 5 Causes of Commercial Restroom Odors & Best Odor Control Solutions
Understanding how bathroom odors develop and how to get rid of them is necessary to keep your customers happy & build a good reputation. The top odor problems in public restrooms are:
- Bacteria Buildup
- Urine Odors
- Floor Grout
- Floor Drains
- Toilets & Urinals
Let’s learn why these are problem areas and what you can do about it.
Bacteria Buildup on Restroom Walls, Floors & Ceilings
As your customers flush the toilet, droplets of water containing bacteria & pathogens become airborne and contaminate the walls, stall doors, flush handles, and locks. Studies have found that the transmission of these pathogens (including Staphylococcus & E. coli) may cause disease. As this bacteria settles onto surfaces, it creates odor problems.
Properly cleaning walls, partitions, and surfaces around the toilet will help prevent odors and the spread of disease. Many of us don’t have the luxury of a restroom attendant, but AeroWest has a perfect solution to keep your restrooms fresh and sanitary between cleanings.
Don’t neglect the ceiling. Although this one is less obvious, remember to wipe the ceiling down with a quality disinfectant. Ceilings should be wiped down at least several times per year to maintain a safe, sanitary restroom and eliminate any potential odors coming from bacteria on the ceiling.
Our AeroWest & OdoSan toilet drip systems do the work for you. Placed above your fixtures, our drips constantly release deodorizing & cleaning fluid into the flush water. The fresh scent will circulate throughout your entire restroom, giving the ultimate impression of clean.
Urine Odors
In most commercial restrooms, the main source of odor is urine. Even small droplets of urine can be a breeding ground for bacteria. The more the bacteria proliferates, the worse the odor becomes. Urine is often trapped on tiles, grout, behind the fixture, and can be spread throughout the restroom on shoes.
Grout Lines
Most public restrooms have tile floors with grout used to fill in the space between tiles. Grout is a porous material typically made with cement, water and sand. Due to its porous nature, grout can be a magnet for urine, odor-causing bacteria, dirt, and mildew. That’s why grout lines are a huge source of malodors.
Mopping with a multi-purpose cleaner can spread the bacteria rather than eliminate it. As long as these urine droplets are stuck between tiles or behind the fixture, the odor problem will persist. To get rid of the urine, use a CDC recommended disinfectant. Disinfect surfaces regularly to kill bacteria and microorganisms that cause odors.
The best thing you can do is prevent the odors before they start. Disinfect behind fixtures. We recommend spraying our Odoff Odor Neutralizer behind fixtures to kill hard to reach odor sources. This is such a common odor source that AeroWest created a product called AeroFloor specifically designed to eliminate urine odors in grout lines. AeroFloor cleans your floor and contains an odor neutralizer that breaks down odors at the molecular level.
Floor Drains: Unexpected Source of Restroom Odors
If you’ve disinfected your entire bathroom but still have an offending odor present, check your floor drains. Commercial restrooms have floor drains to catch the water from overflowing toilets. These drains can be breeding grounds for bacteria. These drains will also emit odors if the drain trap dries out, letting sewer gas escape. Fortunately, AeroWest has a simple solution for this. Our drain control program contains drain valves and deodorizing drain fluid to completely eliminate all drain odor issues.
Toilets and Urinals
When the seal around the base of the toilet is broken it can cause odor problems.
The AeroWest restroom odor control program includes the use of toilet or urinal mats to protect your floor and the base of your toilet. Our toilet/urinal floor mats contain our proprietary odor neutralizer that kills urine odors on contact. Replaced every 28 days.
AeroWest toilet & urinal floor mats:
- Neutralize urine odor
- Protect the floor
- Prevent slipping hazards
- Prevent staining
- High absorption
Show Your Customers That You Care With Toilet Seat Sanitizer
Stand out from your competition by providing toilet seat sanitizer in the stall for your customers. Click the image below for details.
Passive Deodorizing Solutions for Toilet, Urinals, & Stalls
Our restroom deodorizing service includes the use of effective, high fragrance releasing devices that do not require electricity or batteries. For maximum freshness, we recommend:
- Urinal Screens – Urinal screens reduce splash and release pleasant fragrance. We replace urinal screens for you every 28 days
- Double Toilet Clip – Our patented double toilet clips features a double saddle-like design that releases twice the fragrance of a standard toilet clip and fits much more securely. You can clip them to the toilet rim or even on top of the stall partition. Comes in 6 fragrance options with more on the way. Replaced every 28 days.
- Passive Stick-Up Device – Our Passives are highly scented, versatile devices that you can stick behind the toilet, under the sink, or on virtually any surface to improve indoor air quality. This is also great for office desks, storage spaces, and janitorial closets. Comes in a variety of fresh scents. Replaced every 28 days and will not harm your wall or paint.
- Eliminate Odors from Waterless Urinals – The WURV attacks odors at the source. It’s the best, most cost effective solution around for waterless urinals.
Prevent Spread of Germs with Professional Hand Care Services
Use touchless, automatic hand soap & hand sanitizer dispensers. Our hand care services include touchless dispensers and we’ll make sure you never run out of soap or sanitizer again. (FYI, our hand soap smells amazing!)
Best Commercial Air Fresheners for Restrooms
Provide a fresh, clean scent throughout your restrooms. We have 50+ essential-oil based fragrances to choose from.
We’ll help you choose the best scenting device for the size of your restroom. Our most popular scenting device for restrooms is the WiseAir & WiseAir Select. Both air fresheners circulate fragrance throughout the restroom by a built-in fan system.
For more tips on cleaning public restrooms, click here.
We provide full-service for the following areas in your restrooms:
Learn more about scenting your facility.
