Renting a porta potty for a single event that is only supposed to last a day or two usually requires a little work. You do have to know how many portable bathrooms you need from a portable toilet company, and do you have to be ready in case anything goes wrong, but for the most part you don’t have to worry too much about maintenance when renting portable bathrooms on a short-term basis. By the time your porta potties need to be cleaned, your portable toilet company of choice will be on hand to clean them and take them away.
On the other hand, this way of thinking does not apply when you’re renting portable bathrooms for an entire season. Not only do you have to contend with months’ worth of regular toilet usage, but depending on where you are you may also have to deal with the messes caused by rain, wind, and generally bad weather. The best way to keep any portable toilet clean is to contact a sanitation company to handle the job, but there are still plenty of things you can and should be doing to keep your rented portable toilets clean for as long as you need them.
- Keep Cleaning Tablets in All of Your Portable Toilets
Cleaning tablets are found in public bathrooms across the country, and for good reason. While dropping a tablet at the bottom of a portable toilet obviously won’t keep it spotless, it will fight off odors and prevent some nastier germs from growing. A fresh cleaning tablet should be placed in a portable toilet once a month, but the good news is that it can be left alone once you drop it in place. As long as you’re diligent in getting new tablets from your portable toilet company or sanitation service provider, you should be able to keep the worst of the odors and bacteria from becoming a problem.
- Keep a Close Eye on Your Supplies
A porta potty needs to be well stocked at all times. This means replacing empty toilet paper rolls, refilling the hand sanitizer, replacing the air freshener and placing the aforementioned cleaning tablets as needed. All of your porta potties should be checked regularly regardless of how often they are used. These supplies are easy to come by, but it’s always best to talk to your sanitation service provider receive regular shipments so that you can replace them as needed.
- Air Out Your Porta Potties
The smell inside a porta potty can grow very strong, and since nobody really wants to be looking at the inside of one unless they’re using it you may be tempted to keep it closed at all times. This isn’t always the best idea, however. Yes, the smell of a well-used porta potty may seem unbearable, but part of the reason why is because it hasn’t had many opportunities to air out. Having an air freshener and a cleaning tablet does help keep the smell of a portable toilet mostly bearable, but you should still open the door and let the toilet air out regularly. Find a time when people are going to be unlikely to use a porta potty and keep the door open for at least half an hour. This is especially useful for events that last for weeks or months at a time.
- Focus on the Touch Points
It should come as no surprise to hear that some parts of your average porta potty are dirtier than others. These are known as touch points, or the parts that people touch the most often. This includes the door handles, the hand sanitizer dispenser and the toilet paper holders. Your guests may be keeping their hands relatively sanitary with a squirt or two of hand sanitizer, but that doesn’t mean much when hundreds or thousands of people are touching the door handle and dispenser one after another.
Cleaning the touch points seems like a simple task, but it does require some effort. The best way to do this is with a powerful cleaning solution and the eight-fold method. This refers to folding a clean rag over twice and using one side of the resulting square to wipe down the touch point. Once one point of the square has been used, it should be turned over to clean another touch point. After that, the cleaner should unfold the rag and refold it so the unused sides of the rag can be used to wipe down surfaces. A microfiber towel that has markings to indicate different sections will make this admittedly tedious job a little bit easier.
When it comes to keeping your portable toilets clean, go straight to the experts by contacting Mr. John. Since 1964, Mr. John has helped countless event planners, construction site managers and all types of other clients with their temporary sanitation needs. When it comes to keeping your next event as clean as can be, turn to a company you can trust and contact Mr. John today!
