The Ideal Janitor's Closet
The Ideal Janitor's Closet
Most of us don't give a thought to a Janitor's Closet. We put a sink in a small room of 5'x5' and move on.
Well there's a little more to it if you want the space to serve the building owner. We learned what is really needed when we designed a supply warehouse for Banana Republic / The Gap. The owner's project manager, who was in charge of supplying the whole company with stuff for operating the individual stores, was basically an executive janitor.
We received very specific requirements for the janitor's closet. I am passing on his wisdom to you.
The Janitor's Closet has four main requirements. First is shelf storage for supplies that the custodian will need in the course of doing his job. Second is space to store the cart that the custodian uses. Third is extra floor space to store equipment. And fourth is the sink.
The sketch, which is our minimum standard (now), shows a room with interior dimensions of 9'-4" deep by 7'-4" wide. These dimensions are masonry coursing, so this works out fine with masonry or drywall partitions. So what do you do with all the extra square footage? After all this is almost triple the 5'x5' size I have used all to often.
It turns out that you need open space that should be suitable to store a ladder, vacuum cleaner, mop bucket, and possibly a floor buffer and/or steam cleaner. You will need a deeper room if all of this is stored here. The four notes marked on the plan are explained here.
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A] DOOR - The door should be at least 36" wide, 40" is better. Our master should show the door swinging out 180 degrees to lay back against the outside wall. For those rare cases where you can't swing the door out, you will need an overhead stop for the door since wall and floor style stops won't work.
B] SINK - The sink should be a floor-set mop sink measuring 2'x3'. "Wall mounted mop sinks went out of style a century ago." The narrow end goes against the far wall where the water faucets should be placed using a braced spigot with an integral bucket hook. Above the long side there should be a wall-mounted mop-hanging bracket so drying mops can drip into the floor sink.
C] SHELVES - The shelves are three floor set metal units, each measuring 36" wide by 72" high by 18" deep. The shelves should be adjustable.
D] CART - The cart is often 30" wide by 48" long. Occasionally there will be two of them to support a large floor plate. Consider two rooms or one larger one.
Although floor space is precious, The Gap realized that you should give the custodians the tools they need or you may need more custodians.
Now you know how to design the Ideal Janitor's Closet - and why.