Tag Archive for: preventative maintenance

5 Tasks School Facility Managers Hate: So Why Not Get Rid of Them?

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As a facility manager in charge of an entire school, there are probably a bunch of tasks that you’re not a fan of. In fact, you may even loathe them, so why not find a way to get rid of them? One of the most common tasks that has caused considerable dislike is routine locker maintenance. Given the number of lockers in your school, and the variety of issues that can occur with them, facility managers simply hate the meticulous nature of maintaining them. However, because it’s a school, you can’t simply get rid of the lockers and have barren hallways. Students need storage compartments for their books and supplies, but there has to be a better alternative that can reduce your workload.

The 5 Tasks of Locker Maintenance That Facility Managers Despise

  • Painting. Giving all of your lockers a fresh coat of paint is never fun. Sometimes, though, there are no other options. Whether the exterior is chipping, or there’s considerable wear and tear, you can’t get away with painting just one locker. Still, while you’re carefully brushing the paint on, you may also dislike the fact that it’s filling your school with harmful VOC emissions.
  • Graffiti Removal. It’s hard not to take graffiti personally since it’s you that has to clean it off the locker. This requires more repainting, which simply adds to the frustration because you know it can, and probably will, happen again.
  • Removing Rust. Facility managers hate rust removal because it’s so tedious. Whether you’re using vinegar or baking soda, endlessly scrubbing one specific spot on a locker is an easy way to wear your wrist out, let alone drive you crazy.
  • Meticulous Cleaning. In order to prevent signs of rust, unsightly stains, or dust, the lockers require significant cleaning. Power washing makes the process a lot easier, but even that results in considerable cleanup, and you have to wait until students are out of the building.
  • Replacing Lockers. When they can’t take any more, lockers need to be replaced. They get slammed shut every day and they’re exposed to the elements. However, replacing them can result in high costs and painstaking installation.

Getting Rid of These Menial Tasks

If you’ve always fantasized about ways to rid yourself of these meticulous, dull, yet important tasks, there are actually ways to get around them while still having viable lockers and storage compartments for students. HDPE plastic has been introduced to schools across the country, and has met with positive results among students and facility managers. These lockers have successfully cut down on routine maintenance. HDPE is a solid plastic, so it has a durable structure that’s actually resistant to impacts, scratches, and rust. When there’s graffiti present, you don’t have to open a fresh can of paint. The graffiti can simply be wiped off the locker without affecting the locker’s homogenous color. You’ll save time and money on maintenance with HDPE lockers. They’ll provide the necessary storage for students while ridding your day of those pesky tasks. Finding ways to cut your maintenance costs is great, but finding a way to eliminate the task altogether is every facility manager’s dream. Implementing HDPE plastic into your school will reduce the time and money that goes into your school’s maintenance. That way you’ll have a long lasting material that doesn’t require any frustrating or meticulous maintenance, allowing you to use your time towards more important and pressing tasks in your school. Want to learn more about HDPE lockers and the benefits of choosing them for your school? Download this eBook, The Ultimate Guide to HDPE Plastic Lockers, from your friends at Scranton Products.

How to Paint Metal Lockers

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Lockers are a necessity for schools of all kinds. As a facility manager, it’s your responsibility to maintain them properly throughout the years, and they require a certain amount of upkeep, such as fixing dents in lockers, tightening latches, and scrubbing away rust. Unless you have plastic lockers, they also need to be painted every once in a while, so they can continue retaining the aesthetics of your school.

However, when it comes to painting metal lockers, there are a few important steps you’ll need to take. To successfully paint your school’s lockers, you’ll need to follow these crucial steps.

Picking the Right Time to Paint

When it’s a busy school day, finding the time or the space to paint any metal lockers can be tricky. That’s why it’s always good to embark on a locker painting project during a holiday break or during the summer, when there’s only a few faculty and staff in the school. That way, you won’t have a lot of interference with rows of students heading to class. It’s also beneficial during a low occupancy day because of the VOC emissions that will be put off from the painting.

Choosing the Right Place

Now that you’ve got your time to paint, you need your place. Find an open area in the school that you can paint. It will allow you to have the room to paint multiple lockers, so you can start getting the job done. That way, you can reinstall the lockers quickly. You can paint the lockers where they stand, but you’ll need plenty of tarp or drop cloth coverage to prevent any paint from getting on the floor or the wall.

Painting Your Lockers

Before you start painting the metal lockers, you’ll want to use a paint primer that’s designed for metal. It will help the paint stick while providing some much-needed protection to the paint once it dries. Before beginning to apply the primer or the paint, you’ll need to make sure that the lockers are cleaned thoroughly, so there aren’t any imperfections once you’re completed. When you paint the lockers, you’ll need to apply multiple coats to make sure that the color matches on each locker.

Why Plastic Lockers are Better

Metal lockers are very durable and reliable storage compartments for the students. Sometimes, though, their maintenance, care, and upkeep outweigh their usefulness compared to plastic lockers. The constant maintenance and repainting certainly adds to the locker’s costs. What you need is a reliable locker that doesn’t require the constant upkeep while retaining its appearance and durability.

HDPE plastic school lockers are a great place to start because they don’t require a paint job. They’re available in a variety of homogenous colors that will stand up to the elements. Plastic lockers don’t require as much up keep as metal lockers, and can actually outlast metal lockers because they don’t rust. If there’s graffiti present, too, it can simply be wiped away.

Do you want to learn more about HDPE plastic lockers and how they can save you time and money with your school and maintenance? Check out this free eBook, The Ultimate Guide to HDPE Plastic Lockers, from your friends at Scranton Products.

How to Start a Preventative Maintenance Plan for Your School

When you’re the building manager for a school, you know that there’s no escaping routine maintenance. It’s a necessary ingredient to running a functional building. However, as a facility manager, it’s imperative to stay ahead of any mechanical failures, repairs, and otherwise lengthy maintenance projects. What you need to do is come up with a preventative maintenance plan for your school to help you stay on top of everything.care and maintenace

Here’s a few helpful tips and tricks on getting the right preventative maintenance plan together.

Rally the Team

The first step towards executing the proper preventative maintenance plan is having a team of professionals to rely on to help you see your plans through. As the facility manager, you can’t be everywhere at once to spot any minor issues that could develop into a major problem. However, when you have members of your staff that are just as dedicated to staying on top of maintenance, your plan can proceed with great results. Through coordination and communication, tackling any major issues will be a lot easier.

Determine Your School’s Weaknesses

In order to stay on top of issues with preventative maintenance, you need to figure out the areas that are most likely to result in problems. This includes checking your HVAC system to ensure that it’s operating at capacity, your water system to find any impurities, and, of course, the bathrooms. Your school’s bathrooms and locker rooms are susceptible to mold growth, specifically with the partitions, which can reduce the air quality and result in an unpleasant odor.

Luckily, materials like HDPE plastic partitions are durable, solid, and impenetrable to mold and mildew, so you can passively keep your bathroom from sprouting mold by utilizing this solid plastic. This material can even be used for lockers to replace the metal ones that are in your school. Metal can dent, get rusty, chip its paint, and even get covered in graffiti. HDPE plastic lockers are impact-resistant, and when it comes to graffiti, all it takes is a simple wipe to remove it. You don’t have to add a fresh coat of paint to this material because it will keep its aesthetics intact while cutting down on your maintenance costs and time.

Plan the Schedule

It’s important that you coordinate your maintenance plan with the school schedule to determine the best time to complete certain projects. Throughout the school year, getting major projects completed can be difficult because the school is at its highest occupancy. Also, heavy-duty maintenance can be a major distraction during lessons.

Save any major maintenance projects for summer. Given that there are many fewer occupants in the building, getting the projected completed will be a lot easier during the summer. Winter break is another window for projects, but make sure you can determine what can be done given the amount of time you have to complete it.

By planning out your preventative maintenance, you’ll be able to keep your school in great condition with all of its systems functioning properly.

Want to learn more about preventative facility maintenance? Download this free eBook, The Ultimate Guide or Facility Maintenance & Property Solutions, from your friends at Scranton Products.