How it all started
I have spent a lot of time working at a high school in the area of maintenance. The state of the washrooms, especially the boys, totally frustrated me. I was constantly replacing toilet roll holders, soap dispensers and indicator locks plus removing graffiti. I really felt for those poor kids who suffered the embarrassment and frustration of having no toilet paper, no soap dispensers, and a toilet door that didn’t lock. It eventually became war.
I started with the graffiti
I checked the washrooms for graffiti after every recess and lunch break and removed it straight away. This took away their bragging rights. The more they graffitied (hey, I’m a maintenance guy, not an English teacher) the wall the more determined I was to take it off. I eventually won. These days graffiti is very rare. This new clean environment resulted in the students respecting the area more and reduced vandalism.
Next Battle – Toilet roll dispensers
My problems were: the metal dispensers were being constantly damaged and the rolls were jamming because they were not loaded properly or were vandalised. I often checked them and found fingernail marks in the paper from desperate students trying to access the toilet paper. I manufactured the first tuff stuff basic toilet roll holder for the boys’ toilet. Now that the students had toilet paper, a fresher environment due to no graffiti and indicator locks – see below – the students respected the area and vandalism is much reduced.
Indicator Locks
Broken indicator locks were a common frustration, I have now developed the C22 latch, this latch has a spring loaded tab that releases when the door is kicked hard, this eliminates lock damage as well as door damage.