Color Psychology: Classroom Colors Conducive to Learning

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For years, scientists have studied the effects of various colors on the human mood, which is known as color psychology. Results have shown that different shades or hues have strikingly different effects, and specific classroom colors are more conducive to learning. Blue, for example, is soothing and calming, while red encourages excitement. So it’s important to consider color choice when decorating your classroom.

In this post, we’ll take a closer look at color psychology, how color can alter the mood of your classroom, and review some best practices that can help you to heighten creativity and improve focus.

Understanding the Effects of Colors

As we mentioned above, each color has a particular effect on mood. Red can create a sense of excitement and increase alertness. It also increases appetite and creativity. However, for individuals who suffer from anxiety, red can also be extremely upsetting. Blue, on the other hand, can suppress appetite, lower temperature, and create a calming environment.

Use the list below to see what effects certain colors can have:

  • Yellow: Increases creativity and attention and instills a general feeling of positivity
  • Orange: Can improve alertness
  • Green: Peaceful and calm
  • Purple: Peaceful and calm
  • Brown: Can reduce feelings of fatigue and improve feelings of relaxation or make students feel more secure
  • Off-White: Improves attention and instills feelings of positivity
  • Red: Inspires alertness, excitement and creativity

Adjusting Colors in a Preschool Classroom to Improve Attention, Creativity or Rest

Within a preschool setting, color adjusting the room can help with many activities and tasks when working with young children who need direction, structure or calming. For instance, wearing an off-white shirt can help to improve their attention span, while using splashes of red around the art station can increase creativity and excitement. Meanwhile, quiet areas for naptime should be decorated with shades of green, purple, or blue to promote rest and a sense of peace and calmness within the room.

Inspiring Learning with Youth and Adults

Similar to how color can be used in classrooms for young children and infants, teachers who work with youth and adults can strategically decorate their classrooms to improve attention, creativity, and even feelings of security. If you spend most of your time lecturing and want students to be alert so they can take thorough notes, consider adding orange, off-white, or red to the room.

If your class involves hands-on work where students are asked to create or solve complex problems, then using colors like red or yellow can help to facilitate creativity.

Whatever your lesson plan involves, color can be used to instill learning and improve student performance. Keep in mind what effects colors have on mood in the classroom and plan your classroom decorating all colors and decorating carefully.

Did you know that classroom design can impact students’ attitudes and even the way they retain information?

To learn more, read our article, New Research Shows Positive Connection Between Classroom Design and Learning.

Scranton Products, a leading lockers manufacturer, manufactures low maintenance, aesthetically pleasing and durable lockers for school facilities. Learn more about Duralife school lockers, ideal for elementary, middle school and high school facilities.

 

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.

Things to Consider Before Your Athletic Locker Room Renovation Project

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An outdated locker room can be a dangerous eyesore. From lockers that constantly need repairs to the dated tiles in the shower area, a complete redesign can breathe new life into your facility as well as improve how your guests view and treat your locker room.

However, before you start tearing down walls and ripping up floorboards, there are a few things to consider when planning your renovation project.

Controlling the Flow of Air and Traffic

Anyone who’s been in a poorly ventilated locker room can tell you the importance of adequate air flow. Promoting a good flow of air through your locker room starts with design. You want to make sure that hot, humid air has a way to escape and new, fresh air can enter.

One way to create better airflow in your athletic locker room is to use a labyrinth entrance. Instead of a door, which would block air from entering or escaping the locker room, a labyrinth entrance uses hard turns to add privacy for guests.

Be sure to speak with your designer and architect to find the best ways to promote good airflow in your locker room.

In addition to airflow, you want to consider the flow of traffic coming in and out of the locker room. Will there be only one way for guests to enter and exit or will the locker room feature both an entrance and a designated exit? The latter option can improve the efficiency of your locker room and aid in your ventilation efforts.

Choosing Locker and Shower Materials

Thinking critically about materials before you buy can help you to save hundreds in maintenance costs. For example, traditional metal lockers have been a common choice for years, used in everything from schools to office buildings and, of course, locker rooms. However, metal is prone to denting and rust, which gives it a short life span.

The same can be said for materials used in the shower area, bathrooms, or any place where moisture may be present inside the locker room. For that reason, rust-resistant materials like HDPE provide a cost-effective solution.

school locker room

Cleaning and Maintenance

One of the most common problems that facility managers face is routine cleaning and maintenance. That’s why, while you’re in the planning stage of your locker room design, it’s important to consider how your design will affect the facilities cleaning and maintenance needs.

For example, if your locker room has a bathroom with partitions, you might consider using ceiling-mounted stalls instead of floor-mounted one. With ceiling-mounted stalls, the floor is much easier to clean.

In terms of maintenance, make sure to ask about life expectancy when sourcing materials. As we mentioned early, HDPE is resistant to rust and denting, giving it a much longer life expectancy than other materials, like metal. HDPE can also be power washed without damaging the color, which makes it extremely easy and inexpensive to clean.

Know What Your Guests Want

An easy way to guide your renovation efforts is to ask the people who use the locker room what they like, don’t like, or would improve. By reaching out to your guests, you’re sure to design an athletic locker room that has the features and accessibility they’re looking for.

Take a survey or create a suggestion box to generate feedback. Then review the responses with your team and decide which suggestions fit with your overall redesign plan. Also, be sure to download our free eBook on The 7 Mistakes That Architects Make When Choosing Bathroom Partitions and Locker Materials. These helpful tips could save you time and money during your locker room renovation project.

Summer School Cleaning & Maintenance Plan

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During the typical school year, your building experiences a lot of use. However, performing the maintenance and large-scale cleaning that’s needed isn’t always an option when school is in session. That’s why many educational facilities wait until the summer recess to complete large-scale projects. However, this still leaves two possible conflicts.

The first conflict occurs when a school is still used during the summer months. Some schools, for instance, run summer camp programs, while others serve as pseudo community centers for public meetings or for clubs and organizations. Although it’s terrific that the school is being used by the community throughout the year, it makes it even harder for building officials to perform the needed cleaning and maintenance.

The second conflict arises from the mere effort of trying to complete multiple major projects in such a short span of time. This puts additional pressure on administrators to plan and coordinate with project leaders thoroughly ahead of time to make sure that the maintenance and cleaning can be completed within the time frame before students and faculty return to class.

Cleaning and Maintenance Plan

1.      Clearly define the objective.

The first step to designing a successful cleaning and maintenance plan is to clearly define the object. For instance, “Clean the entire building, top to bottom” isn’t a clear object.

Ambiguity is the enemy of effective planning, so be specific. Do the floors and carpeting on all levels need to be cleaned? Do the lockers need to have graffiti removed or need repairs?

Making a clear plan will also help when determining cost and balancing the school’s budget.

2.      Consider the stages and order of maintenance and cleaning.

You should also consider the order in which the maintenance and cleaning is performed. It’s highly recommended that, in most cases, cleaning is performed after maintenance. This is because some maintenance can leave behind dust and debris.

locker checklist

If the cleaning team came before the maintenance was completed, they would have to come back and perform a second cleaning. This redundancy can result in an inefficient use of the school’s budget and unnecessarily extend project timelines.

3.      Prioritize cleaning and maintenance projects.

Planning major cleaning and maintenance over the summer gives your teams only a few months to complete these projects. As a result, you may need to prioritize which projects are done at the beginning of the summer and which are done later. You may also need to determine which projects should be done right away and which ones, if any, can wait until next summer if time constraints require them to be postponed.

Most experts agree that your primary focus when thinking of cleaning and maintenance should be on areas of safety or health concerns. Many times this involves restrooms, locker rooms, and cafeterias. For example, bathroom partitions or lockers that have been damaged by rust can pose a serious safety risk, as corrosion can weaken the structure and leave sharp edges exposed.

4.      Identify materials that need to be replaced and the timeline needed to replace materials.

When choosing replacement products, be sure to select cost-effective materials that provide adequate durability and low maintenance costs and don’t negatively impact the indoor air quality of the school.

One material that features all of these characteristics and more is HDPE. Used in the making of bathroom vanities, partitions, and lockers, HDPE is a highly versatile and dependable material.

5 Questions You Should Ask When Shopping for School Lockers

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When you’re shopping for school lockers for your facility, you want to be sure you’re choosing a durable material that can withstand the impact of students unloading their books, gym clothes, sports gear and other belongings. There are many different factors to consider when shopping for lockers for your school. Read on to find out the five questions you should be asking.

school locker room

1. How durable is the material?

School lockers face a lot of harsh wear and tear daily, so it’s important to choose lockers that are made of a durable material that can withstand this use.

The traditional option for hallway lockers is metal but they can come with a lot of drawbacks. They’re prone to dents with minimal impact which can compromise the aesthetics of the lockers and will end up costing a lot of money for repairs and replacement.

A impact test was conducted following ASTM standards that showed Duralife Lockers had 59 times greater resistance to impacts when compared to metal lockers.

2. How much maintenance do they require?

Constantly having to perform maintenance on your school lockers will become expensive in the long wrong. You want to be sure that the lockers you’re choosing are low maintenance to save you from this cost.

Traditional metal lockers have a lower initial cost than plastic lockers, making them an economical choice for schools. However, there are hidden costs such as additional expenses associated with cleaning, painting and the general maintenance of these lockers on an annual or semi-annual basis which may be overlooked.

By comparing the true cost of a traditional metal hallway locker to a Duralife HDPE locker over a 20 year period a study was done to take into account the initial cost, maintenance, dent and scratch repair, painting cost, graffiti removal and replacing damaged and corroded parts to create a cost of ownership model. Within 2 years, Duralife HDPE lockers are less expensive than metal. In 20 years, the accumulated savings are substantial.

3. How much noise do they produce?

 The noisy clanging that comes from shutting a metal locker can be distracting as it rings throughout the hallways, so look for an option where the sound is muffled.

Duralife Lockers are 3 times quieter than metal lockers and reduce noise in the hallway. This eliminates distractions from the hallways and leads to a better learning environment.  The difference between that is a metal locker noise would be equivalent to an alarm clock 2 feet away where the Duralife locker noise is considered similar to that created by a washing machine.

4. Are the lockers made of sustainable material?

Some major traditional metal locker brands do not meet the strictest standards for air quality and sustainability. These products are not Greenguard Certified. The Greenguard Certification Program gives assurance that products designed for use in indoor spaces meet strict chemical emissions limits. This contributes to the creation of healthy interiors.

Duralife Lockers are Greenguard Gold Certified and meet the strict criteria for products intended for use in schools, as well as other environments where children spend a lot of time. With Duralife Lockers, you can be confident that the lockers are not having a negative effect on your school’s air quality.

5. Are the lockers visually appealing?

It’s also important that the lockers are aesthetically appealing in your facility. You want people to come into your school and see it as a respectable environment. DuraLife Lockers have appealing vents throughout and a clean-looking surface. There are also built in handles and combination locks that are recessed to improve student safety.

To learn more about Scranton Products’ DuraLife Lockers download our free eBook, The Ultimate Guide to HDPE Plastic Lockers for Schools.

10 Things School Facility Managers Should Take Care of During Winter Break

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It’s the most wonderful time of the year during winter break. The students get a nice vacation from their studies during the holidays. As for the school facility manager, you get to play catch up, thanks to the empty halls and classrooms. Even though the students use this time to relax, sleep in, and get together with friends and family, you need to use this time wisely to make sure everything is in order for the remainder of the winter months.

Here’s 10 things school facility managers should take care of during winter break to make sure their school is in tip-top shape.

Maintain Your HVAC System

Heat is crucial during the frigid winter months, so you’ll need to perform a few audits to make sure everything iscare and maintenace functioning at its best. Look for any components that may need a replacement, so you can take care of it during the break. Any type of issue that can prevent your school from being heated may actually prolong winter break, so be sure to keep the system in great shape.

Winterize Your School to Retain Heat

While properly maintaining your HVAC system is a crucial step on the winter break checklist, you’ll also want to be sure you’re not wasting any heat. Find any weak areas that result in your school losing heat and energy. You’ll want to air seal these areas, so your school doesn’t suffer from drafty rooms or areas that can’t retain heat.

Inspect Your Pipes

Winter brings the cold, and if your school isn’t properly heated, this can cause more problems than just frigid temperatures. If your school suffers from the cold, or loses power, this can have a huge effect on your pipes. These pipes can freeze and burst, so you’ll want to be sure that not only are they in great shape, but they’re getting enough heat to remain at any optimal temperature.

Perform a Test of Your Generator

Due to the snow and ice buildup on tree branches, they can often buckle and break under the tremendous weight and the brisk temperatures, which can be troublesome if there are any nearby powerlines. If you lose power, which is a significant certainty during the winter, you’ll be relying on your backup generator to make sure your school remains at an acceptable temperature, so your pipes don’t freeze and any electronics don’t suffer.

Replace Faulty or Broken Components

On day one of winter break, you’ll want to perform an inspection of your school and its various fixtures and

The doors and fixed panels used in the Eclipse partition system provide both high design and privacy. Here we show how to ensure proper gapping and consistency on all panels and doors in order to achieve the desired sleek lines.

components. This can include lights, water fountains, electrical outlets, or even radiators. Check each of these components to make sure they’re working, or if they need to be replaced before the students and teachers come back to resume the school year.

Inspect the Roof

During the winter, the roof of your school takes quite a beating from the snow, rain, and ice, especially if your roof is flat and doesn’t have any slopes or angles that can help combat the elements. You can work to remove any of the snow and ice build-up with a shovel or rock salt, but you’ll also want to look for any issues or problems that could affect the integrity of your roof. Be sure your drain pipes are free of debris and caulk any noticeable cracks.

Clear the Snow & Ice

Depending on how hard the weather hits your area, this may be a continuous process during winter break. You’ll want to clear the parking lots and designate the snow piles to areas out of the way. Clear the walkways and paths to your school’s entrances, and salt the ground to help reduce any ice buildup.

Invest in New Floor Mats

The floors in your school can take quite a beating during the winter, with students tracking in clumps of snow and even rock salt from the walkways. You’ll want to get some heavy-duty floor mats for the entryways to help reduce the snowy debris from damaging your floors. For the best results, place heavy-duty floor mats outside the entrances to pick up most of the snow and salt, which will reduce the amount actually making it into the school.

Start a Germ & Bacteria Removal Plan

School absences and sickness are rampant during the winter, so one of the best ways to combat this is by focusing on areas with considerable germ and bacteria buildup. The most susceptible areas are the restrooms and the locker rooms. A thorough cleaning can do the trick; however, if there is mold within the components, like your partitions, you may need to find a suitable replacement. HDPE plastic partitions can drastically reduce sickness because they don’t absorb moisture and won’t sprout mold.

Get Your Painting Done

Due to the lack of students filling the hallways and classrooms, now’s the time to get some painting done. If there are components or features in your school that are starting to fade in color, or if they’re chipping, you can get the painting done without having to worry about the VOC emissions affecting student health. Be sure to do this early in the break, so the paint can be dry, ensuring your school is free of the paint smells by the time students and teachers return. You can even invest in HDPE lockers to help avoid any locker painting in the future.

Use your winter break wisely and get these crucial services completed, so you can avoid any major problems that occur throughout the winter.

Want some more tips and tricks on most effective facility maintenance methods? Download this free eBook, The Ultimate Guide for Facility Maintenance & Property Solutions, from your friends at Scranton Products.

 

 

Noise Can Negatively Affect Learning

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How to Improve Your School’s Learning Environment Noise is defined as “a sound, especially one that is loud or unpleasant or that causes disturbance.”According to a study conducted by researchers at Cornell University, students had more difficulty learning to read when subjected to continuous noise, such as airplanes taking off, compared to students learning at quieter schools. These findings, as well as similar findings from other studies, support the claim that noise can significantly affect a student’s ability to learn. However, noise doesn’t necessarily have to come from a busy airport or highway. Noise from the cafeteria, gymnasium, or hallways can negatively affect the learning environment of any classroom nearby. In this post, we take a closer look at what you can do to reduce noise and improve the learning environment within your school.

How to Reduce Noise Inside the Classroom

Repair/Maintain Ducts, Fans, and the HVAC System A properly functioning HVAC system should produce only a slight whooshing sound. Meanwhile, ducts and fans should be virtually silent. If any of these are making loud or distracting noises, it could be a sign that they need repairs. Stay up-to-date on building maintenance to keep systems working effectively and sound levels at a minimum. Dampen Noise from Chairs and Desks Depending on the kind of furniture in your classroom, chairs and desks sliding across the floor can create a considerable amount of unwanted noise. To help reduce the noise from these objects, dampeners can be placed on the feet where the chair or desk meets the floor. An old solution was to cut a small slit into a tennis ball and then fit the leg inside to create a type of shoe. Today, much more effective and stylish solutions are available. Install Drapes Over Windows Thick windows do an exceptional job of blocking out unwanted noise, but adding thick drapes can add an extra level of sound protection. Of course, you may not want to cover up windows during the daytime if they offer the primary source of light. Instead you can invest in soundproof windows, plant shrubbery outside the windows, or install lighting fixtures to provide enough light so you can close the drapes. Use Plastic Lockers in Hallways Metal lockers can cause a considerable amount of unwanted noise, which can distract the students in any classroom that might be nearby. Plastic lockers provide a perfect alternative to metal lockers, producing a fraction of the noise. Plastic lockers made from high-density polyethylene (HDPE) are also much easier to maintain thanks to their natural resistance to rust, dents, and graffiti. locker replacement checklist Soundproof Walls, Floors, and the Ceiling It’s widely known that sound waves easily bound off hard, flat surfaces. Meanwhile, soft surfaces absorb sound. So if you’re looking to limit the amount of noise in your classroom, you might consider using soft carpeting rather than tiles or hardwood flooring. You can also install sound-absorbing panels on the walls. Finally, ensure than any gaps between the ceiling panels are sealed. Although the only quiet classroom may be the one without students, it’s possible to keep noise levels low so you can build a better learning environment for your students. Follow these tips to help reduce the negative effects of noise.

How to Choose Lockers for Your School

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Whether you plan on building from the ground up or you’re performing some much-needed renovations at your school, you should consider a wide array of factors when selecting your building materials. However, while the foundation may be strong and reliable, you may want to consider changing some of the interior materials, like your lockers.

As a facility manager, you should consider all your options, not just for cost, but also for longevity. When it comes to choosing lockers, you’ll want to be sure that you’re making the right decision.

Determining Locker Life Cycles

When you’re looking at the costs related to new lockers, their life span should be considered. Ordering a new set of lockers is a major investment for your school, so you want to be sure that the lockers will last for a long time without having to be replaced soon after installation or repaired extensively.

During your research, you should look at products at both ends of the cost spectrum. While cheaper materials may seem to be the better option, they may actually end up costing you a lot more by wearing out sooner than expected. Sometimes, spending more upfront on higher-quality materials can be the most cost-efficient decision down the line, as the lockers may hold up better, while the cheaper alternatives may require extensive maintenance and repairs.

Choosing the Right Materials

After you’ve found some great locker options, you’ll want to compare them as far as durability and longevity to see which locker material is the best choice for your school.

Metal is the most popular material used for lockers due to its strong construction and easy installation. However, there are some issues with metal lockers that may alter your choice of this material.

Rust is a major factor to consider. This is more common in locker rooms, but once present, rust removal can be time-consuming and painstaking. Metal lockers also require a fresh coat of paint every so often, which can lead to harmful VOC emissions.

A material that some facility managers use instead of metal is HDPE (high-density polyethylene), which is a highly durable solid plastic. Choosing HDPE over standard metal has many advantages. The number one advantage is that HDPE lockers have a greater impact resistance than metal, resulting in fewer dents and surface damage than normal metal lockers.

And since HDPE is a performance plastic, it isn’t susceptible to rust growth. It can even stand up to mold growth due to its solid plastic construction.

Maintaining Your Lockers

Keeping up with locker maintenance is important. Whether the lockers endure heavy damage or some light scratches, it’s important to address the issues early on.

After about five years, metal lockers will require paint, maintenance, and of course, cleaning. However, when you choose HDPE as your locker material, you only have to perform some light cleaning, as heavy maintenance and repainting aren’t necessary.

After 10 years of use, HDPE lockers will require some minor maintenance, while metal lockers will probably need multiple paint jobs, as well as more involved maintenance to ensure that the lockers are in good shape to continue serving their storage purposes.

Why HDPE is the Better Choice

While metal lockers may seem to be cost-effective during installation, they can become more costly over time when they require a lot of attention and maintenance. HDPE locker materials, on the other hand, require little maintenance and no paint touch-ups.

You don’t have to hire crews to conduct extensive maintenance on the lockers due to their solid construction and their material that’s resistant to most locker-related issues. They mainly require sporadic cleaning rather than an entire time-consuming and costly repainting process. Choosing HDPE material over metal is a smart choice when factoring in the total costs of the lockers and their maintenance.

Taking the Next Step

When it comes to making the final decision of which type of lockers to use at your school, you’ve seen here that there are a lot of factors to consider to make the best choice for your school and budget. You learned that metal can be a useful material for your lockers, but it’s not without its flaws.

But determining which material you inevitably go with shouldn’t be too hard once you look at the projected life span of each material while factoring in the expected maintenance and repair costs. You’ll see which option is better for your school in term of quality, longevity, and sustainability.

Want to learn more about how to choose the right lockers for your school? Check out this blog post, School Lockers Ranked by Durability, Longevity & More, from your friends at Scranton Products.

Renovating Your School’s Locker Room: Your Go-To Guide

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An outdated locker room isn’t just an eyesore. It can be downright dangerous for students and faculty depending on the materials used and the overall condition of the facility. Although, completely renovating your school’s locker room is no small task, as any superintendent or school board member can tell you. So to help you make sense of the renovation process, we’ve created this custom guide!

Follow the steps of this guide so you can easily renovate your school’s locker room!

Understanding Your Renovation from Start to Finish

Depending on the scale of your renovation project, planning, and construction can take months or even years. To make sure that your plan goes off without a hitch, it’s important to understand each stage of the renovation process. Equally as important, you’ll want to spend adequate time at each stage to see the process through completely. Trying to rush through a stage could result in extended projected timelines and going over budget.

Steps Toward Getting Started on Your Locker Room Renovation

Step 1: Fundraising

Having the money to pay for your renovation is probably the most important step. Most schools acquire these funds through fundraising or by selling a school bond. A school bond is kind of like a mortgage for a house, where a lender agrees to give you a certain amount of money with the understanding that you’ll make regular payments plus interest to repay the loan.

Step 2: Pre-Planning

During the pre-planning stage, you’ll want to establish a planning committee. If possible, it’s best to form your committee with people from a diverse set of disciplines and backgrounds. At this stage, the planning committee will be primarily responsible for determining what the goals are for the facility.

Step 3: Programming

Defining the types of activities and requirements of the space you’re designing is known as programming, a term borrowed from architectural planning. This is one of the most crucial stages of the renovation project and needs to be completed early on. Otherwise, you could end up delaying the project or, even worse, creating a facility that doesn’t meet your original expectations.

Check out Scranton Product’s Tufftec Lockers Product Kit Now!

Step 4: Schematic Design & Development

Now that you’ve completed your programming and come up with project budgets, you’re ready to talk to an architect and have them begin designing your facility. Review these designs with your planning committee and check in periodically so you can fine-tune the design as the architect works on diagramming the locker room.

Once the schematics are approved, the architect will get to work creating blueprints. These blueprints will also be used during the bidding stage and for estimating construction costs, so it’s important that your planning committee reviews the blueprints closely and makes sure they’re exactly what you want.

Step 5: Bidding

Once the architect has prepared all the proper documents, you’re ready to start taking bids for your project. During this stage, you’ll show your blueprints and other paperwork to general contractors, electricians, carpenters, and other needed subcontractors. They’ll in turn bid on the project (offer you a price to complete the project).

Step 6: Construction

The planning process is officially over! Now, you’re ready to break ground, so to speak, and start with the actual renovation of your locker room. During this time, you should plan to visit the locker room regularly to make sure that the renovations are being carried out according to your specifications. Any issues should be brought to the attention of the architect and project administrators.

Step 7: Purchasing Equipment/Furniture/Materials

Now’s the time to start finding the right equipment and materials to help get the job done. Look out for any low-cost maintenance materials, such as lockers, partitions, and even benches. Once you’ve reviewed all of your options, choose the materials that are guaranteed to last you for a considerable amount of time. Metal lockers are the usual choice for locker rooms, however, HDPE plastic lockers have proven to outlast metal lockers and they even provide a more durable structure.

Check out Scranton Product’s Duralife Lockers Product Kit Now!

Step 8: Debut Your New Locker Room

Once the crew has made the finishing touches on your locker room with installing the materials and having painted the walls, you’re ready to unveil the newly renovated locker room!

Renovating Your School’s Locker Room

Now that you’re aware of the crucial steps towards renovating your locker room, you’re ready to get started! Remember that a renovation project of this magnitude requires considerable funds, the best materials, and the right crew to get the job done. A project like this takes time, but after it’s finished, you’ll have a newly renovated locker room that you can be proud of.

Want to learn more about choosing the right materials for your locker room renovation? Check out this blog post, Lockers That Can Save Your School Money, from your friends at Scranton Products.

Why Work With An Industry Leader?

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Industry leaders offer a unique value to their clients.

It starts with a razor-sharp focus on their clients’ most important issues. Industry leaders dig deep into these issues and come up with innovative ways to solve them. They also know that innovation is more than coming up with great ideas. Industry leaders know how to innovate. They excel in operational execution and have the methodologies and processes in place to deliver value consistently to their customers.

As North America’s leading manufacturer of HDPE bathroom partitions and lockers, Scranton Products is a proven industry leader, focused on responsive innovation, and offering our customers quality products that are built and tested to the highest standards.

What drives innovation at Scranton Products? It is understanding the needs of our customers – the need for high-value

As a market leader, our products are built to stand up to the harshest environments and are backed by Scranton Products’ industry-leading warranties, so you can rest easy that your investment is protected for years to come.

As a market leader, we are committed to sustainability. All of our products are made from recycled materials and are 100% recyclable. They are also free of VOC emissions and are GREENGUARD Gold Certified. In addition, throughout our manufacturing process, we’re conscious of our impact on the environment and practice factory-responsible recycling.

As a market leader, we are a true partner to our clients, offering responsive innovation, cutting edge solutions, unsurpassed product quality, excellent customer support, and one of the largest distribution networks in the industry.

To learn more about Scranton Products and the unique value we offer our clients, please visit: https://www.scrantonproducts.com/products/