Clean, Efficient, and Beautiful—New Restrooms in the Renovated Kalamazoo Public Library

Public libraries are perhaps the most universal wonders of living in the United States. You can find them everywhere, in every kind of community, and find every kind of person enjoying them.

The Kalamazoo Public Library is a lovely example. Serving its midsized Midwestern community in Southwest Michigan since 1872, the KPL shares its extensive collection of books, music, and movies with more than 120,000 guests at its five locations each year.

We’re proud that when the KPL decided to renovate its central, downtown location in 2018, they specified Sloan products for its restroom retrofits. We helped ensure their restrooms live up to the standards any public library seeks—clean, efficient, and beautiful.

Touchless Flushometers for Greater Hygiene

One fact about every public library everywhere: People touch things. Books, DVD cases, keyboards, screens, tabletops, shelves, display cases…the list goes on. And with so many people touching so many things, there’s a high risk of disease transmission.

That’s why hygiene is critical for any public library—and it’s one reason the Kalamazoo Public Library specified Sloan touchless flushometers along with Sloan urinals and toilets in its renovated restrooms:

• Sloan Elongated Wall-Hung Water Closets
• Sloan Retrofit Washdown Urinals
• Sloan SOLIS® sensor flushometers

Sensor flushometers let users wash their hands after using the toilet or urinal without touching any surfaces, limiting the spread of germs. That’s why most hospitals and medical facilities also specify them. But they’re not the only improvement the KPL was able to secure with Sloan products.

In addition, the new flushometers use less water per flush than the ones they replaced, resulting in significant water savings.

SloanTec® Glaze Keeps Fixtures Cleaner, Longer

To keep their new restrooms looking cleaner, the library made a smart choice for any high-traffic facility. They specified SloanTec® hydrophobic glaze for their new urinals and toilets.

SloanTec is a proprietary glaze that imparts water-repellent and oil-repellent properties to vitreous china. It keeps waste material from sticking to interior surfaces, so they flush cleaner and stay cleaner, longer. Since they’re easier to clean, they also save time for the library’s maintenance teams.

AER-DEC® Enables Dry, Uncluttered Restroom Floors

Public restrooms face two additional problems—paper towel waste and wet, slippery floors. The Kalamazoo Public Library was able to solve both of these problems with Sloan’s AER-DEC® sink system.

The AER-DEC sink system combines a faucet, soap dispenser, and hand dryer in one sleek, touch-free, hygienic, highly efficient system. When users don’t have to walk across the floor to reach a hand dryer or paper towels, the floors stay dryer. And the AER-DEC has allowed the library’s restrooms to be completely paper towel-free, so there’s no more wadded-up paper cluttering their floors.

We’re glad we were able to help the Kalamazoo Public Library design the restrooms in its renovated central location to be clean, efficient, and beautiful. And we’re even more glad that they intend to specify Sloan products for renovations at their four branch libraries as well.

We love libraries—and we especially love helping make them better!

Sloan technology has contributed to the construction and renovation of many of the world’s premiere educational facilities. Want ideas for making your next project more stylish, more hygienic, and more efficient? Contact Sloan!