How many times have I heard this: “Well, no one asked me. I clean this place every day. If they would have asked me, I would have suggested...”

I hear this kind of comment at almost every conference I attend when design workshop participants or booth visitors look at the various floor plans prepared by Bacon Group. The comments often relate to the location of core spaces, such as food preparation and laundry, or where drains are located or how the facility should be cleaned.

The following are three brief design discussions regarding efficiency and floor plan development, floor drains, and cleaning of the dog housing areas in boarding facilities.

Floor Plan Efficiency
Even though the owner is the key decision maker and must decide how best to spend construction or renovation dollars, staff opinions and suggestions represent valuable input about efficiency. Greater efficiency usually translates to greater profits. As the floor plan is developed, especially at the early stages, it is wise to get comments from staff.

Staff members often see a better or different way to flow work than the owner or the architect. Staff will sometimes even remember spaces that are inadvertently forgotten by the architect. Examples are the location of the janitor’s closet or “this room should really be closer to that room.”

Facility owners should work with staff to review the flow of the floor plan. How well will the plan work for in-processing, cleaning of the suites, exercising the animals, food preparation, feeding, etc.? I further suggest that the staff be allowed to review the plans without the owner in the room. This avoids staff possibly being intimidated while commenting with the owner looking over their shoulders. They can make lists of their comments or even mark directly on the plans and then review it with the owner or manager as part of a staff meeting. I have received drawings with comments from 10 to 15 different people.

The owner and the architect should take the comments and use them judiciously. Not all comments are valid. It is advisable to review the next generation of the floor plan with the staff and show what comments have been used. It is also advisable to review which comments have not been incorporated so the comment does not appear to have been ignored.

Use this suggestion for staff input for both new construction and renovations. Staff may have already talked about bettering the facility without management knowing.

Floor Drains in Dog Housing
Dog kennel or suite drainage design, because it affects how well the facility functions, ultimately falls under the category of staff efficiency. Cleaning protocol and staffing levels also have bearing on this issue.

The type of drainage system selected likely depends on your facility’s dog housing model. What I experience most is one of four drainage design concepts: trench drains in each suite, a single round or square drain in each suite, no drain in the suite paired with covered drains in the walkways, or simply no drains at all in the dog housing areas.

I do not recommend a continuous trench drain that extends from suite to suite. Continuous trench drains tend to spread diseases and odors as waste drains past each suite. The drain assembly and cover should be of high-quality materials, correctly detailed, and properly constructed. The flooring will need to slope toward the drain.

The individual trench drain concept usually calls for a prefabricated drain about four feet long and about eight inches wide to be installed flush with the slab at the rear of the dog suite. Solid waste is picked up, and the urine or loose stool is then washed into the trench drain. The sloped trench empties at the end of the drain into a collection pipe that goes under the slab. I consider individual trench drains to be the best system and the easiest to clean. They are, however, also likely to be the most costly to install.

The second option is to provide a simple round or square drain in the kennel or suite. The configuration requires staff to wash waste toward a target, which may add more staff cleaning time. This drain system is less costly to install.

Some clients have decided that no drain is necessary in each suite. Many feel that picking up the solids and standard mop and bucket cleaning is adequate. For weekly cleaning, drains have been included in the walkways for hosing and squeegeeing. Cross-contaminating individual dog areas should be avoided when cleaning this way.

Lastly, some clients forego drains or perhaps cannot install them in a leased space, for example. This option will require a mopping protocol for cleaning and dedicated dog walking. This obviously eliminates construction costs but may increase staff cleaning time and dog handling. More interaction with the dogs is a benefit.

One facility we were involved with had no drains at all and took the dogs out to the exercise areas two to three times a day. The design includes some strategically placed floor drains in the dog housing areas, but the drains were not designed to be used during routine, everyday cleaning. The lack of drains in the dog housing area suggests that the dogs will do most of their business in the outside areas, thus reducing the amount of cleanup required. Odors were mostly eliminated. Having greater interaction with the dogs may also be part of your business model.

Since floor drains are costly construction items, a thorough discussion with the architect and facility staff regarding the pros and cons of different drain configurations and cleaning protocol is recommended.

Dog Kennel and Suite Cleaning Methods
Cleaning the dog kennels and suites is labor intensive. I usually expect three options to be discussed. The first is simply mop-and-bucket cleaning. Solids are picked up, and the general cleaning protocol is to clean and disinfect by mopping. Time to disinfect the mop repeatedly would also be part of the equation.

Option two is using standard hoses so the suites can be rinsed after cleaning and disinfecting. Make sure that the pressure in the water lines is adequate and that the hose bibs are sufficient and properly spaced. Quality hoses are heavy, so the longer the hose, the harder it may be for staff to clean.

The third option is to use a cleaning system that will clean, scrub, and disinfect. These systems include a hand-held wand much like a car wash system. Some also come with a wet-vac attachment. The water pressure, water temperature, and chemical mixture is controlled by a central system remote from the animal area. Portable units and hose reel buggies are also available. Care is required because too-high pressure cleaning atomizes the water and can spread waste and germs throughout the spaces.

Dogs should be removed from the kennel or suite prior to cleaning, disinfecting, and rinsing. Try to return dogs to clean and dry housing spaces.

Facility owners should rely on their staff to help them think through these design decisions. Inefficient and poorly functioning plans, drainage systems that could take longer to clean, and the cleaning protocol you want to use will affect staff efficiency and your bottom line.

Richard S. Bacon, AIA, is owner and principal architect at Bacon Group, Inc., an architecture firm that specializes in the design of animal care facilities. With over 30 years’ experience, Rick is a registered architect, member of the American Institute of Architects, credentialed by the National Council of Architectural Registrations Boards, a LEED Accredited Professional in sustainable design, and a licensed General Contractor. He is a frequent workshop presenter on a variety of design topics for the boarding, veterinary, and animal humane care communities. He may be contacted by phone at 800-961-1967 or via email at [email protected].

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