The Yes Experience» Lockers

Getting The Best Lockers For Your Campus Recreation Center

SteveHappe — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 07:18:20 +0000

Many colleges and universities provide a campus recreation center, or even multiple centers, depending on the size of the campus. At each center, students and faculty need lockers to store their books and other belongings while they participate in the activities the center offers.

Match Locker Type to Use

Selecting lockers that are appropriate for the center’s specific activities should be a key factor in your choice of lockers to install. For example, a center that offers tennis, golf, and/or other competitive sports calls for lockers that allow for a change of clothing—and 72” tall single-tier lockers are ideal for that purpose.

Or, if your campus recreation center houses a pool, sauna, and/or steam room, you should strongly consider plastic lockers to resist damage from high humidity. For a less-expensive alternative, you could select galvannealed steel lockers, which also resist corrosion.

Perhaps the center is for activities that don’t require a change of clothing—such as board games or simply watching movies. In this case, small triple-tier lockers would likely suffice to allow for students to store their book bags, laptops, or other minimal belongings.

Consider Style

There’s also the matter of what atmosphere you want to create. For example, if the center is at a prestigious school, you might want a “country club” feel and choose all-wood lockers with trim.

Limited budgets doesn’t mean you can’t focus on style. For example, less-expensive metal lockers can be painted in the school’s colors to reinforce school spirit and brighten the locker room.

Weigh All Considerations

When deciding on the best locker type for your center, you must first know your budget, the physical space available, and the number of lockers you’ll need. These are the basics, but you still have important decisions to make based on the activities being supported and appearance.

A company that specializes in locker room equipment, design, installation, and maintenance can provide valuable assistance as you evaluate your options. Installing lockers in a campus recreation center is an investment, and a locker expert can help ensure you get the best value and functionality for your money.

Photo Credit: Lockers in Building

Designing Locker Rooms: Deciding Between Metal Or Plastic lockers

Rich Young — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 22:50:32 +0000

Deciding between plastic or metal lockers for your locker rooms? Well, depending on where you are putting the lockers is key to what type of locker to choose.

Here are 3 tips to help decide which locker is best for your location:

If your lockers are going to be exposed to any humidity a plastic locker is the best one for you. Pools and pool locker rooms are a great example of this. These areas are constantly exposed to humidity and the lockers are often used to store wet bathing suits and towels. The High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) lockers are mildew and odor resistant. Plastic lockers are about 30% more expensive then metal but will resist environmental strain and be well worth the extra cost in the long run!
If your lockers are used for outside storage the plastic locker is again the best option for you. The HDPE lockers are power washable and will not delaminate. They are also impact and dent resistant. So if your lockers are going to be used in a municipal pool area, outside recreation areas, to store EMS equipment or at a yacht club where salty sailing equipment will be stored the plastic locker your answer.
Metal lockers are an excellent choice when security is an issue. They are also the best choice if you are on a budget as they are less expensive the plastic lockers. If your lockers are going inside a school, a firehouse, a hospital or any dry environment metal will be the best choice.

Both metal and plastic lockers can be arranged in many ways in order to fit your spacing needs!

Photo Credit: Kamoteus (A New Beginning) via Flickr

High School Lockers: What To Do When They Need Repair

Rich Young — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:09:47 +0000

When high school lockers need repairing, it’s best to hire a company that specializes in locker repair. In fact, working with a professional locker maintenance and repair provider, your high school lockers can be looked after year-round, including combination changing for each new school year.

With a flexible annual service plan, a broken locker won’t cause you any stress. And the frequency of broken lockers will decrease because of proper maintenance. A quality specialist in high school lockers will provide ongoing:

installation of missing and broken handles, doors, trim, latches, and other locker parts
tightening of all nuts and bolts
adjusting and lubrication of all frame hooks and fingers
necessary repairs to guarantee smooth operation of doors.

REFURBISHING AND REPAIRING RATHER THAN REPLACING
The life of high school lockers can be significantly extended by proper maintenance, as well as by refurbishing. Vigilant maintenance provided by a locker service provider can save you money by substantially reducing replacement costs. And electrostatic painting makes lockers look good as new for about 20% of the cost of buying new lockers.

If it’s broken or looks bad, the answer isn’t to throw it out—the problem can usually be fixed. A long-term relationship with a repair and refurbishment specialist can prevent unnecessary expense by restoring rather than replacing lockers. (Electrostatic painting is also a perfect opportunity to encourage school pride through color schemes.)

OUTSOURCE THE HASSLE OF COMBINATION CHANGES
Using an annual service plan provided by an experienced locker specialist frees up your summer staff to focus on other important issues in which they specialize. That’s because they will no longer have to worry with the annual task of combination changes. As part of a service plan, a company specializing in high school lockers will advance all combinations to the next series, ensure that all combinations are on the same series, and order exact replacements to ensure alignment with your Master Lock Control Book.

You don’t just get prompt locker repair with a service plan—you get complete locker management.

TAKEAWAY POINT
Protect your locker investment with an annual service plan that provides repair of broken lockers, ongoing maintenance, and inexpensive refurbishment. When a locker breaks, it shouldn’t become your problem. A phone call to your trusted locker specialist should be all that’s involved.

Photo Credit: stevendepolo via Flickr

Locker Rooms: When To Know If They Need Refurbishing

Rich Young — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 18:29:30 +0000

If the paint on your school or club gym lockers is flaking, peeling, or chipping, they need a refurbishment. Even if the paint has just grown dull and worn-looking with age, a locker refurbishment can breathe new life into locker rooms.

The first, most-obvious concern is protecting the lockers. Aging, deteriorating paint that leaves metal exposed can lead to rust, and rust means lockers that will have to be replaced.

But there’s also the aesthetic aspect to consider. Old paint just doesn’t look good. Locker rooms should not only be functional and comfortable—they should also inspire a feeling of class.

Whether it’s paying health club members or school athletes preparing to take the field or court, the appearance of locker rooms helps create an emotional atmosphere for the workout or the game. It may be at the subconscious level, but sharp-looking locker rooms convey a sense of success and pride. Dingy locker rooms, on the other hand, can be depressing and demotivating.

LOOK GOOD AS NEW WITH ELECTROSTATIC PAINTING
In electrostatic painting, a high-voltage electrostatic charge is applied to the paint and sprayers to accelerate the paint toward the conductive lockers. This technology minimizes disruption, eliminates drips, and prevents over-spraying.

If the paint in your locker room is grungy, chose a proven, knowledgeable locker equipment company that offers electrostatic painting. They will remove the old paint, then paint and treat your lockers onsite—returning the sparkle to the locker room in short order. (This refurbishing is an excellent opportunity to consider new color choices to match school colors or create a mood.)

The right company will also provide you with repair services if you have lockers that have broken locks, door, or shelves.

Refurbishment should be a total solution to make your locker room as first-rate as if you had bought new lockers at a far greater expense.

CONCLUSION
Don’t ignore paint that’s coming off your lockers. That’s a sure sign that your lockers are due for a refurbishment. So are multiple damaged lockers.

By hiring an expert refurbishing company, you will not only protect your lockers and restore any lost functionality; you’ll bring the luster back into the locker room.

Changing Locker Combinations: 3 Important Facts To Know

Rich Young — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 05:30:14 +0000

If you manage school lockers, you know that every year you need to change all the lock combinations so returning students won’t know the combinations. You also need to change combinations periodically during a school year when lockers change hands or if a combination gets out to students other than the user.

As you make these changes, there are three things you should be aware of:

1. KEEP LOCKS IN SERIES
There are only a certain number of combinations for each lock. As you change all the combinations for a new school year, you want to keep all the locks on the same series. In other words, if all locks start with their first possible combination, the next year you want all the locks to be on their second combination, and in the third year you want them all on the third combination, and so on.

2. CHANGING COMBINATIONS IS THE TIME TO LOOK FOR NEEDED REPAIRS
It does no good to change a combination if the lock is broken or damaged. The time when you change combinations is also a time to examine your locks to see if they need to be replaced or repaired. This is also a good time to examine the locker itself, looking for needed repair or refurbishment.

3. WHEN REPLACING LOCKS ORDER EXACT LOCK REPLACEMENTS
Doing this will keep you in alignment with your Control Book.

THE BOTTOM LINE
You can save time and money by hiring a company with extensive experience in locker maintenance to change your combinations. For example, Young Equipment Sales (YES) can do 2,400 combination changes in a day! And YES offers a yearly service plan to ensure that not only are your lock combinations changed as needed but that the process is done in an orderly, cost-effective way. A service plan also includes maintenance on the actual lockers—so that students never have to worry about the security of their belongings.

Painting School Lockers: How Young Equipment Sales Can Help

Rich Young — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 17:30:11 +0000

School lockers with paint that’s peeling, chipping, or flaking need to be repainted to protect the metal and to improve appearance. Even if the paint is just fading, repainting can rejuvenate your lockers. The improvement in atmosphere created by freshly painted lockers is usually striking.

But repainting requires hiring a company that specializes in locker painting. It’s not something you want in-house staff doing, and it’s not wise to hire a general painting contractor either.

Young Equipment Sales—with nearly 30 years of experience with school lockers—offers electrostatic painting services that refurbish your lockers at a fraction of the cost of new lockers. The electrostatic technology:

does away with drips
eliminates over-spraying
allows Young Equipment Sales to do the work overnight so there is no disruption to your staff or students.

Young Equipment Sales offers thousands of colors to choose from. They also provide multi-color and textured spray finishes. Repainting affords an excellent opportunity to get creative to create a theme, boost school spirit, and inspire appreciation of the lockers.

KEY POINT
Repainting school lockers is a way to get lockers looking good as new at 80% less than the cost of replacing lockers. Combined with an ongoing locker maintenance program (which Young Equipment Sales also offers), repainting can significantly extend the life of your lockers. The people at Young Equipment Sales are locker specialists who can expertly provide this service—keeping your lockers looking good, while lasting long.

3 Keys to Minimizing Theft In Your School’s Locker Rooms

Rich Young — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 17:23:38 +0000

Theft in locker rooms is a crime of opportunity. Therefore, security is a major consideration when designing and outfitting school locker rooms.

Start with the right lockers.
Full-time security allows use of pro-style open design lockers, but schools don’t have the resources to pay for people to watch over vacant locker rooms. Consequently, you need lockers with these anti-theft features:

Heavy duty steel construction for strength and durability.
Mini-louvers that allow plenty of ventilation without visual access to contents.
Built-in locks that automatically lock when the door is closed — padlocks are easily broken. (Don’t know how? You can easily learn online.)
Enough room to store all the student’s belongings, so nothing is left outside their locker, even for a minute. Unless your school has multiple locker rooms, choose the largest size needed to meet everyone’s needs.
Lifetime warranty to protect the school’s investment, too.

Follow these suggestions to design and manage locker rooms:

Locate offices near the entrance, with large windows overlooking the locker rooms. Offices and any clinic supplies or equipment should be fully secured.
Prevent ceiling access that can hide a thief or stolen items. Recessed lockers or those with sloped tops eliminate ceiling access and top-shelf hiding places.
Place lockers only around the perimeter, or limit the height of interior rows to maintain an unobstructed view.
Always secure locker rooms when leaving. A coach or instructor should be present at all times and do a walk-around before leaving and locking up.
Video cameras cut down on crime, but privacy issues for locker rooms in particular make this troublesome area.

Remember the human side.
Don’t assume kids even think about security. And sadly, trust, covering valuables with a pile of clothing or stashing an I-pod in dirty underwear aren’t enough. So talk about it, and promote common sense habits such as:

Don’t share locker or combination
Don’t leave anything outside the locker, even temporarily
Report theft right away

Staff should perform periodic walk-throughs when students are present. Like police patrols in neighborhoods, just the increased presence and knowledge that someone is watching can make a tremendous difference.

Strong, smartly designed lockers combined with constant vigilance are the key to minimizing theft in your school’s locker rooms.

High School Lockers: Choosing Plastic Lockers For Humid Climates

Jamie Cipollina — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 20:30:04 +0000

Anytime you have metal high school lockers in close proximity to a pool, showers or sauna, you are exposing them to high humidity. The air is moist, and the lockers themselves are often used for wet swimsuits, towels, etc.

That increases the possibility of corrosion and rust. Depending on the brand of locker, it could take a few years or even just a few months before signs of deterioration begin to show.

But did you know that you can use tough, long-lasting heavy duty plastic lockers instead? That’s right, plastic.

There are many benefits to using High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) for high school lockers in an active environment, including:

Impact and dent resistance
Scratch resistance
Mildew and odor resistance
Common chemical resistance
Power washable
Solid plastic will not delaminate (solid plastic)
Graffiti resistance, including pencil, pen, paint and most markers

HDPE high school lockers come in a multitude of configurations, giving you design options that complement your architecture while enabling you to make the most of available space. Your brand – school or team name or mascot image — can even be engraved right on the locker.

From a sustainability standpoint, all our manufacturers use post-consumer materials. They also work every day to lower the impact of their manufacturing process on the environment by recycling all waste back into their products.

Cost, of course, is a prime consideration when purchasing high school lockers. HDPE can run about 30% more than standard metal. But long-term, the return on investing in heavy duty plastic lockers can be well worth the initial price, because once they’re installed, you no longer have to worry about environmental conditions.

High schools aren’t the only environment where plastic lockers make excellent sense. HDPE is ideal for outdoor storage – EMS equipment, municipal pools and recreation areas, even at yacht clubs to contain salty sailing gear.

So whether you’re shopping for high school lockers or storage for a fitness centers spa, hospital, pool, parks and recreation facility, manufacturing area or fire department, seriously consider the benefits of plastic.

How To Choose The Right Fitness Locker For Your Facility

Rich Young — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 12:00:34 +0000

When designing or renovating a locker room for a health club, you must first determine how many fitness lockers you need. Figure out the maximum number of people who could be using the club at any time, being sure to account for all activity areas.

The next question is how big the lockers need to be. If you have the budget and enough room, full-length 72” lockers are the ideal, especially for club members changing from suits and ties or dresses.

However, most facilities will vary sizes, offering some single-tier lockers but also double-tier (36”) lockers, which provide ample room for basic clothing, gym bags, shoes, hats and other accessories. Regardless of height, lockers should be at least 15” wide and 15” deep.

WHAT TYPE OF MATERIAL SHOULD BE USED?
You’ll need to decide which type of locker construction material best suits your needs and budget.

There are five choices:

Metal is the cheapest and most durable. (Cost: $200)
Wood-laminate MDF substrate with a plastic laminate face provides the appearance of solid wood without the expense (Cost: $225)
Plastic is needed for lockers near moist or chlorine areas such as saunas, steam rooms, and pools (Cost: $240) Antimicrobial-finished lockers also are a solution to protect against humidity.
Phenolic gives a high-class look but is also extremely durable, so it’s a great choice for lockers where clients may treat lockers roughly (Cost:$275)
Solid wood is the most-expensive but best-looking option. However, it is also the least durable choice, so it should only be used in clubs where clients can be expected to treat lockers gently. (Cost: $400)

WHAT ELSE DOES YOUR LOCKER ROOM NEED?
Fitness club locker rooms need dressing rooms, showers, vanities, mirrors, toilets, and benches. You can better utilize space (and provide for disabled members) by locating benches 2’ from lockers instead of in a central island. These benches should be at least 3’ long.

Other items you may want to install in a fitness locker room include:

full-length mirrors
wall-mounted hair dryers
ceiling fans
scales
a sufficient number of electrical outlets

GIVE MEMBERS THE OPTION TO RENT EXTRA SPACE
A way to generate additional revenue is to install some triple-tier (18”) or four-tier (9”) lockers with built-in locks in an area of the club outside the gym. If members don’t have a permanently assigned locker in the gym, they can rent these lockers so they can keep belongings, such as toiletries, at the club.

KEY POINTS

If possible, allow for growth by leaving space for additional lockers if needed. Don’t permanently weld your lockers. Instead, buy less expensive, but just-as-durable “knock-down” lockers.
Buy well-constructed lockers with doors of at least 14-gauge steel and bottoms of at least 20-gauge steel.
Select the material that best suits your clientele and how the lockers will be used.
Realize that your fitness locker room will be a key element of your members’ satisfaction. Buy for functionality as well as to provide members with a comfortable, pleasing experience. The more storage space and amenities you can offer, the better.

How to Design a Football Locker Room

Rich Young — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 20:05:15 +0000

A school’s success on the football field is usually a particular point of pride for a school, so it only stands to reason that a school would want its football team to have the best resources possible—including luxurious locker rooms.

THE REALITY
Unfortunately, schools are limited by budget and space. In fact, while some schools may be able to dedicate a locker room solely to the football team, most schools must rotate lockers between sports as seasons change.

But because football is usually the largest team a school fields, with the most equipment storage needs, you’re safe designing a team locker room with football in mind.

And you CAN get a great football locker room, even with budget and space constraints.

WHAT’S CRITICAL
There are several key considerations when designing a football team locker room.

Team size. This of course varies, but at the high-school level, 40 players for varsity and 35 for junior varsity is a normal size.
Storage space. To give players enough space to store helmets and pads, you need a locker at least 15” deep, 15” wide, and 72” tall (a single-tier design). The shelf needs to be at least 18” from the locker top so players can store their helmets there. You could possibly get by with 15”x15”x18” (double-tier), especially for junior varsity, but that’s a very tight fit.
Durability. Lockers in a football team locker room should have doors of at least 14-gauge steel and bottoms of at least 20-gauge steel.
Security. Locker turnover between seasons makes built-in locks unsecured because they come with only a few possible combinations. The safest option is padlocked lockers, preferably with single-point locks rather than moving lifters.

WHAT’S NICE TO HAVE

If your budget permits it, you can decide to install 18”x18”x72” full-length lockers. If your team locker room is secure, you can chose an open design with an upper lock box for valuables, just like the pros have.
You can promote team pride in players simply by using a color scheme with your lockers that matches the school colors. You can help create this scheme by your color choice on accessories such as slope hoods and end panels.

BOTTOM LINE
Even with a limited budget and space, if you make smart design and purchasing decisions, you can have a football team locker room that meets players’ needs and makes them happy.