Your chemical lab requires its cabinetry to remain in the best shape possible, and this can be challenging to accomplish. After all, many types of lab activities have you, your students and lab techs handling numerous substances that will cause damage if left unchecked. Fortunately, there are ways that you can keep your laboratory’s cabinets in excellent shape for many years to come.

Clean Spills Immediately

Taking care of spills as they occur is among the best ways to keep your lab’s cabinets in tip top shape. By immediately handling spills and making sure they do as little damage as possible, you eliminate the need for costly repairs down the line. Regardless of the type of cleaning products you use or the type of chemical lab you may have, cleaning up immediately whenever there is a spill is the best preventive maintenance you can do. Keeping chemicals and bacteria from sitting on the cabinets through immediate cleaning does not allow time for the surfaces to become damaged or discolored.

Maintain Container Discipline

One of the best proactive methods you can use to keep your custom cabinets in the best shape possible is to maintain a high level of container discipline. With a high level of container discipline, you might end up using additional containers for separating and disposing of various substances, but you’ll protect your cabinetry from the staining that may result from chemical splashes in the first place. While adding more containers adds more clean up to your overall operation, this is the more effective means of keeping your cabinets from taking damage due to initial preventable spillage.

Use Gentle Cleaning Products for General Maintenance

Consider using more natural and gentle cleaning products for general maintenance. We may become accustom to using harsh chemicals for cleaning labs, but for nontoxic/nonhazardous spills, using gentle cleaning supplies helps prolong the life of your cabinets. For glass surfaces, a specialized glass cleaner is generally best. Glass cleaner is also the best to use for any painted surfaces that may be in your chemical lab. Other surfaces require the use of a more gentle cleaning substances such as Formula 409.

Avoid Scratching

Even highly durable materials may be easily scratched during the cleaning process, particularly when cleaning happens on a frequent basis. Scratches can allow chemicals to erode away the protective coatings of the cabinet, and scratches can also harbor bacteria that can stain. In order to minimize the chances of scratching on all surfaces, be certain to wipe only with the grain instead of against it. Even the most durable materials like stainless steel should be wiped only with their grain in order to maintain a solid and scratch-free surface.

Clean Every Surface

All of the surfaces in your lab are impacted on a daily basis. Even the vapors that chemicals often release can be damaging to your cabinets. Being diligent with your cabinet maintenance involves knowing how to maintain the cabinets daily, but also involves knowing how to disassemble them for an occasional full cleaning. This type of cleaning will increase familiarity with the cabinets and will help you discover more routine types of damage, such as from excessive weight being stored within them or other kinds of incidental damage.

While it may be tempting to only clean the broad surfaces, it is important that you remember to also clean the smallest sides of each panel. Evaporated chemicals, humidity and dripping can cause even the smallest edges of your cabinets to sustain damage if they are not regularly cleaned. When every surface is cleaned regularly, your cabinets will stay in great shape.

Taking care of your laboratory cabinets and surfaces can be a difficult process. After all, labs are areas where experiments with mixtures of chemical elements and compounds may have dangerous results. Safety and sanitation are the most important elements when it comes to ensuring a laboratory operates in the best possible way, and by investing in practical lab cabinet solutions, you can go a long way to creating the perfect environment for scientific investigation and experimentation.

Listed here are five reasons why you should make a conscious effort to invest in your lab cabinets:

1. Reduce Damage

Laboratories will always be forced to contend with a variety of spills and fumes, but by making your cabinet layout practical and surfaces easy to clean, you can help prevent incidences that have the potential for damage or contamination. Cabinetry that is awkwardly placed or that have permeable surfaces have the potential for increasing accidents and risks of damage. Ergonomic, easy-to-reach cabinets actively reduce the chance of hazards occurring, and provide easy point of access for cleaning whenever a spill occurs.

2. Lab Efficiency & Effectiveness

The very best laboratories operate through a system of efficiency – where all members of staff are intimately familiar with the layout of lab cabinets, and also the capability of the cabinetry in terms of what they can store. Having ample storage and creating and maintaining an effective laboratory floor plan and layout, while ensuring that everyone knows where every piece of lab equipment is at all times – increases the likelihood of an efficient environment allowing for effective and accurate long term results.

3. Hygiene & Health

Taking time to look over the right cleaning procedures for a particular type of cabinet material can go a long way to creating a hygienic and healthy laboratory. By engaging in safety-conscious and practical lab cleaning practices with gentle cabinet cleaning substances (such as Formula 409), you can turn your lab into a safe and sanitary environment that minimizes health risks to any person entering the area. It’s important to scrub your lab cabinetry frequently and effectively on a regular basis – reaching into the far corners and removing any potentially contaminating substances. In addition, taking apart your cabinets and giving them a thorough clean also increases your familiarity with their structure and size, and will allow you to make well-informed decisions when it comes to layout and stocking.

4. Appearance & Professionalism

Aside from helping to keep your lab safe and reduce opportunity for serious damage to occur, practical lab cabinet solutions can also often provide the area with a significantly enhanced appearance. Well-arranged cabinets in fine condition create the kind of look that every chemical laboratory ought to adopt – one of orderliness and professionalism. Taking the time to adjust your cabinets by conducting the correct cleaning procedures and keeping them neat and tidy can do wonders for the look of your lab – allowing it to adopt the kind of sleek, sanitary appearance that every lab owner may seek to achieve.