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In the US, which is more common? Janitorial room or Janitor's room/closet?

I think that 'janitorial room' is unnecessarily verbose, but maybe it's just common American usage and not just this author?

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    It's fine. As an AmE speaker: janitorial services and janitor's room or closet. A janitor could have either.
    – Lambie
    Commented May 23, 2019 at 17:39
  • Which author are you talking about? Also, please give the full sentence and some context, and source.
    – Mitch
    Commented May 23, 2019 at 19:03
  • Yes, I would take janitorial services. Or janitorial supplies. And so on. Janitorial room or closet isn't wrong or anything, hence I'm looking into regional usage. It just seems too much to me.
    – user191110
    Commented May 24, 2019 at 10:01

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The janitor's closet is the more common collocation but either is fine.

Test 1: Corpus of Contemporary American English I ran a collocation search for "janitor's" and "janitorial." In initial results, "room" didn't appear, so it was excluded.

Results:

  • "Janitorial closet" - 4 results

  • "Janitor's closet" - 34 results

Test 2: Google NGram I ran a frequency search in the American English corpus from 1950 to 2008.

Results: enter image description here

Regarding my own experience, I'm more used to seeing the space referred to as a closet due to its size and function. (It often doubles as storage space for janitorial supplies.) I've also heard it referred to as a custodian's closet. However, room also makes sense in that context.

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I have made and installed building signage for years. On most architectural plans it is referred to as 'Janitor's Closet'. The only distinguishing feature from any other 'Storage Closet' is the inclusion of a sink. However, in practice for door signage, the possessive is not used. It is usually labeled as 'Janitor' or 'Custodian' (depending on the building type). A similar example is on a plan it would say 'Manager's Office' but the sign would say 'Building Manager', 'Superintendent' etc.

When I see Janitorial it is usually used in conjunction with a service or items, not space. Ex. Janitorial supplies, janitorial staff. Only your janitorial staff has access to the Janitor's room where the janitorial supplies are stored. To find the room, look for the room labeled Janitor

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  • Janitors can have an entire room or a closet. The signage you refer to is standard in terms of a closet, but, a basement room can be used by a janitor, so I depends on context. I cannot say that enough.
    – Lambie
    Commented May 23, 2019 at 19:10
  • Can't agree more with this: 'When I see Janitorial it is usually used in conjunction with a service or items, not space. Ex. Janitorial supplies, janitorial staff.Only your janitorial staff has access to the Janitor's room where the janitorial supplies are stored. To find the room, look for the room labeled Janitor '
    – user191110
    Commented May 24, 2019 at 10:04

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