All too often, building managers take a reactive
approach to carpet care. A proactive
approach will keep carpet healthier and cleaner.
As this is being written, in mid-August, it is still warm and sunny in Illinois. But as all of us know, winter storms are right around the corner. That’s why building managers must start taking steps now to help ensure their carpets are clean and healthy as we approach the colder months.
All too often, building managers take a reactive approach to carpet care. For instance, a winter storm causes havoc, and some of that havoc ends up on the office carpet in the form of mud and soil, or worse, grease and oil. If a proactive approach is in place, these issues could be minimized if not eliminated.
Among the key elements of a proactive approach to carpet care are the following:
Mat Installation
Entry and floor mats are crucial throughout the year, but especially during the winter months. Managers should know that there are three types of mats working together as a system, helping to protect carpet. These three types are:
1.Scrapers, placed outside of entries to wipe soil and moisture off shoe bottoms
2.Wiper/scrapers, placed in vestibules or directly inside a facility
3.Wipers, placed in a facility as a final line of defense, to remove moisture and soil from shoe bottoms.
Note, to ensure carpet protection, each type of mat should be at least five feet long.
Carpet Cleaning
In a reactive approach to carpet care, carpet is cleaned after it appears soiled. By then, it may be too late. With a proactive approach, we suggest cleaning carpet using a combination of low-moisture carpet cleaning, followed with hot water extraction during the year.
There are many benefits to low moisture carpet cleaning. For one, carpet dries quickly, so there is no need to block off areas for hours at a time. Further, this method tends to be economical, environmentally safe, and it does not leave a chemical residue.
Hot water extraction deep cleans carpet, removing soils that have worked their way down carpet fibers. As effective as this is, managers should know extraction can be a more costly way to clean carpet, and it can take several hours for the carpet to dry.
Our program combines these two methods. Carpets can be cleaned two or three times with the low-moisture technique to help remove soils, followed by hot water extraction twice per year to keep carpet healthier, looking its best all year long.
Carpet Spotting
Carpet spotting is necessary year-round, but especially during the winter months when seasonal activity can cause more spots. But first, managers need to have a clear grasp of the difference between spots and stains in carpet.
Spots can be removed and are easiest to remove when they are first noticed. Plus, removing them as quickly as possible helps prevent them from being spread on to other carpet areas with foot traffic.
A stain, on the other hand, can be exceedingly difficult to remove, if at all. A stain can cause discoloring. At this point, all that can be done is to replace that section of the carpet.
Vacuuming
Like spotting, vacuuming is also a year-round proactive approach to keeping carpet clean and healthy. Vacuuming is designed to remove dry soil from carpet, and most of the soil in carpet is dry soil. This helps keep carpet clean and removing these soils can help extend the carpet’s lifespan.
View the soils as tiny daggers. With foot traffic, they are worked into carpet fibers, weakening the fibers, and shortening the carpet’s life.
In most of the facilities we maintain, carpet is vacuumed every visit. However, this may not be enough for our larger clients. For these clients, with many building users, it often is necessary to have day porters who, among other things, vacuum carpets throughout the day.
Cleaning Advisors
In all things cleaning in the winter months and throughout the year, building managers should be able to turn to their cleaning contractors not just as service providers, but as cleaning advisers. View a knowledgeable cleaning contractor as your personal, in-house cleaning encyclopedia.
We are here to help building managers keep their facilities cleaner, healthier, greener, and safer, in the most cost-effective ways possible. To learn more about Secure Clean, contact us at 888-609-1410.
