Maintaining your flooring is an ongoing task, from managing its appearance to sanitizing to treating spots and stains. Knowing how best to maintain your flooring can help maintenance managers increase its lifespan, reduce costs, and help better manage where cleaning teams spend their time.
Each of your floors requires a specific, targeted strategy based on flooring type, location, traffic levels, and more.
Carpet
As with most flooring types, regular cleaning and maintenance are the key to longevity. Regular, daily vacuuming keeps the dirt and debris from settling deeply into the fibres of your carpets, along with mitigating what gets tracked through the rest of your building. Install matting through the messy months to catch most of the moisture before it hits the carpet. Professional deep cleaning should be scheduled twice per year to keep your flooring looking great and simplify your day-to-day maintenance.
Spot treatment should also be part of your carpet cleaning strategy. Addressing a stain as soon as it happens raises your chances of saving your carpet from a “forever stain.” Blotting a carpet stain is the first step. Do not rub at the stain, as that will likely drive it into the fibres, making it even harder to remove.
Wood
Hardwood flooring does not react well to excess water, which can cause warping, cracking, or discolouration, so regularly cleaning your wood floors requires weekly vacuuming and daily sweeping and spot-mopping to address any issues as they arise.
Cracks and scratches collect dirt and debris, so limit the amount of damage to your floors by repairing any issues that arise. Address any spills as quickly as possible to mitigate the risk of liquid seeping into any cracks in your floor. Use a dry dust mop or a commercial cleaning solution to address any spills on your wood floors. To avoid discolouration, close blinds to minimize exposure to direct sunlight, and during the winter months, avoid putting matting directly on the hardwood as it can mark the wood.
Ceramic tile
If you have tile flooring in your facility, sweeping or vacuuming daily can help keep it free from loose dirt and debris. Mopping the tiles to keep them clean means using a ph-neutral product to protect the tiles, careful not to use too much water to avoid streaking. For stubborn stains, scrub the area with a soft-bristled brush gently. Dry the area with a drier or dry mop and install ‘wet floor’ signage to mitigate the risk of slip and fall accidents.
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Regular maintenance can keep your floors clean, sanitized and in great shape, so create a strategy that addresses all the flooring types in your facility.
