Page 3 - 2017-11-CFR Volume 110 - Routine Maintenance for Commercial Flooring - November 2017

In certain large areas, it may be best to use a combi-
nation of all three methods for the most efficient and
effective removal of this damaging soil type. Careful
evaluation with customer input can be very valuable
in making sure all avenues are explored. Customers
have great expectations on what are the most cost
effective measures, but not always what are the
most effective methods for long-term care and
maintenance issues.

Dry Soil Removal: Carpet Surfaces

The most effective tool to remove dry soils is the
vacuum. On a three- dimensional surface like carpet,
it is paramount that the soils are removed before
they can cause fiber loss by cutting and separating
the fibers from the yarn tufts. Mineral soils like
quartz, feldspar, mica and other sand-like materials
contain numerous sharp corners and surfaces that
can cut and damage natural or synthetic fibers. This
damage can also cause the carpet to reflect light dif-
ferently making the carpet appear soiled in a traffic
area when in fact it is damaged and will not look bet-
ter even after a cleaning service is deployed.

Heavy use areas such as elevator carpets and walk-
off mats will need daily attention while moderate or
light use areas need less. It is good to have a writ-
ten description of what is considered “proper” vacu-
uming technique to assure what is done agrees with
the plan. Effective soil removal requires long overlap-
ping passes with a properly se-lected vacuum clean-
er equipped with a high efficiency filtering and collec-
tion system.

Surface Cleaning: Hard Surface Flooring

Mopping is not really a cleaning method, it is a soil
redistribution method, used the way mopping is nor-
mally completed. The mop and mop water can only
hold so much soil. The mop removes soil from floor-
ing by using chemical action of the detergent appli-
cation, and the physical action of agitation. Once ei-
ther the mop or mop water is soiled, the cleaning
stops and soil redistribution begins.

3 Commercial Flooring Report November 2017