Snow and ice in the forecast? Take steps now to protect your flooring and prevent injuries
Prepping your building for winter weather conditions is an important component of your cleaning plan. The goal is to protect your floors from damage and minimize the amount of cleaning that needs to be done. You’ll also want to create safe entries and exits from the building to prevent the possibility of visitors slipping and suffering injury. As an integrated commercial cleaning company, we can adjust your cleaning routine and source top-quality winterizing products as the seasons change. To start, we focus winter weather prep on floors and proper supplies.
Protect floors from water damage and ice melt products
Ice melt products are essential for keeping parking lots and sidewalks safe and usable for employees and customers. However, the salts in these products make their way into your building on the soles of people’s shoes. The residue is difficult to remove. If not removed properly, ice melt can damage your flooring and require expensive, time-consuming stripping and refinishing of hard surfaces.
The residue left by calcium chloride products can also make your floors slippery. This increases the risk of someone slipping and falling in your building. Some ice melt products contain sodium chloride, which can stain and damage carpeting as well. Paying to repair or replace flooring is very expensive! Taking the necessary steps to prevent the damage is a MUCH more effective use of your budget.
A simple preventative measure is to use the minimum amount of ice melt product necessary to ensure safe parking lots and walkways. It’s easy to overdo it with the salt. But, the more you use, the more will be tracked into your building and end up on your floors.
Step up your cleaning routine
A basic mop and bucket isn’t enough to combat the residue from ice melt products. Instead, request a thorough machine scrubbing for your hard floors from Cleansolution. Adding this step to your winter weather prep will save you time and money down the road.
For carpets, we offer several options based on your needs, including deep cleaning via steam extraction and a low-moisture solution that uses foam, instead of excess water.
After your floors have been scrubbed, it’s time to talk about your protective finishes. Entryways and lobbies are heavy-traffic areas and require special attention, particularly in the winter. Several coats of high-quality, acrylic floor finish will help protect your hard flooring surfaces from dirt, water and salt. You may also need to ensure that staff is available to check on your entries throughout the day and mop up any puddles of rainwater or melted snow.
Keeping your floors clean and dry will extend their lifespan and prevent slip and fall injuries. If you don’t have dedicated staff to look after daily cleaning tasks, ask us about our day porter service!
Add high-absorbency, durable mats to entryways
Want to really make sure your floors are protected? Invest in high-quality mats to trap incoming water, dirt and ice melt products! This is the best solution for protecting your hard flooring, especially in the winter. And your average doormat isn’t going to cut it. Instead use a mat that is appropriately sized, dense and highly absorbent to wick away moisture before it ever reaches your floors.
Depending on the available space, you may want to consider a longer runner mat for maximum effectiveness. Adding a mat outside your building will also help to minimize water and salt coming inside.
Mats protect your floors – but they protect you, your staff and your customers as well. Wet floors are dangerous and during winter weather, high-traffic areas can become very slick. Placing mats in these areas will reduce the risk of injury and keep everyone in your building safe.
Cleansolution customers benefit from our ability to order a wide range of supplies at deeply discounted, bulk-rate prices, including floor mats. We’ll help you order the right product and deliver the mats to your business, saving you time and money! This is one of the best things you can do to save on future cleaning costs.
Start your consultation with us today!
Having a plan with your cleaning company for winter weather prep and management means you’ll spend less time worrying when the next storm hits! Start the conversation now and let us know how we can help!