Should You Have A Maintenance Plan?

Determine Traffic and UsageCommercial Floor Plan

Carpet maintenance may not be the first thing on your mind when you purchase your new commercial carpeting but it is the only way to keep commercial flooring looking and performing great for many years.Given that you have chosen the right goods for the right environment, the right maintenance plan should be all you need to keep your floors looking fantastic all their lives.Proper maintenance doesn’t happen by chance. Proper maintenance is part of an intelligently planned program that includes preventive maintenance and regular cleanings. The difference between an effective and ineffective maintenance program is the difference between soiled unattractive flooring that is replace prematurely and great looking carpet that long outlives its life expectancy.This page is designed to give you the information you need to create an effective maintenance program that will extend the life of your carpet.

Reactive vs. Proactive

Commercial flooring is a substantial investment for any business, you cannot afford not to maintain it. The longer it lasts, the lower it costs. But the initial cost does not encompass your entire investment.Look at it this way: no one buys clothes and then throws them out after wearing them (unless your Paris Hilton). You wash them, or take them to be dry cleaned. Over the life of the clothes you will probably pay five times what it costs to buy them, to have them cleaned. Lets say you bought a shirt for $30.00. Lets say you wear it once a week to work and have it dry cleaned once a week. After 52 weeks if you paid $1.00 per visit to the dry cleaners it will have cost you $52.00. Lets say you owned that shirt for 3 years. You will have spent $156.00 in maintenance on a $30.00 shirt. It doesn’t seem right but like it or not its either that or the Paris Hilton plan which is a whole lot more expensive.If you are going to be in charge of flooring maintenance you have to decide which approach you want to take, proactive or reactive. The reactive approach looks like this: don’t pay any attention to the flooring after it has been purchased and installed, then when it looks bad, call several companies, try to decide the best one for you and then set up a time for them to clean and hope all goes well. The proactive approach goes like this: During the purchasing process, a maintenance plan is discussed. High usage zones vs. minimal usage zones are determined and laid out on a blueprint. Then a strategic plan is designed to incorporate the right cleaning methods and frequencies for each zone. And a plan is created that combines professional cleaning with your own in house staff to give you the most cost effective way to keep your flooring looking showroom new all the time.

Keeping Up AppearancesReactive Maintenance: This mentality is to wait as long as possible and only clean the carpet when it looks and/or smells bad. The problem with this approach is that carpet is designed to hide dirt so waiting till you can see it is like waiting till your engine is low on oil before you go in for an oil change. You are going to have dramatically reduced the life of your engine and you are going to have more costly repairs and not have your vehicle back quickly. The same goes for maintaining your flooring.Proactive Maintenance: This is a strategic approach that is put in place from the moment the flooring is installed. A certified floor care professional will draw up a plan based on traffic and usage levels and determine the frequency in order to keep your flooring looking like new. This plan removes soils before they can permanently damage fibers and keeps the cost per cleaning at a predictable and affordable level. Downtime is almost non-existent!Reactive Then Proactive Maintenance: This approach occurs when a company neglects their flooring purchase and then recognizes the negative affects and seeks an intelligent proactive approach. The appearance of the floor will actually improve with each subsequent cleaning till it levels off!

Different Types Of Soils

Soil Removed With VacuumingDry soil, soil that can be vacuumed away, makes up for 79% of the soil hiding in the construction of the carpet. This soil is made up of mostly sand, clay, dust, insects, pollen, food crumbs and silicates. The grittiness of the sand and clay causes most of the damage to commercial flooring by scratching its surface and fibers. Commercial flooring, like all flooring looks great when it is reflecting the most light possible at you. In fact the fibers used today in all carpeting are engineered to reflect light at you. The more they are scratched by these abrasive soils left behind, the duller the floors appearance is. Good news is, these soils can be easily vacuumed away with a good commercial vacuum and someone on your staff.

Oily Soils On Carpet FiberOily Soils which include grease, resins, tar, food oils and the like cannot be vacuumed away. They attract and hold dry soil to the fiber. No matter how much vacuuming is performed, these soils will build up and need to be professionally removed for the best results.