Cleaning Tip of the Month

by Mike Schaffer
President - Tornado Industries

Carpet Care: The Need for a Plan of Action

Like most cleaning and maintenance tasks, having a “plan of action” covering how to clean and maintain a facility almost always assures that a facility looks and stays looking its very best.  This is especially true with carpet care.

Developing a carpet maintenance plan, according to the Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI), includes such things as evaluating a facilities layout, traffic flow, use, and the cleaning methods used to keep carpets clean.  From here, the plan of action is divided into three major categories:

• Preventive maintenance

• Interim maintenance

• Restorative measures. 

Preventive Maintenance

The most effective way to minimize the amount of soil and debris tracked into a facility is by incorporating a high-quality matting system.  Mats should be placed inside and outside at all major entries.  Additionally, walk-off mats should be placed at entries going to and from a buildings shop areas, mail rooms, food service areas, outside of elevators, stairs, and other areas that may attract heavy foot traffic or soil.

The matting system should include water absorbent mats that extend 6 to 15 feet inside and outside of an entry. The mats must also be vacuumed, usually one or more times per day, and cleaned regularly.  This all depends on climate, traffic, and the use of the facility.

Interim Maintenance

• Effective at soil removal
• Has enhanced air-filtration systems to protect indoor air quality
• Visually improves carpet appearance and retention.

Many larger facilities find that having a regularly scheduled carpet spotting program is also an effective way to keep carpets looking their best for longer periods of time.  The sooner a spot is treated and removed, the easer it is to remove and the less likely it permanently stains the carpet.

Restorative Measures

Restorative measures refer to carpet cleaning whether by bonnet, shampoo, or carpet extraction. Carpets in a residential setting should be cleaned at least once per year or more.  In a commercial facility, they may need to be cleaned as often as once per month.  This all depends again on the type of facility, the number of people using it, climate, and other factors.Some very large hotels in Las Vegas, where a carpet cleaning tradeshow was recently held, have developed an interesting and effective carpet maintenance plan, which includes both preventive and interim measures as discussed earlier.  However, their restorative program is more detailed.  Many of these hotels, which have literally scores of acres of carpeting, divided their facilities into sections depending on how much and how often these areas are used.  Along with daily cleaning and spotting, many areas of the facility are shampooed two to five times per week. Shampooing is effective at removing some surface level soils.  And the chemicals used in the process often help brighten the carpet, enhancing its appearance.However, every three to five days, virtually all the carpets in the common areas of some of these hotels are extracted.  Extraction is the only effective way to fully remove soils deeply embedded in carpet fibers.  The extractors used have enhanced water recovery systems, similar to those manufactured by Tornado, to facilitate drying time and prevent the possibility of mold or mildew from developing.Contractors, working with their jansan distributors, can implement similar programs for their customers.  Although it may not be as extensive as busy Las Vegas hotels, having an effective carpet maintenance plan in place assures that a facility not only stays clean and healthy, but can improve employee morale, productivity, and in an educational setting, student performance as well.