How often you should clean commercial carpets depends on many factors, like foot traffic and what kind of business it is. We’ve been providing professional commercial carpet cleaning services in Philadelphia, PA and Los Angeles, San Diego, and Irvine, CA for over three decades. Check out what you need to know about the frequency of cleaning commercial carpets below.
What’s the Foot Traffic Like?
Here’s a general breakdown of how often commercial carpets should be professionally cleaned, based on foot traffic:
- High-traffic areas: hallways, entrances, restrooms, reception areas, common areas – every 3 to 6 months
- Medium-traffic areas: offices, cubicles, conference rooms, break rooms – every 6 to 12 months
- Low-traffic areas: storage areas, vacant offices, mailrooms, server rooms – every 12 to 18 months
The foot traffic also depends on location and weather. If you live in a colder area, like Philadelphia, then in the winter you’ll have to up the carpet cleaning thanks to slush, snow, and mud that may track into your facility. Having outdoor floor mats can help with this.
What Are the Types of Cleaning Methods?
There are several professional cleaning methods for commercial carpets, including:
- Hot water extraction – very effective, but long drying time
- Low-moisture cleaning – good for quick turnaround, short drying time
- Dry cleaning – a dry cleaning powder is worked into carpet and then vacuumed
- Bonnet cleaning – low moisture cleaning with a rotary floor machine
Bonnet cleaning is considered a quick way to clean commercial carpets. Although it’s effective with dirt and stains, it doesn’t clean as deeply as other methods. Each technique has its own advantages and potential drawbacks.
What Type of Business Is It?
A restaurant will need its carpets cleaned more frequently than a law office. A fitness center or gym will need its carpets cleaned more often than a restaurant. Location, number of employees, and number of customers or clients coming in and out are other elements to factor in.
Industries like healthcare, that have a higher standard of cleanliness, will perhaps need to be professionally cleaned every 3 months with a hot water extraction. Whereas a financial brokerage firm might opt for bonnet cleaning every six months.
The frequency with which you’re performing vacuuming, spot cleaning, and these types of small daily or weekly carpet maintenance will also help determine how often the carpets need to be professionally cleaned.
Should You Leave It to the Experts?
While you could take the task on yourself, you’d have to consider hiring in-house staff and determine what kinds of cleaning equipment and solutions to invest in. You also risk damaging the carpet if it’s not cleaned properly, by overwetting, applying excessive heat, aggressive scrubbing, failing to remove residues, or using the wrong products.
We take it all into consideration to create a maintenance program tailor made for you:
- The foot traffic
- The location and time of year
- The type of business
- Your personal preferences and schedule