As a leading commercial carpet and floor cleaning company that serves the Philadelphia PA and Irvine, San Diego, and Los Angeles CA areas, we know our floors. Properly cared for commercial floors can last for 10, 15, or more years if properly cared for. Save money in the long run when you make use of our top tips below for cleaning different types of commercial floors, including tailoring the right maintenance schedule for your floors and business.
Consider the Type of Floor & Its Specific Cleaning Requirements
Clean Care Services specializes in luxury vinyl tile (LVT), vinyl composition tile (VCT), and concrete, although we have decades of experience with all different types of floors, including carpets. Here, we’re going to look at luxury vinyl tile floors, vinyl composition tile floors, laminate floors, concrete, and tile carpet floors.
Luxury Vinyl Tile Floor Care
Luxury vinyl tile (LVT) is fast becoming a popular choice for commercial floors. The flooring is thick, waterproof, resistant to slips, and it consists of different layers, making it ultra durable. It’s also easy to install and looks great, but only if it’s cleaned properly.
LVT commercial floor care involves:
- Regular vacuuming of dust and dirt
- Regular mopping with a damp mop and a neutral pH floor cleaner
- Periodic cleaning with an automated scrubber
- Buffing the floors with a clean, lint-free cloth or microfiber mop
- Avoiding abrasive cleaners, which can scratch
Vinyl Composition Tile Floor Care
Vinyl composition tile (VCTs) is a budget-friendly flooring option that is often used in schools and cafeterias, because of its water-resistant, durable nature, that is suitable for high traffic areas. It’s not as thick as LVT flooring, but more porous and susceptible to absorbing dirt, so it does require more maintenance because of its permeable nature.
VCT floor care involves:
- Regular sweeping, dust mopping, or vacuuming
- Periodic cleaning with an automated scrubber
- Periodic scrubbing and recoating
- A full strip and finish about once a year with an effective stripping agent
- Avoiding abrasive or common household cleaners that can damage the floors
Laminate Floor Care
Laminate floors mimic the look and feel of natural materials, like wood, while costing significantly less. Laminate floors are sturdy, although not water resistant, and should be installed in a climate controlled environment.
Laminate floor care involves:
- Sweeping at least once a week
- Regular vacuuming – use the brush thistles and nozzles for corners, avoid beater bars
- Mopping using a damp, not sopping wet, mop, and a mild cleaner
- Spot cleaning and buffing with a microfiber cloth
- Avoiding all-purpose cleaners, dishwashing liquid, or floor waxes
Concrete Floor Care
Concrete commercial floors can be found in warehouses and distribution centers, or even restaurants or retail spaces. This type of flooring is excellent at not just handling high foot traffic, but vehicle traffic as well, and if sealed properly, can be stain and water resistant. At first glance, it may seem like an easy type of floor to clean, but it requires maintenance and care just like the others.
Concrete floor care involves:
- Regular sweeping, dust mopping, or vacuuming
- Periodic damp mopping with a pH neutral cleaner
- Using an automatic scrubber or swing buffer in high traffic locations
- Cleaning tough stains with dish soap and warm water, followed by scrubbing with a bristle brush
- Using a wet vacuum to remove water
Carpet Tile Floor Care
Carpet tiles are easy and quick to install, fairly durable, and can come in a variety of patterns and colors, making them a top choice for many businesses and offices. One disadvantage is that wear and tear shows more with carpet tile, making it that much more imperative to maintain properly.
Carpet tile floor care involves:
- Regular vacuuming – more than with other commercial floors
- Prompt spot cleaning of spills and stains with a mild detergent – blot, don’t scrub
- Periodic encapsulation carpet cleaning
- Using the manufacturer’s recommended carpet cleaner – the wrong one can discolor the carpet
Plan Out a Regular Cleaning & Maintenance Schedule
Once you look into the commercial floor cleaning techniques and recommendations for the specific type of flooring you have, you can start plotting out a cleaning schedule. Some maintenance tasks need to be done daily, others weekly, and some cleaning tasks only have to be handled once or twice a year.
Higher traffic areas like hallways or cafeterias need to be prioritized over smaller ones, like an office. Daily maintenance likely needs to involve sweeping or vacuuming, and dusting with microfiber dust mops. If you have outdoor mats placed to reduce the incoming dirt from foot traffic, these should be cleaned once a day. Depending on the amount of traffic the flooring gets, and other factors like what service you’re providing (health care facilities, for instance, have a higher bar for cleanliness), some daily tasks could realistically be done every few days, or once a week.
The maintenance tasks that go into more of the deep cleaning can be done less often. Scrubbing, buffing, or polishing should be done monthly, waxing every four to six months, and stripping can be done once or twice a year. Besides foot traffic, the season is another indicator of how often you need to be cleaning and when. Daily maintenance tasks like cleaning out an outdoor mat may need to be done two or three times a day during the winter.
It’s vital to mention that all commercial floor care maintenance plans will vary not only by industry and facility, but also by each unique circumstance. This is one of many reasons why most businesses will want to consider hiring a professional floor cleaning company.
Clean Care Services: All We Do Is Carpet, Floors & Upholstery
Even if your business already outsources janitorial services, they do not all include commercial floor cleaning, and if they do, they don’t all do it well. Clean Care Services only does floors, carpets, and upholstery, and we have three decades of experience in the industry.
When you work with a professional to customize the right floor cleaning schedule for your business, you’re not only saving money in the long run by extending the life of your floors, but there are other benefits as well:
- No investing in floor cleaning machinery
- Not having to worry about buying the wrong cleaning products
- The chances of an accident happening in the workplace is reduced
- Your employees and visiting clients or customers are kept safe