Facility Manager’s Guide to Commercial Carpet Cleaning

Replacing your commercial carpet is expensive and it can be time-consuming— in other words, you lose productivity and income. While no carpet lasts forever, is there a way to make sure your carpet lasts as long as possible? There is. Regular commercial carpet cleaning can preserve your carpet for the long-term. Facility managers need to understand two things: First, the building’s maintenance needs, and second, how to stay within budget while fulfilling those needs. One of the best ways to maintain the building and stay within your budget is to hire a cleaning company that can provide more than one service for you. A janitorial service that can also take care of your commercial carpet cleaning, window washing, hard floor maintenance, and help you out when you have construction clean up or an emergency cleaning need is… well, we’d say priceless, but prices are put on those things, and they are higher if you are working with separate companies for all of them. The following is a reference guide on how to handle your building’s commercial carpet cleaning needs. Daily Carpet Maintenance The daily maintenance of your commercial carpets is of the utmost importance, especially in high traffic areas. Vacuuming gets out dust, loose soil, debris, and fends off smells that might develop if the carpets are left dirty. Unfortunately, even if you vacuum every single day, you won’t get all of the dirt and odor out of the carpet. This is why it is important to schedule regular deep cleanings for your commercial carpet. Interim Cleaning for Carpets Interim cleaning is important to schedule throughout the year to extend the life of your carpet. A low-moisture method like encapsulation or spin bonnet will not only keep your carpet clean, but it will extend the life of the carpet, too. The number of interim cleanings you should schedule during the year depends on the amount and kind of traffic they experience. For example, ground floor carpets where many people come through day to day directly from the outside with dirt on their shoes might need an interim cleaning every quarter. The cubicles that are traversed primarily by the folks who work within them might just need an interim cleaning six months after the annual deep cleaning. The commercial carpet cleaning company you choose should be able to advise you on how often your carpets need to be cleaned. A sign of a good company is one that will be honest with their recommendations about high traffic areas, low traffic areas, and the difference between how often the two need to be cleaned. Deep Cleaning for Carpets Once a year, it’s important that all the carpets in your building are deep cleaned. From the high-traffic lobby to the mostly-deserted conference room on the fifth floor, every carpet should undergo hot water extraction once per year. This is a highly technical process that blasts a combination of very hot water and cleaning agents into your carpeting, which removes any deeply-ingrained dirt and debris; then, seconds later, the machine will extract the water and the dirt, leaving behind a fresh, clean carpet. A professional cleaning company will be able to complete all the carpets in your building in a reasonable amount of time, ensuring little to no downtime for your business. Commercial Carpet Cleaning Equipment Any company you may use to clean your commercial carpet should explain to you the equipment and process they use to clean the carpet. Low moisture systems are preferable because they mean the least amount of downtime for the area of your building you are cleaning carpets. These systems also use the least amount of water, power, and cleaning agent possible, so you will not only be up and running again more quickly after the cleaning, but you’ll save money on your bottom line. Emergency Carpet Cleaning If you experience a spill, stain, or even a flood, the best action you can take is a quick one. The longer you wait to clean unexpected stains the harder they will be to fix. Ask a company who you are hiring to take care of the commercial carpet cleaning if they have emergency cleaning services. Do they have teams on-call to take care of emergency situations or could it be days before they will be able to get to your commercial building?