Tips And Hints To Make Your Floors Shine

By Keith Schneringer, Senior Director of Marketing – Facility Care + Sustainability at Envoy Solutions

Clean floors are essential to achieving a positive impression for an entire facility.

Achieving clean floors and carpets in your facility sets the expectations of cleanliness for the entire facility. And using the proper equipment and supplies, combined with the associated maintenance procedures for your floors, can play an important and integral role in how your building’s floors – and overall appearance — will be judged.

Think about it — what is one of the first things you notice when you enter a building?

Whether consciously or subconsciously, the cleanliness of the floors plays an oversized role in the impression you form about the overall appearance and cleanliness of the entire facility.

In our minds, if the floors look good, the building looks good.

A clean and shiny floor, or a clean and bright carpeted floor, not only looks good but a well-thought-out and executed floor care plan can also provide a host of other benefits to your building, including:

• Minimize the risk of slips, trips, and falls;
• Prevent the spread of pathogens and contaminants;
• Extend the overall life of your floors; and,
• Build an ongoing sense of trust with building occupants.

So, what is the best way to get started with an effective floor care program?

And what are the equipment and supplies you can utilize to save on labor hours AND achieve the floor care results you want?

Types Of Floors And Maintenance

The first step is to determine the type of floors in your facility.

Do you have resilient floors (like Vinyl Composite Tiles, Luxury Vinyl Tiles, or Linoleum), stone, wood, concrete, ceramic tile, or carpeted floors? Perhaps, you have some other type of specialty or exotic floor surfaces?

The type of floor and the number of square feet to be maintained are considerations in selecting equipment and supplies. The more square feet of floors to clean and maintain, the more cleaning staff and equipment and supplies you will need. Using the wrong equipment or supplies for the floor type is frequently the root cause of disappointing results.

The second step is determining how frequently you will maintain the floors. This variable will be influenced by the number of people using the space and the types of activities taking place in the space and on the floors. Not maintaining a floor frequently enough for how it is used is often another cause of disappointing results.

The third step is to implement the proper floor care procedures, complemented by the ongoing training of cleaning staff so that they know and understand the expectations regarding floor care. Not completing the proper procedures or not doing them at the right frequency are other common causes of disappointing results.

Types Of Equipment And Supplies

In this post-pandemic age of labor shortages, proper cleaning equipment is more important than ever. Having the “right tool for the job” has always been key to getting cleaning tasks done more efficiently, but it is now even more critical as finding and keeping enough cleaning staff remains a challenge.

The following are some common pieces of equipment that can assist with floor care maintenance to help save on labor:

Floor Machines

• Types — 175 RPM Floor Machine, Dual Speed 175/300 RPM Floor Machine, and Orbital Floor Machine.
• Uses — Clean and scrub floors, Strip off floor finish, Spray buff/polish floor finish, Sand wood floors, and Spin bonnet carpets.
• Considerations — Size, Rotary or Cylindrical or Orbital, and
• Supplies — Pad Driver, Floor Pads, Floor Brushes, and Cleaning Chemicals.

Burnishers

• Types — Cord Electric – 1500-2500 RPM, Battery, Propane, and Stand-On.
• Uses — Burnish finished floors.
• Considerations — Size, Dust Control, and
• Supplies — Pad Driver, Floor Pads, Cleaning Chemicals, Dust Bags (if applicable), and Batteries (if applicable).

Autoscrubbers

• Types — Walk Behind, Rider, Stand-On, Robotic/Autonomous, and
• Uses — Clean and scrub floors, Strip off floor finish, Spray buff/Polish floor finish, and Vacuum water and moisture from the floor.
• Considerations — Size, Cord Electric or Battery or Propane, Rotary or Cylindrical or Orbital, and
• Supplies — Pad Driver(s), Floor Pads, Floor Brushes, Cleaning Chemicals, and Batteries (if applicable).

Vacuum Cleaners

• Types — Upright, Backpack, Wide Area, Canister, Wet/Dry, and
• Uses — Vacuum carpet, and Vacuum entryway matting.
• Considerations — Size, Tools, Filtration, Cord Electric or Battery, Sound Level (dB), and
• Supplies — Vacuum Bags, Spare Vacuum Brushes, and Batteries (if applicable).

Sweepers

• Types — Walk Behind, Rider, Stand-On, and
• Uses — Sweep hard floor surface, and Sweep carpeted surface.
• Considerations — Size, Manual or Battery or Propane, Indoor or Outdoor, and
• Supplies — Vacuum Bags, and Batteries (if applicable).

Carpet Extractor

• Types — Self-Contained, Box and Wand, Truck Mount, and
• Uses — Clean carpet, and Spot carpet.
• Considerations — Size, Cord Electric or Battery, Moisture Control, and Price.
• Supplies — Cleaning Chemicals, and Batteries (if applicable).

You are on your way to cleaner floors and carpets!

Remember, you can partner with your local distributor to help identify the right equipment and supplies, and the right procedures and maintenance frequency, for your floors to achieve the floor care results that will help make your building shine!

Glenview, IL-based Envoy Solutions is a specialized distributor and solution provider serving the U.S. market through a family of regional distributors. We specialize in Jan-San, foodservice, packaging, and marketing execution. Envoy Solutions offers a broad catalog of top brands and products, along with deep expertise and advice, to help our client-partners succeed. We are driven to make facilities cleaner and more sustainable, people safer, and operations more productive, every day. For more information, visit www.envoysolutions.com.