Carpets are in integral part of a modern office. They are incredibly versatile and can be curated to perfectly suit the interior décor of your office. If you want a quiet workspace for your employees, devoid of any distracting squeaks or footsteps, carpets are your go-to solution.
Although not as premium looking as exotic wood flooring, office carpets are more durable and require far less care and maintenance. They also reduce the risk of slips and falls in your offices, walkways, and other high foot traffic areas, something which is quite common with tiled floors.
However, to get the most out of your investment in a commercial carpet, you need to ensure adequate maintenance, care, and regular cleaning. In this article, we will explain the ins and outs of office carpet cleaning and answer all common questions related to carpet maintenance and care.
Why Do You Need Carpet Cleaning Services?
A busy office with a lot of employees and a constant stream of visitors and delivery personnel will quickly attract a lot of dust, grime, and dirt. Then you also have to contend with the minor spills, and other mishaps inside the office.
When combined, these can quickly soil your average tile, vinyl, marble, or laminate office floors. These bare floors may require daily cleaning to look pristine and hygienic. On the other hands, carpets do a much better job of hiding the dirt, other particulate matter, and liquids.
But that does not mean that you can keep using an office carpet for months and years without any kind of maintenance or cleaning! Here are three reasons why you need frequent office carpet cleaning services:
Appearance and Aesthetics
The carpet is a huge, constantly visible part of your office interior. Visitors/customers will quickly spot the accumulation of dirt, spots, and stains on your floor. It can give your office a decidedly untidy and unprofessional look. If you neglect it for long, an office carpet can also give off stale odors. You can easily avoid this with regular basic cleaning and spot removal.
Health and Workplace Safety
Fungus, mildew, and bacteria will quickly grow in areas where organic waste, water, and dirt congregate. Unclean carpets can become breeding grounds of dangerous bacteria and is a potential health hazard. They can also trigger allergies and asthma due to the accumulation of dust and fur. Frequent cleaning is essential to improve indoor air quality and ensure the health and safety of your employees and coworkers.
Sustainability and ROI
With basic cleaning and regular maintenance, a premium office carpet could easily last you for several decades or more. Apart from giving you the maximum bang for your buck, this also means that you keep your waste and carbon footprint to a minimum. Frequently throwing away office carpets is not a sustainable choice, since over 4 billion lbs of carpet materials end up in municipal waste each year, according to the EPA.
What are the Different Types of Carpet Cleaning Services?
Carpet cleaning and maintenance is a somewhat complex task with at least three separate processes. With commercial carpet cleaning services, you can expect the following processes:
Spot Cleaning
Stains from sauces, coffee, dyes, and other chemicals can be quite hard to remove the longer you leave them untouched. For best results, you should call in daytime janitorial services to initiate spot/stain removal process as soon as a mishap occurs. Pertaining to this, you can also sign up for a routine carpet maintenance program.
Vacuuming
If an office carpet is vacuumed every day, it will drastically reduce the amount of dirt that accumulates over time. This is the most cost-effective process to keep your carpet clean for a longer time. It also reduces the potential cleaning costs during annual or one-time deep cleaning of the carpets.
Preventative Cleaning/Deep Cleaning
Instead of waiting for your carpet to look like an absolute nightmare, you can bring in professional cleaning teams to on regular intervals. Using advanced detergents and cleaning products, a professional carpet cleaning team can leave your office carpet looking almost as good as new.
How Often Do You Need to Clean an Office Carpet?
There is no quick and easy answer to this question. It will depend heavily on a variety of factors. As a baseline, vacuuming and spot cleaning should be done at least several times per week to maintain a general level of hygiene and appearance. For preventative or deep cleaning, the following factors will play a role in determining the frequency:
Carpet Types
Almost 90% of all office carpets are tufted carpets. For luxurious, high-end business offices, you may use a woven carpet. And within tufted carpets, there are other factors like colors/patterns, pile types, and densities.
Naturally, light-colored carpets will start showing dirt and stains faster and will require a higher frequency of deep cleaning. The same can also be said about carpets with high pile densities, since these can trap more dirt and debris over time.
Foot Traffic Levels
When more customers, employees, and visitors walk over a carpet, it will get dirty and stained within a short period. Carpets located in high foot traffic areas like near the entrances and on aisles and walkways will require more frequent cleaning than a carpet in a conference room that is only sparingly used.
Seasons
In dry summer and spring seasons, people tend to bring in more dust and dirt when then come in to work. But in rainy/winter months, there is a higher risk of mud, salt, or melted snow reaching your carpets, which can have a more dramatic impact on the carpet appearance and influence the frequency of cleaning.
Type of Commercial Building
The frequency of deep cleaning of a carpet will depend heavily on the type of commercial establishment. For instance, in bars and restaurants, a quarterly deep clean is mandatory because of all the grease that can accumulate due to food spillage.
Due to enhanced sanitation concerns, hospitals and other medical offices may require more frequent deep cleaning schedules. In all other establishments, including offices, retail stores, schools, and churches, the carpets will require deep cleaning at least once every 3 to 6 months.
What Are the Various Professional Carpet Cleaning Methods?
Carpet cleaning is a specialized process that involves a lot of hard work. There are multiple techniques and tools available and the method chosen will depend heavily on the condition of the carpet, the type of dirt/grime, and the construction of the carpet.
- Dry Vacuuming – this is one of the most common methods that involves using a heavy-duty vacuum cleaner to extract all manner of dirt and dust on a carpet.
- Hot Water Extraction – also called steam cleaning, this method involves the use of detergents and hot water at high pressure to flush out dirt. It’s one of the most common deep cleaning methods.
- Agitation – a mechanical brush is used to agitate the dirt particles and physically scrub them out of the carpet. This method is often used in tandem with other cleaning techniques.
- Bonnet Cleaning – using a combination of rotary machines and cleaning pads, dust and dirt can be collected from carpets that have a light or moderate level of staining.
- Dry Cleaning – instead of using water and detergent, this method uses special dirt absorbent powders or polymers. Once the material attracts the dirt, it’s vacuumed off.
- Shampooing – since it takes a lot of time for the water to dry off, shampooing is generally reserved for extremely filthy carpets that haven’t been cleaned for years.
Why You Need Professional Carpet Cleaning Services
Cleaning and maintaining a carpet in a large office building or commercial space is not an easy task. It takes a lot of time and effort. Effective cleaning requires specialized equipment like carpet cleaning machines, rotary pad machines, vacuum cleaners, hot water extractors, defoamers, and more.
Apart from cleaning shampoos and detergent solutions, a carpet cleaning technician will also use specialized stain removers, with different compounds that target grit, dirt, grease, dyes, and other water-based stains. Picking the appropriate cleaning compound requires specialized knowledge and experience.
Besides, it makes economic sense to hire professional carpet cleaning services. These days, professional janitorial service providers often bundle carpet cleaning and maintenance services along with their other nightly janitorial services or as regular day-time services.
3 Tips for Effective Office Carpet Maintenance
While you may want to rely on a professional cleaning company for routine maintenance, you can make their job easier by adopting the following best practices during regular office hours:
- Encourage your employees to adopt a clean-as-you-go approach to reduce clutter and improve cleanliness in the office
- When minor spills do happen on the carpet, take immediate measures to clean them up and minimize the level of staining
- In case of larger spills, try to prevent or minimize foot traffic in the area as it can bring in more dirt and spread the spillage to other areas
Servi-Tek For All Your Commercial Facility Maintenance and Carpet Cleaning Needs in Anaheim
Servi-Tek is an industry leader in commercial facility maintenance, janitorial and engineering services in San Diego and Anaheim, with operations available across California, Arizona, and Hawaii. As part of our high customized solutions, we also offer expert floor care services that include carpet cleaning, maintenance, and restoration services to companies, business establishments, and facility managers. To learn more about our carpet cleaning services, give us a call at (866) 454-6185, or schedule a call online on our website.
