Have You Helped Your Fiber Today?

Carpet can be one of the greatest assets of your building or it can be one of the grittiest. It all depends on how you treat it. If you have a maintenance schedule in place, you will reap the benefits of your investment. If not, we’ve got some news for you.

According to Startnet, “Industry studies have shown that 1000 people per day in 20 days track in 24 pounds of soil. Furthermore it costs on average $700 per pound to remove this soil through cleaning. If you work the math backwards that means every time someone enters your building, based on these industry averages, it costs you 84 cents per person to remove the soil that they tracked in.”

So, you are going to pay big for that investment if you don’t maintain it on a regular basis. Here’s why.

Soil is like a sand paper to your carpet. As people move on the carpet with the soil, sand, etc., their shoes not only distribute the soil, they twist and pull the fibers so that as the soil is worked into the carpet, it acts as a friction wearing and tearing at the fibers.

That said, how can you stop soil from entering the facilities you maintain? It actually begins outside. If there isn’t as much grit on the pavement, you won’t have it coming in your doors. Pressure washing will help remove the grit, grease, and garbage as well as keeping your walkways looking kept and clean. If you just swept the parking lot and sidewalks more you would be cutting the dirt by 66%, according to Windsor.

What about mats? Starnet states, “Conventional wisdom has always dictated 3 to 4 steps on matting before entering the building, but is that enough? Research has shown that 6 feet of matting removes 40% of the soil from the shoes, 12 feet removes 80%, but it takes approximately 36 feet to remove 99% of the soil.” 36 feet! (You’re probably thinking through, right now, how many feet you have in matting around your building.)

The type of matting you have in place will most definitely be important. Exterior mats should have ridges that scrape soils and allow it to fall away from the shoes while interior matting should wipe and dry the shoes. Too often the only matting in place is a carpet-type mat that will not stop soil effectively.

What type of cleaning protocol do you have in place? How do you think you need to improve it?