Winter is all about the crisp air, beautiful snow scenes, and hot chocolate by the fire. Unfortunately, it’s also about more than that, particularly if you are in an office building. One that immediately comes to mind is people carrying all sorts of salt, snow, and other dirt into the office with their dirty boots and shoes. If permanently using a commercial office cleaning service is not viable, how do you keep your office carpets clean during the winter months?
Make Sure The Carpets Are Shampooed Before The Winter
Before the winter has properly started, you should make sure your office carpets get a proper deep cleaning. You don’t want to start the winter with dirty carpets - just imagine what they will look like by the time spring arrives!
At the end of the winter months, when the temperatures start to increase again, the office carpets should be deep cleaned again to make sure any lingering salt and dirt that could damage the carpets as time goes by are removed. If they look really dirty by then, your best option is to get in the help of a commercial cleaning company.
Entrance Mats Is A Great Way To Help Keep The Office Carpets Clean During Winter
A very effective strategy is to use entrance mats during the winter months. These are sometimes called wipers or scraper mats. They typically come in dark colors with vinyl or rubber backing to make sure that they remain in place and to prevent water and melting snow from seeping through to the surface below.
These mats are also specially designed to prevent the dirt and moisture from hundreds of pairs of shoes and boots from finding their way into your office space. They will also help to remind workers and visitors to stomp and scrape the sand, salt, snow, and water off their boots before entering.
Using entrance mats will also help to keep the office floors cleaner for longer. This in turn saves both time and money - and it could help to prevent people from slipping and falling on wet floors.
Do Not Neglect Spot Cleaning
No matter how hard you try, you will never be able to prevent every grain of dirt from finding its way into your office. A simple but very effective way in which you can help prevent discoloration and long-term damage to your office carpets is to regularly vacuum and to spot-treat dirty areas immediately before the debris and dirt can turn into permanent stains.
Remind Your Employees and Visitors To Clean Their Shoes Before Entering
Something else you can do to ensure your office carpets don’t get horribly dirty during winter is putting up a sign that reminds employees and visitors alike to do the right thing and wipe off their shoes before entering. Place such a sign near every entrance.
Depending on what type of business you have, you might even get away with asking everyone to remove their shoes at the entrance. This will go a long way to make keeping your carpets clean during the winter months a lot easier. You should of course provide sufficient storage space for all those boots and shoes - and perhaps also some sort of security. Nobody is going to be happy if they want to leave and someone has nabbed their shoes!
Use a Commercial Cleaning Service At The End Of The Winter Months
If it’s been a very harsh and long winter you might consider using a commercial cleaning service at the start of spring to deal with deeper issues (pun intended). They will be able to get rid of stubborn dirt and even things you can’t see such as bacteria. In fact, doing this a couple of times every year will make it easier for your own cleaning staff to maintain the carpets - and your offices will look great throughout the year.
Let Bayside keep your office clean and safe for your employees and customers this winter! Contact us for your quote today.
