Effective Floor Care for the Winter Months

Written by Guest Blogger, Betty White

Winter is not over. This means that many areas of the world are still experiencing bad weather conditions such as excessive rain, snow, wind, hail, etc. And, no, we are not saying that winters are bad. We are just saying that they are bad for our floors. Puddles of melted snow mixed with residual salt stains can be a nightmare to clean. Moreover, they can be a nightmare for those walking on them. Yes, you can fall and hurt yourself inside just as easily as outside. Luckily, there is a solution for all of this. With our advice on effective floor care for the winter months, the floors inside your facility will be as safe as possible, and the cleanliness standards will be as high as possible. Keep on reading, and we assure you that your staff and your clients will love coming to you once you implement these tips.

Reseal the Floors

Due to snow and ice (and the salt we use to get rid of it), the floors inside your facility may look run-down. Moreover, their life expectancy may also decrease. However, just as previously said, there is a way to prevent this from happening. To prepare your facility for the winter, you should reseal all the hard floors. It would be best to this before or after winter. Otherwise, the water, humidity, salt, and other contaminants may interfere (badly) with the stripping and refinishing processes. Moreover, the cold weather can strongly affect the floor’s finish and may even result in cracking and peeling.

However, if you missed this step, do not worry. Leave it for the spring. But do not leave your floors unattended! What you can do in the meantime is hire professionals who will scrub the floor and recoat it once again. This will provide a protective layer of finish to your old floors.

Have an Entrance Mat System

Once the floors in your facility are resealed, it is time to acquire and utilize a proper entrance mat system. These will protect your floors from water and dirt and ensure safe steps for those in your facility.

There are many different types of professional mats for facilities. Our advice is to use the so-called scraper mat in your entryway, that is, in front of your front door. This mat can remove 90% of all dirt on the shoes. Moreover, it can also completely dry the shoes. Then, you should put a wiper mat in front  of your other doors (doors leading to offices, practices, consulting rooms, etc.) This mat works only on dry shoes, and it collects any leftover dirt that the scraper mat missed.

Mats can be really effective floor care for the winter months. But, keep in mind that implementing them can be a bit expensive and time-consuming. Since they are bigger than “normal mats”, you may need to relocate some items from your facility until everything is set. Whatever you do, do it with professionals. Just like you would need professionals to relocate your equipment, you would also need professional mat installers to implement the right mats into the right places.

Use Floor Neutralizer Regularly

Unfortunately, sometimes, even the best matting systems cannot save your facility from water, dirt, and salt residue. When winters are long and severe, your floors are the ones suffering the most. Those contaminants will first leave you with whitish marks all over your facility and make it look unclean and unsafe. Then, they will slowly but steadily start “eating away” at your floors. Once the harsh winter is over, you will begin to see stains, holes, and scratches. And, when you see them, there is nothing you can do but replace your floors.

Luckily, again, there is an easier way out. One of the most effective floor care tips for winter months we can give you is to use some high-quality floor neutralizers regularly (daily or at least a couple times a week). A floor neutralizer works better than all other floor cleaners. It is specifically designed to tackle ice melts, salt residue, soaps, chemicals, etc. But, at the same time, it is gentle enough on your floors (no matter the material). You should start using floor neutralizers in the fall for the best possible results. Try to incorporate this with your fall maintenance tricks for your facility, and you will see how amazing your floors will look in the years to come.

Stay on Top of Regular Cleaning

If you want to have clean and safe floors for yourself, your staff, and of course, for all the people that come to your facility, you will need to do all the previously mentioned things regularly. However, that is not all. Effective floor care for the winter months must be a bit more thorough. For instance, after every shift, the floors should be vacuumed and moped. Depending on the type of facility you have, the floors may also need to be steamed once a day. Moreover, if you want to have clean floors, your equipment must also be clean. If you notice that something is off, it would be a good idea to talk to your cleaning staff – if necessary, organize a cleaning course for them. Or, if it seems a bit much, or if you do not have a cleaning team, you can also consider hiring a cleaning service. Professional cleaners will do all the cleaning -related tasks and ensure you are left with spotless and safe floors every day.