There are two philosophies when it comes to floor maintenance. The first is to maintain floors on a regular basis. The second is reactionary – when floors start to look less than ideal, a cleaning crew is rushed in to get it back to tip-top shape only to watch its condition begin to deteriorate again. The truth is, proactively maintaining floors is always better than reacting to wear and tear or worse, a catastrophe. When you have a scheduled maintenance program in place, whether it's quarterly, monthly, or even weekly, you’ll actually save more time and money and be better off in the long run.
During the initial stages of researching, selecting, and installing new floors, it can be difficult to think about the future. You can always call on a floor maintenance team to come in and clean or restore your floors when you don’t quite need a replacement yet, but if you get on a maintenance program right after new floors are installed, you can extend the lifespan of that flooring – sometimes almost doubling it!
In between visits from a specialist, it’s important to maintain floors internally on a daily basis. Whether it’s your team or a janitorial staff, or a combination of both, make sure you’re cleaning, sweeping, or vacuuming high traffic areas regularly and have good matting outside your office to keep soil and dirt out. Walk-off areas of 10-12 feet are incredibly important for preventative floor maintenance.
Clean floors project a positive image to those who visit or work in your space. It shows that you care about the associate and client experience. It creates a healthier environment for all, one that’s free of dust and particles. Additionally, you won’t have to disrupt your entire workforce when the time inevitably comes to replace your flooring.
If your budget won’t allow you to get on a routine floor maintenance program, there are some measures you can take to alleviate costs in the future. Chair pads are a wonderful thing, and they lessen the daily grind that comes from chairs on any type of flooring. Another measure to take is to install different floors in different sections of your space (especially those in high-traffic areas versus moderate or low-traffic areas). This allows you to selectively replace floors without having to replace a larger area not entirely in need of it. And finally, try to ensure your floors play into the overall design of your space. If they don’t, it can leave your environment feeling disconnected and inconsistent.
Beyond extending the life of your initial purchase, maintaining your floors helps your investment to keep its original value. When it comes to floor maintenance, which philosophy will you subscribe to?
Comments