Fall weather does not stay outside for very long. Once employees start coming through the door with wet shoes, leaves and mud usually come in with them.
It is not always a huge mess either. Most days it starts with a few wet footprints near the entrance or some leaves stuck to the carpet. And that mess does not stay at the front door either. People keep coming in, walking down the hall, going back out, coming in again and by lunch you are finding dirt way past the entrance.
So really, get to it before it gets that far. If the mat is soaked, change it. If there are leaves all over the entrance, pick them up. And if somebody just walked in from the rain and left half the parking lot behind them, it is probably better to clean it now than deal with it later.
Give the Entrance a Little More Attention
The entrance is going to take most of the abuse when it rains. Instead of waiting until the evening cleaning, it helps to check this area throughout the day.
Nothing fancy is needed here either:
– Put down a decent-sized mat. One of those tiny mats that barely covers the doorway is not going to catch much when people are coming in with wet shoes.
– Check the mat during the day. If it is soaked or full of dirt, clean it up or swap it out. At that point it is not doing much for the floor anyway.
– Get the leaves up when you see them. Once everybody starts stepping on wet leaves, they break apart and you have little pieces getting tracked all over the place.
– Mop wet footprints before they spread into the lobby.
A mat can only hold so much water and dirt. After a busy, rainy morning, it may already need some attention by lunchtime.
Keep Leaves From Making Their Way Inside
Leaves have a habit of showing up everywhere during fall. Some blow through the door, while others come inside stuck to somebody’s shoes.
Once they are wet and stepped on, cleanup gets a little harder. Once people start walking over those leaves, they get torn up pretty fast. Then you are not dealing with one leaf anymore. You have little wet pieces stuck in the carpet, on the floor and probably getting carried farther down the hall.
So if there are leaves piling up around the door, get them out of the way when you can. Same thing inside. A quick vacuum while everything is still loose is a whole lot easier than trying to clean it up after people have been stepping on it all day.
This is especially helpful during the weeks when leaves are falling heavily. Waiting until the end of the day gives hundreds of footsteps plenty of time to work that mess into the floor.
Rainy Days Need a Different Routine
There is no reason to clean the entire office more often just because it is raining. Pay attention to where people are actually walking.
On wet days, focus more on:
– Lobbies and reception areas
– Hallways coming from entrances
– Elevator areas
– Stairwells near exterior doors
– Employee entrances from parking lots
If one hallway stays dry, leave it alone. If another has muddy footprints running through it by 10 a.m., that is where the extra cleaning time should go.
Water on hard flooring should also be handled when somebody notices it. Besides leaving streaks and dirt behind, a wet floor can become a slipping problem pretty quickly.
Vacuum Carpet Before Dirt Settles In
Carpet does a pretty good job of hiding dirt, which is not always a good thing. It can look fine from across the room while there is already grit, dried mud and little pieces of leaves sitting down in it.
Then everybody keeps walking over the same spots and pushing that stuff farther into the carpet.
You will usually see it around the places people walk the most. The entrance, the path through the hallway, around reception, places like that.
So when the weather gets messy, hit those areas with the vacuum a little more often. You do not have to keep vacuuming the whole office over and over. Just keep up with the spots that are actually getting dirty.
Be Careful With Hard Floors Too
Hard floors show fall weather much faster. One person comes in from the rain and suddenly there is a trail of footprints across the lobby.
Water is only part of it. Dirt and tiny pieces of grit can get dragged across the floor under people’s shoes. Over time, that can be rough on certain floor finishes.
During fall, keep an eye out for:
– Wet footprints and puddles
– Mud near entrances
– Grit collecting along walking paths
– Leaves stuck to wet flooring
Use cleaning products made for the type of flooring in the building. Adding more water or using a stronger product is not always the answer, especially with flooring that requires more careful maintenance.
Check More Than the Front Lobby
The entrance may look great while the hallway around the corner tells a completely different story.
Dirt gets farther into an office than you would think. Somebody comes in with muddy shoes and a little while later you are seeing marks by the elevator, outside the restroom or all the way over by the break room.
Check those busier spots again later on, especially if it has been raining most of the day. Just check the floors again sometime during the day. You would be surprised how far a couple muddy shoes can carry dirt through the office. If you spot it, get it cleaned up before everybody keeps walking through it.
Keep Up With Fall Before Winter Arrives
Fall floor cleaning does not need to get complicated. Keep the mats clean, stay on top of wet entrances and deal with leaves and dirt before people walk them throughout the building.
The important part is adjusting when the weather changes. A dry fall day and an all day rainstorm should not have exactly the same cleaning routine.
For larger offices and facilities, keeping up with several entrances and busy hallways can become hard to handle. AmeriStar Facility Solutions can build the cleaning schedule around your flooring, traffic and the areas that tend to get hit hardest when fall weather arrives.
Call: (570) 675-5525
Visit our website: www.ameristarfacilitysolutions.com