Cleaning With Speed

The CarpetMaster 200 Series Dual Motor Uprights are available in three sizes, 12, 15 and 18 inches. Designed with the operator in mind, we focused on ergonomics, durability, and reliability. The new CarpetMaster vacuums features a powerful motor, on-board crevice and upholstery tools, quiet operation, HEPA filtration, bag indicator light, and a light handle weight! The motor is also conveniently located at the base of the machine which results in a lighter handle weight.

The Key To Protecting Floors Is Proper Matting

This article was originally published in Contracting Profits.

The single most important preventative measure a BSC can employ in a facility to keep floors in tip-top shape during the harsh winter months is a high-performance matting system.

Matting systems help stop contaminants at the door by trapping soil, including ice melt, sand and moisture, before it can be tracked in. The wells in these systems capture and hold soil and water for easy and convenient removal later on.

Matting should be present in a good floor care system long before the wind blows and the snow falls.

It's important to upgrade matting, replacing worn mats or those with curled edges and putting in extra matting in locations known to receive a lot of rain or snow during the winter. Manufacturers typically recommend that matting cover a span of about three paces, both outside and inside the entrance, for a total of 15 feet of matting.

A heavier, scraper and moisture-removing type mat allows moisture to run off and soil to settle in for the outside of the building, and a finer type of matting that collects moisture and smaller particles of soil for the inside.

A common mistake is putting an olefin-type mat in the entryway, which is great for drying feet but doesn’t do much to scrape off sand or ice melt or to collect water coming in. BSCs should also switch out mats periodically during the day.

Check back next week to learn how to maintain floors by increasing cleaning frequency. 

Developing A Winter Floor Care Program

This article was originally published in Contracting Profits. 

On a blustery January day, a building service contractor, responsible for upkeep and maintenance at an office building in northern Wisconsin, spends hours shoveling and blowing snow away from building entrances. After clearing the snow, the BSC notices patches of ice and compacted snow remain in spots and decides an ice melt will be needed to mitigate the risks of slips-and-falls.

The problem with these products, however, is that although they remove the ice and snow hazard, they also pose a hazard to facility floors if they are tracked in.

So, what’s a BSC to do? The answer lies in developing a winter floor care program with damage prevention at its core.

The elements of a preventative winter floor care program include entrance matting inside and out, increased frequencies for dust mopping and damp mopping, and regular use of floor neutralizers to remove build-up as it occurs.

Check back next week to learn how to protect floors. 

Gearing up for Granite

This article was originally published in Cleanfax Magazine.

Granite is an intrusive igneous granular rock consisting primarily the minerals quartz, mica and feldspar. Granite is often used for countertops, flooring, walls, building exteriors, sculptures, monuments, fountains and headstones. These are all opportunities for service and profit once you become comfortable working on granite. The processes used to clean and maintain granite are not much different than those used on other types of stone. 

Reality

It is important to realize that you can do the cleaning, maintenance and light polishing of granite. Restoration is a different story and for now, you should avoid the restoration of granite.

Granite is one of the hardest stones you will ever work on. I don’t mean just in difficulty, but also in the actual hardness of the stone itself (6-7 out of 10 on the Mohs Hardness Scale). This is one of the reasons that granite is difficult to restore (make repairs, remove lippage, deep scratches and gouges) and why most people stay away from it.

Its hardness and composition means that restoration options are limited and processes are time consuming. Without special heavy equipment, diamonds and training, it’s not realistic to think that you can do an acceptable job of granite restoration.

Leave restoration to the professionals, or do what it takes to learn what you need to know before you get in over your head. However, you should be able to clean or lightly polish most granite surfaces without a problem.

Opportunities exist

Granite is widely in use in both commercial and residential properties and is often in need of cleaning and maintenance. Anytime others don’t want to do a task, opportunities are created for those who are willing to go where others fear to tread.

Investment

A basic 1.5 horsepower rotary floor machine, a weighted drive assembly (30-45 pounds), some hog’s hair and diamond impregnated pads, a variable speed angle polisher and neutral cleaner is about all you need to get started.

In some cases, a good portable or truckmounted extractor and a spinner type head (with a brush shroud) will be useful as part of the cleaning process. When it comes to light polishing or bringing back a shine to dull, scuffed or lightly scratched granite, diamond impregnated floor pads and possibly some specialty polishing powder made for granite will do the trick.

In some cases, light cleaning and then treating the stone with an impregnating or color enhancing sealer or a polish or protectant may be the best option. A little research regarding products and procedures and some testing/practice on granite samples is the best way to build your confidence and determine which products, processes and equipment will give you the best results.

Test, test, test

It can’t be stressed enough that the only and best way to determine what will work and what the end result will look like is testing your products and processes in a small inconspicuous area prior to wide-spread use.

This may sound basic, and it is, but until you end up buying a job, you may not fully appreciate the value of this concept and advice.

Cautions

Absolute black and some darker color granite stone may have been infused or treated with pigments, dyes, oils or other materials to obtain a dark consistent color.

What this means to you is that when you clean, polish or restore this stone, there is a possibility that you will remove some of the surface color and or shine and it won’t return on its own. You will have to add it back in or polish it back to its original shine and without access to specialized chemicals, equipment and knowledge the end result may not be acceptable to your customer.

The bad news is that an unhappy customer isn’t going to want to pay you, may threaten legal action and you may end up bringing in and paying for a stone specialist to solve the problem, which can cost more than you charged for the job in the first place.

The good news is that a simple test with acetone or lacquer thinner will help you identify these problem stones so you can avoid them.

Resources and research

If you want to get into granite cleaning and maintenance, go online, research the subject, get some product samples and practice in your garage or in a location where you can perfect your technique without financial risk. Or the critical eye of a paying customer.

You will find many equipment and chemical manufacturers/distributors that are willing to provide you with samples, literature, advice and training.

Best of luck, perfect your skills and keep your eyes open for opportunities to provide this valuable service to your present and future customers.

Enhancing Cleaning Productivity for Small Spaces

The Clarke Vantage 17 compact autoscrubber® provides a cost-effective alternative to labor-intensive mop and bucket or high-priced, larger automatic scrubbers. Featuring a compact design and 17 inch scrub path, the Vantage 17 enhances cleaning productivity in small spaces, such as gas stations, schools and healthcare facilities. With a large 8.2 gallon solution tank and 7.7 gallon recovery tank, the Vantage 17 has the capacity to run for up to two hours on a single tank. A center-pivot squeegee system employs a gas spring for optimal blade pressure to ensure superior solution pickup in both forward and reverse. Just one pass leaves the floors clean, dry and ready for foot traffic.

Carpet Care: Five Tips to Proper Wand Usage

This article was originally published in CleanLink.

The wand on a carpet extractor plays a far more important role in effective carpet cleaning than many carpet cleaning technicians and cleaning professionals may realize. Some more advanced wands can speed up the entire cleaning process while also allowing carpets to dry more quickly and more thoroughly-if the wand is used properly.

Experts agree that proper wand usage is key to successful carpet cleaning, and offer the following suggestions for proper wand usage:

• Start in a far corner of the room, move from left to right, and work toward the exit. (The direction may vary due to room specifications.)
• Once on the carpet, pull the wand's trigger to allow water (solution) to flow onto the carpet. Then move the wand forward.
• Release the trigger and pull the wand backward to remove moisture from the carpet.
• Return to the starting point, repeat the process, and begin moving the wand to the left, overlapping the area that was just cleaned.
• Repeat the process until all areas are cleaned.

The wand on a carpet extractor plays a far more important role in effective carpet cleaning than many carpet cleaning technicians and cleaning professionals may realize. Some more advanced wands can speed up the entire cleaning process while also allowing carpets to dry more quickly and more thoroughly-if the wand is used properly.

Experts agree that proper wand usage is key to successful carpet cleaning.

"Some carpet cleaning technicians refer to working with a wand as 'dancing with the wand'-and in many ways, it is like a dance," says Doug Berjer, National Sales Manager for CFR, makers of continuous flow recycling carpet extractors. "However, you've got to know the proper steps for this dance to come out right."

Berjer offers the following suggestions for proper wand usage:  
• Start in a far corner of the room, move from left to right, and work toward the exit. (The direction may vary due to room specifications.)
• Once on the carpet, pull the wand's trigger to allow water (solution) to flow onto the carpet. Then move the wand forward.
• Release the trigger and pull the wand backward to remove moisture from the carpet.
• Return to the starting point, repeat the process, and begin moving the wand to the left, overlapping the area that was just cleaned.
• Repeat the process until all areas are cleaned.

"It is not uncommon for streaks to develop during the extraction process," says Berjer. "Often this is because the wand left excess moisture on the carpet, which can be corrected by going over these areas once again."

Berjer says older wands tend to cause streaking problems more frequently, while more advanced wands flush and remove moisture from carpet fibers more thoroughly, thus minimizing this problem. - See more at: http://cleanlink.com/news/article/Carpet-Care-Five-Tips-to-Proper-Wand-Usage--16349#sthash.RUXF3A5h.dpuf

The wand on a carpet extractor plays a far more important role in effective carpet cleaning than many carpet cleaning technicians and cleaning professionals may realize. Some more advanced wands can speed up the entire cleaning process while also allowing carpets to dry more quickly and more thoroughly-if the wand is used properly. - See more at: http://cleanlink.com/news/article/Carpet-Care-Five-Tips-to-Proper-Wand-Usage--16349#sthash.l0I4iw2D.dpuf

The wand on a carpet extractor plays a far more important role in effective carpet cleaning than many carpet cleaning technicians and cleaning professionals may realize. Some more advanced wands can speed up the entire cleaning process while also allowing carpets to dry more quickly and more thoroughly-if the wand is used properly.

Experts agree that proper wand usage is key to successful carpet cleaning.

"Some carpet cleaning technicians refer to working with a wand as 'dancing with the wand'-and in many ways, it is like a dance," says Doug Berjer, National Sales Manager for CFR, makers of continuous flow recycling carpet extractors. "However, you've got to know the proper steps for this dance to come out right."

Berjer offers the following suggestions for proper wand usage:  
• Start in a far corner of the room, move from left to right, and work toward the exit. (The direction may vary due to room specifications.)
• Once on the carpet, pull the wand's trigger to allow water (solution) to flow onto the carpet. Then move the wand forward.
• Release the trigger and pull the wand backward to remove moisture from the carpet.
• Return to the starting point, repeat the process, and begin moving the wand to the left, overlapping the area that was just cleaned.
• Repeat the process until all areas are cleaned.

"It is not uncommon for streaks to develop during the extraction process," says Berjer. "Often this is because the wand left excess moisture on the carpet, which can be corrected by going over these areas once again."

Berjer says older wands tend to cause streaking problems more frequently, while more advanced wands flush and remove moisture from carpet fibers more thoroughly, thus minimizing this problem. - See more at: http://cleanlink.com/news/article/Carpet-Care-Five-Tips-to-Proper-Wand-Usage--16349#sthash.RUXF3A5h.dpuf

The wand on a carpet extractor plays a far more important role in effective carpet cleaning than many carpet cleaning technicians and cleaning professionals may realize. Some more advanced wands can speed up the entire cleaning process while also allowing carpets to dry more quickly and more thoroughly-if the wand is used properly.

Experts agree that proper wand usage is key to successful carpet cleaning.

"Some carpet cleaning technicians refer to working with a wand as 'dancing with the wand'-and in many ways, it is like a dance," says Doug Berjer, National Sales Manager for CFR, makers of continuous flow recycling carpet extractors. "However, you've got to know the proper steps for this dance to come out right."

Berjer offers the following suggestions for proper wand usage:  
• Start in a far corner of the room, move from left to right, and work toward the exit. (The direction may vary due to room specifications.)
• Once on the carpet, pull the wand's trigger to allow water (solution) to flow onto the carpet. Then move the wand forward.
• Release the trigger and pull the wand backward to remove moisture from the carpet.
• Return to the starting point, repeat the process, and begin moving the wand to the left, overlapping the area that was just cleaned.
• Repeat the process until all areas are cleaned.

"It is not uncommon for streaks to develop during the extraction process," says Berjer. "Often this is because the wand left excess moisture on the carpet, which can be corrected by going over these areas once again."

Berjer says older wands tend to cause streaking problems more frequently, while more advanced wands flush and remove moisture from carpet fibers more thoroughly, thus minimizing this problem. - See more at: http://cleanlink.com/news/article/Carpet-Care-Five-Tips-to-Proper-Wand-Usage--16349#sthash.RUXF3A5h.dpuf

The wand on a carpet extractor plays a far more important role in effective carpet cleaning than many carpet cleaning technicians and cleaning professionals may realize. Some more advanced wands can speed up the entire cleaning process while also allowing carpets to dry more quickly and more thoroughly-if the wand is used properly.

Experts agree that proper wand usage is key to successful carpet cleaning.

"Some carpet cleaning technicians refer to working with a wand as 'dancing with the wand'-and in many ways, it is like a dance," says Doug Berjer, National Sales Manager for CFR, makers of continuous flow recycling carpet extractors. "However, you've got to know the proper steps for this dance to come out right."

Berjer offers the following suggestions for proper wand usage:  
• Start in a far corner of the room, move from left to right, and work toward the exit. (The direction may vary due to room specifications.)
• Once on the carpet, pull the wand's trigger to allow water (solution) to flow onto the carpet. Then move the wand forward.
• Release the trigger and pull the wand backward to remove moisture from the carpet.
• Return to the starting point, repeat the process, and begin moving the wand to the left, overlapping the area that was just cleaned.
• Repeat the process until all areas are cleaned.

"It is not uncommon for streaks to develop during the extraction process," says Berjer. "Often this is because the wand left excess moisture on the carpet, which can be corrected by going over these areas once again."

Berjer says older wands tend to cause streaking problems more frequently, while more advanced wands flush and remove moisture from carpet fibers more thoroughly, thus minimizing this problem. - See more at: http://cleanlink.com/news/article/Carpet-Care-Five-Tips-to-Proper-Wand-Usage--16349#sthash.RUXF3A5h.dpuf

The wand on a carpet extractor plays a far more important role in effective carpet cleaning than many carpet cleaning technicians and cleaning professionals may realize. Some more advanced wands can speed up the entire cleaning process while also allowing carpets to dry more quickly and more thoroughly-if the wand is used properly.

Experts agree that proper wand usage is key to successful carpet cleaning.

"Some carpet cleaning technicians refer to working with a wand as 'dancing with the wand'-and in many ways, it is like a dance," says Doug Berjer, National Sales Manager for CFR, makers of continuous flow recycling carpet extractors. "However, you've got to know the proper steps for this dance to come out right."

Berjer offers the following suggestions for proper wand usage:  
• Start in a far corner of the room, move from left to right, and work toward the exit. (The direction may vary due to room specifications.)
• Once on the carpet, pull the wand's trigger to allow water (solution) to flow onto the carpet. Then move the wand forward.
• Release the trigger and pull the wand backward to remove moisture from the carpet.
• Return to the starting point, repeat the process, and begin moving the wand to the left, overlapping the area that was just cleaned.
• Repeat the process until all areas are cleaned.

"It is not uncommon for streaks to develop during the extraction process," says Berjer. "Often this is because the wand left excess moisture on the carpet, which can be corrected by going over these areas once again."

Berjer says older wands tend to cause streaking problems more frequently, while more advanced wands flush and remove moisture from carpet fibers more thoroughly, thus minimizing this problem. - See more at: http://cleanlink.com/news/article/Carpet-Care-Five-Tips-to-Proper-Wand-Usage--16349#sthash.RUXF3A5h.dpuf

The wand on a carpet extractor plays a far more important role in effective carpet cleaning than many carpet cleaning technicians and cleaning professionals may realize. Some more advanced wands can speed up the entire cleaning process while also allowing carpets to dry more quickly and more thoroughly-if the wand is used properly.

Experts agree that proper wand usage is key to successful carpet cleaning.

"Some carpet cleaning technicians refer to working with a wand as 'dancing with the wand'-and in many ways, it is like a dance," says Doug Berjer, National Sales Manager for CFR, makers of continuous flow recycling carpet extractors. "However, you've got to know the proper steps for this dance to come out right."

Berjer offers the following suggestions for proper wand usage:  
• Start in a far corner of the room, move from left to right, and work toward the exit. (The direction may vary due to room specifications.)
• Once on the carpet, pull the wand's trigger to allow water (solution) to flow onto the carpet. Then move the wand forward.
• Release the trigger and pull the wand backward to remove moisture from the carpet.
• Return to the starting point, repeat the process, and begin moving the wand to the left, overlapping the area that was just cleaned.
• Repeat the process until all areas are cleaned.

"It is not uncommon for streaks to develop during the extraction process," says Berjer. "Often this is because the wand left excess moisture on the carpet, which can be corrected by going over these areas once again." - See more at: http://cleanlink.com/news/article/Carpet-Care-Five-Tips-to-Proper-Wand-Usage--16349#sthash.RUXF3A5h.dpuf

The wand on a carpet extractor plays a far more important role in effective carpet cleaning than many carpet cleaning technicians and cleaning professionals may realize. Some more advanced wands can speed up the entire cleaning process while also allowing carpets to dry more quickly and more thoroughly-if the wand is used properly.

Experts agree that proper wand usage is key to successful carpet cleaning.

"Some carpet cleaning technicians refer to working with a wand as 'dancing with the wand'-and in many ways, it is like a dance," says Doug Berjer, National Sales Manager for CFR, makers of continuous flow recycling carpet extractors. "However, you've got to know the proper steps for this dance to come out right."

Berjer offers the following suggestions for proper wand usage:  
• Start in a far corner of the room, move from left to right, and work toward the exit. (The direction may vary due to room specifications.)
• Once on the carpet, pull the wand's trigger to allow water (solution) to flow onto the carpet. Then move the wand forward.
• Release the trigger and pull the wand backward to remove moisture from the carpet.
• Return to the starting point, repeat the process, and begin moving the wand to the left, overlapping the area that was just cleaned.
• Repeat the process until all areas are cleaned.

"It is not uncommon for streaks to develop during the extraction process," says Berjer. "Often this is because the wand left excess moisture on the carpet, which can be corrected by going over these areas once again." - See more at: http://cleanlink.com/news/article/Carpet-Care-Five-Tips-to-Proper-Wand-Usage--16349#sthash.RUXF3A5h.dpuf

How to Select the Ideal Floor Cleaning Machine: Applications in the Field

Healthcare and education facility cleaning professionals must utilize equipment that accommodates their unique cleaning requirements and reduces the total cost of operation. Healthcare Hospitals and long-term care institutions are tasked with keeping the environment clean and healthy. This includes the use of floor scrubbers that make the facility cleaner and safer, using fewer chemicals and detergents for improved indoor air quality and safety. By providing chemical-free floor finish removal and delivering superior water pick-up, automatic scrubbers can improve the indoor air quality for facility occupants and, concurrently, minimize the risk of slip and fall incidents.

Education
Education facility floor surfaces present unique challenges to the building staff. With the need for daily cleaning and the presence of students for many hours each day, facility mangers must meet their cleaning requirements with limited time and labor resources. To cost-effectively handle hard surface cleaning, these facilities can use automatic scrubbers that are able to scrub high-traffic hallways and classrooms and also refinish gym floors—meeting multiple maintenance challenges with a single machine.

For carpeted areas, such as offices and libraries, powerful extractors deliver maximum soil removal, fast drying times and a quiet operation to minimize any unnecessary disruption for school occupants. Properly cleaned and maintained carpeting also helps improve indoor air quality, which reduces negative health impacts as well as student and faculty absenteeism.

Effective cleaning strategies are one of the most crucial components of any maintenance program, and with the benefits of sustainable cleaning, such as improved air quality, increased productivity and reduced labor and equipment costs, implementing the proper cleaning equipment has never been more important. Floor cleaning equipment is being engineered to combine the most advanced cleaning technology with the highest levels of efficiency to provide facilities with machines that perform faster and more effectively while ensuring a lower total cost of operation.

How to Select the Ideal Floor Cleaning Machine: Sustainable Cleaning Solutions

An essential step when implementing a facility-wide sustainable cleaning strategy is to select the proper cleaning equipment. When evaluating floor cleaning equipment, such as automatic scrubbers, carpet extractors and vacuums, facility managers should select machines that meet their cleaning requirements, maximize their labor force, and help them to achieve their green initiatives.

Automatic Scrubbers
Facilities looking to increase employee productivity while lowering or maintaining their labor costs will benefit significantly from the use of an automatic floor scrubber. Automatic scrubbers maximize cleaning efficiency and effectiveness. While typically used for daily scrubbing, enhanced scrubber platforms offer the flexibility to be used for deep scrubbing and chemical-free floor finish removal. Certain models of automatic scrubbers equipped with a unique rectangular scrubbing head provide straight edge cleaning along baseboards without having to use a separate piece of equipment for detailing. These machines should be available in both walk-behind and rider models to address specific budget and space requirements of all facilities. Additionally, these automatic scrubbers are designed so that the rear squeegee moves in line with the cleaning path to ensure complete water pick-up while scrubbing.

As more facilities face cuts in their operations and maintenance budgets, managers are looking for multi-purpose cleaning solutions that give them enhanced flexibility. Utilizing an automatic scrubber that has also been designed for single pass, chemical-free floor finish removal— as well as daily scrubbing—will result in decreased labor and chemical costs to the department. Facility managers are able to perform floor finishing project work without costly chemicals, excess labor costs, and slippery floors and odors associated with traditional strip out projects.

Carpet Extractors
Education and healthcare facilities often have a mix of hard and soft floor surfaces that they must clean. A proper soft floor surface cleaning program must also achieve maximum soil removal to prevent deterioration of indoor air quality and associated health consequences. A carpet extractor must be able to effectively eliminate ground-in soil while simultaneously leaving the carpet to dry as rapidly as possible in order to prevent the formation of mold and to allow the area to be used faster. Extractors that offer low moisture cleaning, a process that requires less water, can leave a carpeted room with a good level of clean and also be ready to be utilized in 30 minutes or less. To tackle more intense carpet cleaning tasks, extractors with restorative capabilities provide deep cleaning, effectively removing soils from deep in the fibers.

To minimize chemical usage and residue remaining in carpets, carpet extractors should provide the flexibility of high-quality soil removal without excessive detergent use. For example, extractors with the ability to reach and maintain extreme water temperatures, some as high as 212-degree Fahrenheit, can remove stains without detergents. The hot water improves cleaning results by as much as 40 percent over cold water alternatives and prevents any exposure to chemicals, while also eliminating the added expense of cleaning solution.

Vacuums
For maintaining the life and cleanliness of carpet, vacuums are the key to daily carpet cleaning. When selecting a commercial vacuum cleaner, facility managers should choose options that have received the Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI) Seal of Approval. The CRI Seal of Approval certifies that a product has passed a battery of tests verifying its ability to remove soil and minimize dust, while operating quietly—promoting cleanliness and increased indoor air quality. Vacuum cleaners should employ a multi-stage filter system, including H.E.P.A. filters that capture up to 99.97 percent of dust particulates down to .3 microns. Vacuums should also meet the sound requirements set forth by green cleaning requirements, which are ideal for daytime cleaning, saving labor costs of cleaning after hours.

Next week, we will discuss applications in the field. 

How to Select the Ideal Floor Cleaning Machine: Cleaning Challenges Part II

Improper cleaning practices also create the possibility of slip and fall accidents. Given the heavy foot traffic typical in healthcare and education facilities, facility managers should minimize safety hazards associated with hard flooring. For dry, safe surfaces, floor cleaning equipment should be used and must be able to pick up all solution to prevent leaving behind slippery residue.

In addition to the challenges of maintaining hard surface floors, both education and healthcare facilities must also ensure that their carpets are properly maintained to prevent dirt and dust from contaminating the environment. Good carpet cleaning practices are crucial to maintaining good indoor air quality and, thereby, improving occupant health. Harmful dirt particles are often trapped in carpet fibers and spread throughout the facility.

Finally, both education and healthcare facilities must also be cleaned daily, with minimal disruption to students and patients. Excess noise can have adverse effects on all occupants. Students must be able to concentrate while in class and patients need a calm and relaxed environment to promote healing. Floor cleaning equipment should be able to deliver a quiet operation mode to minimize disturbance caused by cleaning activities.

Next week, we will discuss sustainable cleaning solutions.

How to Select the Ideal Floor Cleaning Machine: Cleaning Challenges

Ensuring education and healthcare facilities maintain a certain level of cleanliness is important to preserve the health and well-being of building occupants. In order to ascertain their cleaning equipment needs, facility managers must be able to identify their exact cleaning requirements and implement solutions designed to satisfy these needs.

Education facilities are currently suffering from severe budget cutbacks that adversely impact their capacity to clean and maintain their buildings. To promote flooring integrity and appearance, hard floors should be refinished regularly. With traditional floor cleaning equipment, this process typically requires hours of labor and multiple machines to maintain the desired level of appearance and cleanliness in hightraffic areas. Unfortunately, with as much as 90 percent of cleaning expenses attributable to labor, many schools and universities have been forced to reduce staff and, therefore, do not have the resources available to meet the rigorous cleaning demands of these large facilities.

To assure the health, comfort and contentment of patients and staff, hospitals and other healthcare facilities are challenged to provide superior cleaning results while minimizing occupant exposure to excess noise, unpleasant odors and potential health risks associated with chemicals.

Check back next week to learn about other cleaning challenges found in education and healthcare facilities.

How to Select the Ideal Floor Cleaning Machine - Introduction

This is the first of a series of posts that will identify how to select the ideal floor cleaning machines in education and healthcare facilities. 

As more cleaning standards are put in place, and maintenance budgets decrease, facility managers struggle to find effective methods to clean floors without increasing costs. Facilities such as hospitals and schools are subject to daily, continuous foot traffic, which can result in floors becoming heavily soiled very quickly. Soiled floors not only detract from the overall appearance of the facility, but slick dirt and grime can cause slip and fall hazards while dust and other particles can impact indoor air quality.

To overcome these challenges and meet current sustainable cleaning requirements, healthcare and education facilities should utilize cleaning equipment that maximizes soil removal without increasing labor or effecting the environment— satisfying industry standards while keeping the cost of cleaning within budgets.

Today, cleaning professionals can select from a variety of cleaning equipment that is designed to provide flexibility and meet cleaning needs. By understanding and identifying their cleaning challenges, facility managers can select the ideal cleaning solution(s) that promote facility sustainability—minimizing labor, chemical and water requirements without sacrificing results.

Check back next week for the next part of this series on cleaning challenges found in education and healthcare facilities 

Green Cleaning: Summertime Debriefing

This article was originally published in American School & University. 

It's time to start a new school year, and with that comes freshly clean carpets and hard surfaces. So how exactly do educational facilities complete this cleaning over the summer? The informative article below published in American School & University provide the details.

The key is that education institutions repeat these activities every summer; a specific exercise should be established to ensure that the summer-time efforts continually improve. This is the time of the year to do a debriefing to determine how effectively the time was spent and identify opportunities for improvements that can be applied next year.

Conducting an annual summertime debriefing can make next year’s efforts more successful:

• Products: Did the products meet the needs and expectations? Did the products perform adequately? Were adequate quantities purchased? If new technologies were used, how did they perform? Did products meet LEED, STARS, state mandates or sustainability objectives for using green cleaning products? Should new technologies, green or traditional products be considered for purchase throughout the school year or for next year’s program? What feedback do staff members have about the performance of the products, as well as any other feedback based on their experience using the products? Should the purchasing department incorporate any new requirements for next year
• Suppliers: Did the suppliers meet needs and expectations? Were supplies delivered on time and complete, or were there numerous delays and backorders? If there were emergency requests for products, did the supplier respond in a timely manner? Was the supplier knowledgeable about the products? Did it offer informed recommendations about alternatives or other ways to be helpful? Is there any experience, either positive or negative, that should be shared with the purchasing department that should be considered next year?
• Processes: Were the cleaning processes effective? What worked well and what could be improved? Were the people and teams well-organized? Did the processes reduce energy and water use? Did they reduce waste? What feedback from supervisors and staff could improve the processes, as well as those for next year’s intensive summer program?
• Training: Was the training adequate? If not, where did it fall short? Should the amount of time be longer or shorter next year? Was enough time spent on improving skills vs. compliance? Was the amount of classroom and hands-on training appropriate? Was it appropriate for the skill level of the people being trained? Do supervisors and staff have feedback about the trainers? How can the program be improved next year? Should the trainers be invited back or new ones identified?
• Personnel: How did the supervisors and staff perform? Did they do just the minimum that was expected or did any of them excel? Did any stand out as candidates for increased responsibility? What feedback do supervisors and staff have on their colleagues (good and bad)? Were any people given responsibilities that did not align with their skill set? What was learned about the team and how could things be done better next year? Should any information be discussed with the human resources department? 
• Facilities: Were any areas identified that need to be addressed differently next year? Were there any areas under renovation, construction and repurposing, or changes such as increasing or decreasing enrollment or funding that may affect next year’s activities? If so, how will this affect product purchasing, suppliers, cleaning and maintenance processes, training, personnel and other issues affecting next year’s summertime activities?

Clarke Maxxi II Wet/Dry Vacuums Deliver Flexible and Powerful Cleaning Performance

The new Maxxi II Wet/Dry Vacuums are designed to provide a flexible, reliable cleaning solution for both wet and dry filtration. Available in three models—9-, 14- and 19-gallon tank options—the Maxxi II series satisfies diverse cleaning challenges, ranging from small office environments to large education and healthcare facilities.

The Maxxi II-75 features a 19-gallon tank and is equipped with a front-mount squeegee with forward and backward operation, making it ideal for picking up wet matter when stripping with floor stripper and a floor machine. For emergency spills and floods, the Maxxi II-55 with 14-gallon tank delivers superior power and functionality, and is available with a hose, wand, squeegee floor tool, brush floor tool and optional front-mount squeegee. When dirt or dust is the primary issue, the Maxxi II-35 with 9-gallon tank offers quality filtration and dust capture, in addition to crevice and dusting tools. This model can also be used for wet applications.

The Maxxi II series provides versatile cleaning performance through the following benefits:

• Quality filtration ensures superior performance while keeping the motor dry and protected from dust or water
• Easy operation with the balanced, wide stance on the Maxxi II-75 and Maxxi II-55 deliver enhanced maneuverability, while the lightweight design of the Maxxi II-35 ensures easy transportation
• Multiple accessories, including hoses, wands, squeegees and dusting tools, help tackle diverse cleaning applications

The Maxxi II series is ideal for schools and universities, healthcare facilities, grocery, retail outlets, arenas and stadiums and automobile dealerships.

Read the full press release for more information.

10 Factors To Consider When Selecting A Vacuum

This article was originally published in Clean Link. 

According to a recent article published on Clean Link, the key factors in evaluating vacuums are:

1. Motor Size: This is usually measured in amps. The larger the number, the more powerful the motor.

2. Number of Motors: Upright vacuum can have one motor that drives both the vacuum and the brush, or two motors - one for the vacuum and a separate motor for the brush. Generally, you will want a two motor step-up.

3. Bag or tank capacity: The more quickly the bag fills, the more frequently it will have to be changed. Keep in mind that, as the bag fills, the efficiency of your vacuuming goes down. Change bags often for top efficiency.

4. Fill location: Uprights can either fill the bag from the top or the bottom. A bottom fill forces the vacuum to push all the debris in the bag up to allow more to enter. A top fill lets it drop down. A top fill is preferred. The bottom fill puts more strain on the motor.

5. Lift: This is measured in inches of mercury or inches of water lift. This is particularly important for wet-dry vacuums. Lift will vary depending on where the measurement is taken. The closer to the motor, the higher the measurement. You are interested in lift at the wand.

6. Air Flow: This will be measured in cubic feet (or centimeters) per minute. The more air flow, the better. Air flow is what carries the soil up into the bag or container.

7. Construction Material: The housing for the vacuum might be anything from an inexpensive brittle plastic to a polished chrome. You are interested more in total weight, durability and ease of maintenance than in the appearance.

8. Air Filtration: The cheapest systems have a cloth bag that has to be dumped, cleaned regularly and replaced since it becomes saturated with dust. Better units will have two to four stage filtration systems with throw away paper filter bags down to .3 micros or less to reduce dust.

9. Ergonomics: The weight of the machine, handle construction, wheels or rollers if an upright unit, length of cord and maneuverability are all factors that impact the decision for utilizing a unit. A full vacuum cleaner can weigh 20-40 pounds or more causing the user to stress the wrists and arms. Note that a back pack wand weighs ounces and if used correctly exercises the hips rather than the wrists.

10. Total Cost of Ownership: The real cost of a vacuum cleaner is how fast can the operator perform their tasks effectively? Slower units may cost less initially to purchase but will cost many times more in lost productivity (labor plus benefits) over a 3-5 year period of operation. Durability and reparability are also important factors to consider.

There are many factors to consider in choosing the best vacuum cleaner for the job at hand. Invest the time to learn the strengths and weaknesses of each unit before committing.

Seeing Results With Green Cleaning Programs

This article was originally published in The Cleanest Image by Bald Guy Clean.

Green cleaning programs are being implemented in a variety of facilities, ranging from retail outlets and warehouses to schools and hospitals. But why? And, more so, what are facility managers seeing as result of them? The following article outlines five key results of green cleaning programs.

Health
By implementing cleaning programs, you will experience improved indoor air quality, slow the spread of illness and reduce the chances for exposure to toxic chemicals. By employing safer green procedures, less chemical residue is left on surfaces to promote the spread of germs and there are fewer air borne particles released that contaminate the air.

Appearance
Green cleaning programs actually remove more dirt if implemented and performed properly. Taking a step back and re-learning what clean really is, it will become apparent that the level of clean we have grown to accept is no longer acceptable. Green cleaning allows surfaces to be cleaned much more effectively. This improves the cleaning results as well as the appearance.

Reduced Surface Damage
Many traditional methods of cleaning, over time, actually damage the surfaces they are meant to maintain. Toxins and abrasives may remove soils but also cause long term and even permanent damage that can be costly to repair or replace. By reducing or eliminating harmful practices, and focusing on maintenance, the surfaces will last much longer.

Cost To Clean
Green practices are much more efficient. Accomplishing more, with less is at the heart of green cleaning programs. By directing effort toward better results, you are able to achieve a cleaner, healthier facilities, in less time. This is done by employing techniques that eliminate the use of wasteful and counter-productive cleaning products that in many cases can cause surfaces to be more difficult to clean.

Employee Morale
By being able to perform tasks more effectively, with less risk to yourself and the facility and actually see the positive results from your efforts, the morale of the staff will be improved. No one likes to do a bad job and given the know how to do a good job only makes performing the task more rewarding.

Floor Care Equipment Buyers Place Ease-of-use Over Price

This article was originally published in Sanitary Maintenance. 

Is price the most important factor when selecting floor care equipment? According to a recent article published in Sanitary Maintenance, the answer is no. Read below for more information. 

Even though 95 percent of survey respondents indicated price was important, cost alone is not enough to sway a purchasing decision. In fact, custodial managers interviewed for this article agreed price is vital when making a major machinery purchase; however, they also indicated that the cost of floor care equipment is not as significant as its level of performance.

“Price is important, but effectiveness and efficiency is also very important,” says Dumouchel. “If two machines are within $1,000 of each other, for example, but the one with the higher price tag is more efficient and easier to use ergonomically, we would purchase that one over the cheaper one.”

Van Reeth, agrees: “Between price, performance and user friendliness, we would place a higher value on the performance of the equipment and the degree of user friendliness over price,” he says. “Price would probably only come into play if there were two different manufacturers that offered virtually identical products.”

Even though budget constraints may restrict floor care equipment purchases, facility managers warn against sacrificing quality for bargain prices. “You can pay today or you can pay tomorrow,” says John Vogelsang, facilities services director, Illinois Central College, East Peoria, Ill. “If the boss of the purchasing department says you have to buy the cheapest thing it’s our job to tell him what we want the machine to do and write those specifications. We have to prove to our bosses that buying a cheap machine will cost them in the long run.”

Best Practices for VCT Tile

How do you brighten dull and stained VCT tile?

Brightening stained tiles is usually accomplished through use of specific chemicals. For example, there are special spray buff products designed to be used with floor machines that can help bring back shine or remove stains from VCT tile. In addition to the chemical angle you can also use autoscrubbers that can remove embedded dirt and discoloration by removing the top layers of finish from your floor.

Typically the dullness and staining is embedded only in the top layers so by removing these dirty layers of finish you can apply a two to three new coats and return your floor to a much better appearance. In cases where the stain has penetrated deep in to the floor finish a chemical strip out may be required.

Innovative Cleaning

This article was originally published on the Cleaning Hygiene Today. 

 

Cleaning a food manufacturing facility may, at the outset, sound like a fairly straightforward process. Cleaning is, after all, a science.

However in planning a cleaning program, care must be taken to properly match particular machinery or types of soil with the correct cleaning methodology and materials, as this can have a significant impact on the quality, speed, and cost of cleaning. Additionally, and often overlooked, the delivery of cleaning must be managed effectively. With the needs of all factories being fluid, changing seasonally or even week-by-week, it’s clear that there is also more than a little art in the science of cleaning.

As the traditional approach to cleaning, the sequential method seems intuitive and follows a simple workflow pattern: Remove debris, rinse surfaces, apply detergent, rinse again and finish with sanitiser. This method seems to be the most logical way of cleaning, everything being done a stage at a time by a group of cleaners all working together, making it easy to supervise and monitor how the clean is progressing. The sequential format is often referred to as ‘legacy cleaning’ – procedures that have always been carried out in the same way as they are seen to work effectively. Is this a case of ‘if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it’ – or is there a more efficient solution?

When cleaning in a convoy, as in the sequential method, a team can only work as fast as the slowest member. In addition, a rigid and highly structured approach such as this can mean a team lacks the flexibility required to respond to short-term needs or crises. Finally, there may be an unintended consequence – it is very easy to find a sequential team cleaning an area of piece of equipment that does not need cleaning, simply because it is on the schedule.

The traditional approach does have many strengths and is indeed the most appropriate option in specific cases; for example when a factory or process shuts down sequentially and each processing area becomes available for cleaning as the product moves through the system. However with extended or continuous production, it is necessary to combine elements of legacy cleaning with a more flexible approach that balances food safety with economy – equipment must be cleaned when necessary, and not before.

Read the full article here to learn more about cluster cleaning and event cleaning. 

As the traditional approach to cleaning, the sequential method seems intuitive and follows a simple workflow pattern: Remove debris, rinse surfaces, apply detergent, rinse again and finish with sanitiser. This method seems to be the most logical way of cleaning, everything being done a stage at a time by a group of cleaners all working together, making it easy to supervise and monitor how the clean is progressing. The sequential format is often referred to as ‘legacy cleaning’ – procedures that have always been carried out in the same way as they are seen to work effectively. Is this a case of ‘if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it’ – or is there a more efficient solution?
When cleaning in a convoy, as in the sequential method, a team can only work as fast as the slowest member. In addition, a rigid and highly structured approach such as this can mean a team lacks the flexibility required to respond to short-term needs or crises. Finally, there may be an unintended consequence – it is very easy to find a sequential team cleaning an area of piece of equipment that does not need cleaning, simply because it is on the schedule.
The traditional approach does have many strengths and is indeed the most appropriate option in specific cases; for example when a factory or process shuts down sequentially and each processing area becomes available for cleaning as the product moves through the system. However with extended or continuous production, it is necessary to combine elements of legacy cleaning with a more flexible approach that balances food safety with economy – equipment must be cleaned when necessary, and not before.
- See more at: http://www.chtdata.com/2013/07/24/the-art-of-innovative-cleaning/#sthash.nIr90cit.dpuf

 

Cleaning a food manufacturing facility may, at the outset, sound like a fairly straightforward process. Cleaning is, after all, a science.
However in planning a cleaning programme, care must be taken to properly match particular machinery or types of soil with the correct cleaning methodology and materials, as this can have a significant impact on the quality, speed, and cost of cleaning. Additionally, and often overlooked, the delivery of cleaning must be managed effectively. With the needs of all factories being fluid, changing seasonally or even week-by-week, it’s clear that there is also more than a little art in the science of cleaning.
- See more at: http://www.chtdata.com/2013/07/24/the-art-of-innovative-cleaning/#sthash.nIr90cit.dpuf

Cleaning a food manufacturing facility may, at the outset, sound like a fairly straightforward process. Cleaning is, after all, a science.
However in planning a cleaning programme, care must be taken to properly match particular machinery or types of soil with the correct cleaning methodology and materials, as this can have a significant impact on the quality, speed, and cost of cleaning. Additionally, and often overlooked, the delivery of cleaning must be managed effectively. With the needs of all factories being fluid, changing seasonally or even week-by-week, it’s clear that there is also more than a little art in the science of cleaning.
- See more at: http://www.chtdata.com/2013/07/24/the-art-of-innovative-cleaning/#sthash.nIr90cit.dpuf

Is Your Cleaning Method Really 'Green'?

This article was originally published on the Cleaning & Maintenance Management. 

'Green' cleaning is a prominent trend in the cleaning industry. In fact, according to Stephen Ashkin, president of The Ashkin Group who is considered the leading advocate for green cleaning in the professional cleaning industry, most facilities, probably more than 80 percent, are selecting green cleaning tools and equipment and incorporating green cleaning strategies.

That being said, there are many green cleaning methods out there, but which ones are truly considered to be 'green'?

A few green cleaning myths are included below. To read about all of them, read the full article. 

Myth: All green products perform alike.

Fact: Green cleaning products are not all the same. Like other cleaning products, some perform better than others, some work better on certain surfaces than others and so on. It is best to try the products first and compare them with others before making a final selection.

Myth: All green certifications are the same.

Fact: While many of the certification organizations use similar standards and criteria, they are not all the same and some products certified by one organization may not earn certification with another. It is best to select a certification organization that is well-known and widely respected, and then look for the products they have certified.

Myth: Cleaning with green products usually takes more time.

Fact: While this may have been true years ago, this is not true today. However, cleaning professionals are advised to try different green products, just as they would conventional cleaning chemicals, and select those that perform most effectively for them.

ec-H20 Claims Still Being Challenged

According to a recent article published by the Pioneer Press at Twincities.com, Tennant Co.’s ecH20, also known as “electrified water”, has received heavy criticism from the company’s competitors. In fact, competitors in Europe, including Alfred Karcher & Co. and Nilfisk-Advance, have taken their argument against the technology to the court, with legal or regulatory decisions against Tennant in three countries and a fourth set for the future.

However, even with the controversy in full swing, Tennant stands by its technology and plans to appeal any court decisions. The controversy started in 2008 when Tennant first introduced ec-H20 and claimed that the water is electrically charged by equipment inside the scrubber. Through this electric activation, Tennant claims the water is converted into an environmentally clean cleaning agent, which enables the water to act like a detergent.

These claims caused suspicion among competitors who said that Tennant’s advertisements about its ec-H20 technology were “misleading.” To date, the company’s technology has been challenged several times, including by a regional court in Germany, the British Advertising Standards Authority and the National Advertising Division of the Better Business Bureau (BBB) in the U.S.

The Germany court found several of Tennant's advertisements about its ec-H2O technology "misleading." That included claims that the ec-H2O process "activates water to perform like a powerful detergent," and that it "makes its own powerful cleaner." This decision required Tennant to change its advertising. The BBB’s advertising division and the British authority both found Tennant’s claims to be inadequately supported by the evidence in comparative tests and recommended that the claims be discontinued. However, as these are self-regulating agencies, these decisions are nonbinding.

Tennant’s competitors are not giving up so easily though, and now a Belgium court will challenge the claims.

To learn more about the rulings and ec-H20 claims, read the full article here.

How to Brighten Dull and Stained VCT Tile

Brightening stained tiles is usually accomplished through use of specific chemicals. For example, there are special spray buff products designed to be used with floor machines that can help bring back shine or remove stains from VCT tile. In addition to the chemical angle you can also use autoscrubbers that can remove embedded dirt and discoloration by removing the top layers of finish from your floor.

Typically the dullness and staining is embedded only in the top layers so by removing these dirty layers of finish you can apply a two to three new coats and return your floor to a much better appearance. In cases where the stain has penetrated deep in to the floor finish a chemical strip out may be required.

Best Practices for Removing Stains

This article was originally published on the CRI Blog. 

There are many ways to go about removing carpet stains; some people turn to sprays and treatments, while others turn to floor equipment. However, there are lot of rumored "dos and don'ts" in the carpet stain world.

Recently, Best Pick Reports wrote and article to dispel these myths and provide some great advice for stain removal and carpet maintenance.

Conventional Wisdom #1: Scrubbing Stains

The tendency is to think that vigorous agitation is the best way to attack any stain, but scrubbing is very bad for carpets. Rubbing at the stain will often cause it to embed even more deeply in the carpet fibers. When the carpet’s texture is roughed up by scrubbing or by using a stiff brush on it, McPherson points out, the fibers in that area will never return to normal.

Best Practice #1: Blotting Stains

By blotting instead of scrubbing, you are using the wicking action of liquid to gently pull the stain out. Blot with a towel to remove the stain and the carpet fibers will maintain their form.

Conventional Wisdom #2: Cleaning Solutions

There’s a world of home carpet cleaning products on the market, but their value as a permanent solution to carpet stain woes is questionable. Most of the common products we buy for cleaning purposes are simply too alkaline. That’s often the reason that carpets seem to resoil in exactly the same spots that were cleaned.

Best Practice #2: Plain Water

Surprisingly, water by itself is highly recommended as a tool for fighting both stains and the residue resulting from consumer carpet cleaning solutions. Additionally, rinsing with plain water after using a carpet cleaner will neutralize the alkaline residue and prevent resoiling. Just be sure to avoid overwetting the carpet, and dry the area thoroughly.

Conventional Wisdom #3: No Shoes on the Carpet

We all know those people who are fanatical about having shoes removed when anyone enters the house. However, dry soil, like that tracked in from outdoors, creates abrasion. When it’s constantly ground into the carpet by walking back and forth, it wears on the fibers and can leave the carpet more vulnerable to staining after a short time. 

Best Practice #3: No Bare Feet, Either!

While it might seem that taking shoes out of the equation is the way to go, having bare feet in regular contact with the carpet poses its own problem. Oil-based soils are the most difficult to get out of carpet. For walking around at home, McPherson suggests clean white socks as the best foot covering.

Finish Flaws: Avoid Common Wood Floor Finish Failures

This article was originally published in Hardwood Floors.

It's crucial to be confident in understanding what the realistic expectations are for a site-finish wood floor and translate that confidence to your customer. Have you ever had a customer tell you there’s a problem and you need to come see it at a certain time of day when the sun hits it from a certain angle with your head cocked to one side just right? Per our industry standards, this perceived “problem” that needs to be viewed under specific conditions may not necessarily be a problem at all. It’s unrealistic to think a site-finished floor will end up looking like furniture or cabinets. It’s also unrealistic to think the finish on furniture or cabinets will perform the same as wood floor finishes. We don’t walk on furniture and we don’t (usually) eat on our wood floors. These finishes are manufactured to perform for different purposes and are applied using different methods; therefore the final results for wood floor coatings are completely different from cabinets or furniture.

When assessing wood floor finish issues, the standard is to evaluate the floor under these conditions:

• The floor should be observed from a standing position on the floor being assessed.
• The evaluation must be conducted with ambient lighting, meaning the general illumination present in the room. As contractors we need to take into account what the lighting situation is specific to the job we’re on, whether that includes a big window or a row of can lights, and adjust our methods accordingly. 
• Glare from direct light sources must not be used during evaluation. You can’t introduce new lighting sources or wait until a certain time of the day to be able to evaluate the problem. 

Before you start the job, paint a picture for the customers of what to expect during the project and, more importantly, when the job is done. This opening conversation with your customer is extremely important and will ultimately affect how your entire job will flow. They need to know ahead of time that wood floor finish is designed to be walked on and that it will not look or perform like their kitchen table. Once your customer understands the complexity of applying finish in an uncontrolled environment and the potential unexpected pitfalls we can endure at the time of application or during dry times, they will better accept minor inconsistencies in the finished product.

Read the rest of the article here to learn about common problems and how to fix them.

How to Add "Green" to the Bottom Line

For the past few years, the topic of sustainability and the green movement have taken a back seat to the economy. Even though customers understood the value of being an environmental steward and purchasing with a “green” intent, saving money trumped saving the environment. In other words, a sustainable green message temporarily was lost. The key word is temporary. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified homes, products with the Green Seal of Approval, hybrid and electric automobiles, alternative energy solutions, recycling initiatives, water conservation strategies, among other sustainable solutions, are again making their way back into the news.

Rental houses have an opportunity to take advantage of green in a couple of product areas, including renting floor equipment that is designed to have a minimal impact on the environment. “Green is not a fad,” says Paul Albrecht, national account manager for Clarke Equipment. “The rental market usually follows what has become popular in professional applications. Hospitals and school districts especially are continually buying more products that are green, which means rental houses will likely see an increased demand in the same way.”

Floor equipment manufacturer Clarke offers green solutions for both homeowner and commercial customers. Albrecht highlights three products as examples.

“Our Focus II Boost Auto Scrubber reduces water and chemical consumption by up to 70 percent over traditional disc scrubbers,” Albrecht explains. “A unique scrubbing head cleans with an aggressive, tight orbit that doesn’t sling water. Using less water and chemicals is not only good for the environment, it also increases run time and saves on labor required to dump and refill the tank.” A low sound level, only 65 dB(A), adds to the unit’s environmentally friendly features.

“Introduced six years ago, this auto scrubber is ideally suited for commercial use in schools, universities, hospitals and gymnasiums,” says Albrecht. “The 20-inch model is ideal for rental houses; it can do both large and small areas, is easily transportable, and runs three hours on a battery charge.”

Clarke’s BEXT Pro 100H portable carpet extractor features the Carpet & Rug Institute’s (CRI) seal of approval for carpet extraction, which comes with LEED endorsement and the Green Seal Standard for Commercial and Institutional Cleaning Services (GS-42). The unit cleans with 212-degree F heated water and can be used without soap, which lends to its green attraction. As Albrecht points out, the hot water sanitizes the carpet while cleaning 40 percent better than cold water.

The third product on his sustainable list is the company’s line of dust containment vacuums that can be attached to all Clarke sanders. “The vacuums eliminate the dust when performing a wide range of sanding jobs,” says Albrecht. “Four models are available, including a backpack model for small sanding jobs and three tank models.” An optional H.E.P.A. filter can be installed to meet federal regulations when sanding surfaces that may contain lead-based finish.

Read the full article here to learn more.

Seeking Higher Green Cleaning Standards In The Professional Cleaning Industry

This article was originally published in Cleaning Maintenance & Management.

Those in the professional cleaning industry often hear from clients that their facilities “look even better” after making the switch to a green cleaning program. While customers may attribute this improvement to using green cleaning chemicals, janitorial service providers believe there’s something else going on. The detailed training protocol that is a part of a comprehensive green cleaning program often results in cleaning staff learning new and more effective ways to perform tasks, leading to a cleaner, healthier facility overall.

This outcome demonstrates an idea that green cleaning advocates have been promoting for years: green cleaning means much more than just the use of environmentally preferable products; it involves proper green cleaning equipment, processes and procedures, communication and training as well.

In keeping with this view, Green Seal, a leading not-for-profit certification organization, has developed an industry standard for commercial and institutional cleaning services. Green Seal designed this standard (GS-42) with the goal of protecting the health of janitorial workers, building occupants and the environment. Service providers certified to the standard, including private cleaning companies and in-house custodial workers, have met specific, rigorous and science-based criteria that ensure cleaning excellence. In addition, GS-42 calls for stringent oversight of cleaning operations after workers have completed the appropriate training.

The standard mandates follow-up visits by Green Seal, ensuring workers are continuing to perform the correct green cleaning procedures and processes as required by the standard. In many ways, this operations review is similar to the periodic audits Green Seal performs to confirm that, for example, manufacturers continue to produce their green cleaning chemicals adhering to the criteria that originally earned the products their certification. Along with detailing a very comprehensive training program, GS-42 also specifies that, to maintain compliance, certified professionals use only environmentally-preferable cleaning products.

Other requirements of the standard include, but are not limited to, the following.

Standard Operating Procedures: All cleaning service providers must develop and maintain a set of written guidelines that govern all cleaning processes, chemical handling and tracking requirements, equipment maintenance, operational procedures and reporting and recordkeeping practices.

Building-Specific Green Cleaning Plans: Cleaning service providers must create building-specific green cleaning plans that comprehensively describe the methods by which they will effectively clean a facility, while also protecting human health and the environment.

Floorcare Procedures: Cleaning service providers must develop and implement a floor maintenance plan consistent with manufacturers’ maintenance recommendations. This plan should extend the life of flooring through routine, periodic and restorative cleaning, with the goal of minimizing floor refinishing cycles, as refinishing is often the most environmentally harmful floorcare task.

Approved Equipment Selection: Vacuum cleaners and carpet extraction equipment must meet the minimum approval standards of the Carpet and Rug Institute’s Seal of Approval program.

Training Considerations: All cleaning workers must receive “best practices” training regarding the proper handling of chemicals, the proper use and maintenance of capital equipment and proper cleaning procedures.

Not only does this training help protect the health of the cleaning worker, but following green cleaning practices can also result in a significant reduction of indoor air pollutants when compared to using conventional cleaning processes. Because the professional cleaning industry tends to have high employee turnover, the standard recognizes the importance of and requires the training on proper cleaning procedures for all new workers.

This training should include teaching the proper sequencing of cleaning steps and the proper use of personal protective equipment. To comply with the standard, employers must provide this training before a new employee can begin work.

Read the full article here to learn more.

Top Five Dirtiest Areas in a Restaurant

This article was originally published on Clean Link. 

 Popular user-review websites such as Yelp have put diners in the driver’s seat when it comes to identifying restaurant issues. Contributing more than 39 million reviews, “Yelpers” can make or break a restaurant’s reputation, frequently identifying issues with poor service, food quality or cleanliness. To help restaurants maintain a positive online reputation, Cintas Corporation released what online reviewers have identified as five of the top dirtiest areas in a restaurant.

According to popular online review sites, the top five dirtiest areas in a restaurant include:

1. Floors. One of the first things patrons see when they walk into a restaurant is the floor. According to a recent consumer poll, a dirty floor could lead 68 percent of customers to immediately exit the facility — never to return. From dirt and debris to discolored grout lines and carpet stains, several different factors can make a restaurant floor “dirty.”

One reviewer of a major restaurant chain located in Chicago reported: “[This restaurant] has the appearance of being clean due to style, but is actually pretty dirty. The floor has crumbs and dirt all over it, for example.”

To combat dirt and stains, implement a floor care program that focuses on deep cleaning, protecting and maintaining floor surfaces. Whether restaurant floors are covered by carpet or ceramic tiles, a floor care program that involves these three steps and uses mats to contain dirt will keep surfaces clean over an extended period of time, ensuring that your guests think “clean” when they look down.

2. Restrooms. Reports of dirt and debris, unflushed toilets, under-stocked paper goods and general malodors are frequent occurrences within online restaurant reviews. In fact, some users avoid restrooms – or the restaurant – altogether because of restroom filth. A reviewer of a Washington D.C.-based Chinese restaurant stated, “I had to use the restroom, but was too scared just from a glimpse of one of them.”

To prevent this scenario, implement an ongoing restroom care program that not only ensures that restrooms are always properly stocked, but that they are also regularly deep cleaned. In addition to daily maintenance, integrate a deep cleaning program to remove organic soils that regular mops and brushes can’t remove, but can cause odors.

3. Tables. Remnants from meals, displaced napkins and general dirt left on and around tables can make guests feel unwelcome or leave them with a negative impression of the restaurant. This is what prevented a reviewer of a Miami-based fast food Mexican restaurant from giving the restaurant a better rating. He noted, “I would have given four stars, but I noticed a few tables were dirty and the little bar at which we sat I had to clean myself prior to sitting down.”

To avoid giving guests a “bad taste” in your restaurant, designate a porter to handle front of the house cleaning issues, such as dirty tables or drink spills. From removing trash to spraying down tables with a general purpose cleaner, this individual’s primary responsibility should be to keep the dining room clean and ready for guests.

4. Staff. Unkempt staff can be an immediate turn-off to restaurant patrons. From uniform stains to poor personal grooming, the appearance of restaurant employees can be an indicator of the restaurant’s overall commitment to cleanliness. For example, a reviewer of a major upscale steak house chain in New York City noted, “His uniform was kind of dirty and I didn't want to imagine if the restaurant was cleaned or not.”

In addition to enforcing good personal hygiene, ensure that staff members are dressed in an apparel program that reflects the brand standard of the restaurant. When a new employee begins work, fit them for correct sizing and immediately remove stained or worn uniforms from operation.

5. Kitchen. For restaurants that open the kitchen to guest viewing or those that operate behind closed doors, kitchen cleanliness is imperative in any foodservice operation. Reviewers will be the first to applaud kitchen cleanliness or highlight issues. A reviewer of a Chinese restaurant in Seattle noted, “I took off one star for this place because I sat near the entry to their kitchen once … I saw how dirty it was.”

From prep areas to floors, keep kitchen surfaces clean and odor free by sanitizing regularly and deep cleaning on a regular basis. In addition, a drain line maintenance program can help reduce odors emanating from restaurant drains and limit food sources for insects such as fruit flies, which can indicate a lack of attention to cleanliness.

Read the full article here to learn more. 

Versatile, Rugged Sweeper

Designed to be rugged and versatile, Clarke’s BSW 28 Sweeper has the performance for both hard floors and carpets. Featuring a 28-inch sweeping path, gel batteries, self propelled traction and an active side broom, the BSW 28 sweeps even the smallest debris and dust from the walls edge. The BSW 28 is very quiet and allows sweeping in noise sensitive areas.
Features include:

• On-board charger
• Active filtered dust control
• Self propelled power traction
• Side broom for complete edge sweeping
• Large hopper capacity
• Gel battery power source
• Great for carpets and hard floor applications

The DOI (Distinctness of Image) Difference for Floors

This article was originally published in Facilities Management Magazine.

We've heard it many times: One of the first things people notice upon entering a facility is the floor, and if those floors aren't shiny and clean, it reflects poorly on the facility. In addition to potential health risks, dirty floors can give visitors a negative image of a business or facility's overall operations while clean, well maintained floors create a positive first impression. One way building owners and operators can improve customer perception of their facilities is to ensure their floors have a high distinctness of image (DOI).

What is DOI?

DOI is best defined as the measure of how crisply and sharply an image is reflected from a surface, indicating the clarity of a reflection seen in the floor. DOI is gaining popularity and quickly becoming the new measure of floor restoration, protection, and maintenance quality. It should not be confused with other measures like gloss, haze, and RSpec measurement.

Gloss. The most popular term used to describe the appearance of a floor's surface is gloss. Gloss refers to shine or light reflection and causes surfaces to have a polished or lustrous, metallic appearance. Many factors can affect gloss, including the maintenance materials used, condition of the flooring, and frequency of polishing. For customers, gloss has been one of the most important aspects of visual perception.

To measure a floor's gloss, a meter projects a beam of light onto the floor and measures the amount of light reflected back in a narrow angle range centered at an equal but opposite angle. The amount of light measured in this angle range is used to calculate gloss. However, the clarity of a reflected image is dependent on the spread of light within the measured angle range. If light is predominantly at the center of the range, the image will be crisp and clear. Light spread more evenly across the entire angle range will result in a blurry image. Thus, the amount of reflected light measured on two different floors might be the same but have a much different distribution across the measurement. So two floors with an equal gloss could have very different appearances.

This is why traditional gloss measurements alone don't always equate to a favorable customer perception.

Haze. This is the milky halo or "bloom" on a floor adjacent to the reflected image. If you place a high light source on a surface and the reflection image blooms and creates a blurry halo, the surface is considered high haze. Haze is an important measure for highly polished surfaces. Higher haze values indicate lower quality and can be caused by dirt or oil contamination creating a rough surface. If the surface or coating is not completely smooth, the reflection of light or image is scattered, broadening the specular gloss.

Floor maintenance professionals strive for a low haze value, which is seen to have a deep reflection and high-reflected contrast. Hence, haze is a common measurement of maintenance quality. Yet while haze affects the clarity and reflection of surfaces, it is only one aspect of surface quality and doesn't measure the overall floor's appearance.

RSpec. Peak specular reflectance (RSpec) is the peak gloss value of a surface. It is the gloss measured only at the specular angle and is the peak gloss reading. Specular gloss is the reflection of an object on a perfectly smooth surface, such as a mirror, in which the reflection is sharp and clear. Of course, if a surface is not perfectly smooth, it scatters the reflection of the light beam and broadens specular gloss.

RSpec is limited in measuring the true appearance of a surface because it only represents the peak gloss value. It does not take into account the distribution of light around the specular angle.

DOI takes this distribution into account, and therefore is an accurate measure of the clarity of the reflected image.

Read the full article here to learn how to measure DOI and how to achieve high DOI.

Attack Tough Carpet Stains

The Bext® Pro features a simple clam shell design, which permits easy component access and maintenance, while a 13 gallon solution tank enables you to tackle large jobs or easily maneuver in compact areas. Equipped with exclusive circuit finder technology on heated models, the Bext Pro easily identifies when the machine is plugged into separate circuits. The Bext Pro also offers self-contained storage for the power cord and a compartment for detergent bottles, hand tools and other cleaning accessories—providing increased cleaning convenience.

What You Can Learn About Job Satisfaction From a Janitor

This article was originally published on Inc.com. 

What’s the worst job in the world?

Answers certainly differ based on personal preference. But cleaning up after hospital patients would surely be towards the top of most people’s lists. So what could janitors possibly have to teach entrepreneurs about career satisfaction?

A fascinating recent study uncovered a surprising answer.

Amy Wrzesniewski, now a professor at the Yale School of Management, had the radically simple idea of talking to the custodial staff at a hospital in detail about their jobs to discover what strategies they might employ to find satisfaction in their admittedly low-skilled, low-paid jobs. The wisdom she uncovered should serve to humble anyone who has ever made the error of thinking of those who work in the profession with condescension or not at all.

Turns out, they have much to teach even the most high-flying professionals about maximizing career satisfaction. The essence of this wisdom, author David Zax reports, is the idea of "job crafting." That doesn’t mean changing your work, it means carefully crafting how you think about your work. Some of the custodial staff, he reports,

Felt their labor was highly skilled, they described the work in “rich relational terms,” says Wrzesniewski, talking about their interactions with patients and visitors. Many of them reported going out of their way to learn as much as possible about the patients whose rooms they cleaned, down to which cleaning chemicals were likely to irritate them less. “It was not just that they were taking the same job and feeling better about it, pulling themselves up by their bootstraps and whistling. It was that they were doing a different job.”

This second, happier group didn’t see themselves as custodial workers at all. One described forming such a bond with patients that she continued to write letters to some of them after they were discharged. Another paid attention to which patients seemed to have few visitors or none at all, and would make sure to double back to spend some time with them... What these workers were doing, Wrzesniewski came to realize, was quietly creating the work that they wanted to do out of the work that they had been assigned -- work they found meaningful and worthwhile. Wrzesniewski and her colleagues call this practice “job crafting,” and they think it could be the key to happiness in all sorts of jobs.

The idea of job crafting is available to everyone, Wrzesniewski believes. Though there are obviously times you should quit a terrible job, the impulse to always look for the perfect career situation rather than try to find ways to thrive in your current one and connect with the value of the work you already do, makes a lot of people unnecessarily miserable.

Clarke Focus® II MicroRider™ Scrubber

The Clarke Focus® II MicroRider™ is a small, easily maneuverable machine that is designed to clean the areas that are inaccessible with larger riders—including those with limited access or tight corners. Yet, with a 26 or 28 inch deck, the Focus II MicroRider offers a wide cleaning path for maximum productivity in your larger cleaning areas.

IICRC and NFSI Partner to Prevent Slips and Falls

This article was originally published in Clean Link.

The Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC), an international nonprofit organization for the inspection, cleaning and restoration industries, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the National Floor Safety Institute (NFSI). As part of the recently approved MoU, the partnership will allow both organizations to collaborate and raise awareness about the connection between floor care, cleanliness and safety.

“We found that the high caliber of education and standard development the NFSI promotes aligns well with the mission of the IICRC,” says Darrell Paulson, IICRC chairman. “Through the common goal of improving floor safety, the new MoU will benefit our certified firms, registrants, instructors and the floor care industry as a whole.”

Through the memorandum, the IICRC and the NFSI will maintain a working relationship which will involve the constant exchange of industry knowledge between organization executives. As part of the agreement, both organizations will also work to promote each other’s awareness and education initiatives. Each year, the NFSI and IICRC will meet to discuss the progress of the MoU to ensure it is meeting both parties’ objectives and goals.

“We are excited to work with a globally-recognized standard-setting and certification organization like the IICRC,” says Russell Kendzior, president of the NFSI. “The partnership will help both organizations further their reach into the floor care industries and continue to improve floor safety awareness and education.”

Clarke Vantage 17 Autoscrubber® Delivers Maximum Cleaning Productivity for Small-Area Applications

The new Clarke  Vantage 17 compact autoscrubber® is ideal for small-area cleaning applications. With a highly maneuverable design and wide 17-inch scrub path, the Vantage 17 provides a reliable, cost-efficient cleaning alternative to labor-intensive mops and buckets and high-priced, large automatic scrubbers.

The Vantage 17 maximizes cleaning productivity with a unique center-pivot squeegee system. Employing a gas spring for optimal blade pressure, the squeegee system can effectively pick up solution in both forward and reverse in just one pass—leaving the floors clean, dry and ready for foot traffic faster than alternative solutions. Equipped with a large 8.2-gallon solution tank and 7.7-gallon recovery tank, the Vantage 17 can operate for up to two hours on a single tank.

To satisfy green cleaning initiatives, the Vantage 17 operates at a low sound level of only 67 dB A to meet LEED-EB and GS-42 noise standards. This also enables daytime cleaning or cleaning of noise-sensitive areas. For enhanced sustainability, the Vantage 17 is available with maintenance-free gel batteries and an onboard charger to eliminate spills and noxious gas emissions associated with wet-acid batteries.

The Vantage 17 is ideal for a wide range of applications, including but not limited to schools and universities, hospitals and healthcare facilities, grocery, retail outlets, convenience stores and restaurants.

Tips For Removing Gum and Adhesives from Carpets

This article was originally published in Clean Link.

Spring’s here, and that means many commercial facilities will be cleaning their carpeting. It also means that gum, adhesives, and similar soiling that found their way onto carpets now need to come out.

Removing this type of soiling can be a challenge. Even when it appears that gum or adhesives have been removed, they sometimes reappear a few days later. This is because some of the sticky residue remains in the carpet.

To remove gum and adhesive residue from carpets, read the following suggestions:

• Scrape: Scrape off as much of the gum/adhesive as possible. Freezing the gum and “chipping” it off is also an option.
• Heat: After scraping the matter from the carpet, a sticky residue usually remains. Often this can be removed with hot-water carpet extraction or steam vapor applied over an absorbent towel (the residue transfers to the towel).
• Chemicals: Either a non-volatile dry solvent, a volatile dry solvent, or a gel solvent can be used to remove any remaining residue. Allow for dwell time, and then agitate the area using a scraper. This works the solvent into the residue. Rinse with hot water and detergent.

Other options include placing a paper towel directly on the adhesive. Then place a clean cloth over the paper towel and iron over it until all the adhesive is lifted onto the paper towel. Sometimes applying a cloth soaked in water and vinegar and placing it on the problem area overnight may also remove the adhesive.