Holidays are an occasion when even carpeting in commercial or office building gets to take some time off. Even apartment buildings seeing less foot traffic, as everyone is coddled up in their homes, enjoying family time or binging on Netflix. But every experienced facility manager knows that this short break is actually a great chance to do some regular maintenance and cleanup, especially when it comes to carpets.
So, why not treat your carpet to some well-deserved pampering this holiday season? And while you are at it, hitch a ride on that New Year spirit and make it the best possible year for your carpet – by taking proper and regular care for it, ultimately making your life easier down the line. Here are some suggestions for resolutions you could – and should – be making right now, to ensure a great year for your carpet and many more such years to come!
Call the Pros
Spillages, pet accidents and other mishaps that result in stains are something you can deal with effectively – by calling professional cleaning services for help. We understand the urge to start blotting or rubbing the red wine from the lush carpeting in the executive office right away in the middle of the office party, because everyone is looking at you awkwardly and you have to do something about it right now… But resist it. Relax. Actually, time is not of the essence here, the damage has already been done and now you need to think smart and act really carefully in order for it to be repaired.
Being careful in this case means having access to professional-level equipment and efficient, environmentally friendly cleaners, as well as years of experience in their proper application on various types of stains and dirt. Which, in effect, means having professional carpet cleaners on call, ready to react in any messy situation, all year-round. Which brings us to the second resolution…
Resolution 2: Schedule Regular Cleaning
Having your carpet cleaned in regular intervals is a great tradition you could start this January. In order to extend your carpet’s life cycle and not void the manufacturer’s warranty, your carpet will need regular maintenance. The exact frequency of scheduled cleaning depends mostly on the type of facility and the frequency and type of usage the carpet gets, but it should present no problem for your carpet cleaning service providers to provide you with an appropriate plan for your exact needs.
Scheduling carpet cleaning is a must for any business, office or apartment building as well as any other location which has a high concentration of foot traffic. Carpeting in such locations gets much more use (and abuse) than in homes, so it needs a proportionally increased amount of care.
Having a contract with a professional carpet cleaning service will also ultimately mean more control over your budget. It is both an insurance against accidents and a surefire way to keep your carpet in good condition and maintain its appearance.
While we are on that subject, it should be noted that the appearance of carpeting in business or commercial environments is arguably more important than in homes. One reason is that it is an integral part of the image projected to both customers and employees. Even if the carpet does not seem dirty at first glance, there is always stuff that isn’t visible to the naked eye, like germs and tiny dust particles. This means that keeping your carpet clean is important not only for your organization’s image, but also for the well-being and health of all those who use it on a daily basis.
Resolution 3: Spread the Spirit to Office Furniture
Of course, the cleanliness and appearance of your facility does not depend solely on the floors and carpets. After all, furniture tends to play a significant part in most human habitats, we can vouch for the fact from experience. And furniture also needs cleaning, which is a fact that is surprisingly often overlooked.
Furniture comes in many shapes and sizes, but most office furniture and a good deal of other types of furniture come upholstered or covered in leather. These types of materials also fall under the provenance of your friendly local professional carpet cleaner and as such they should be included in your regular scheduled facility clean up. The professional-grade equipment and cleaning chemicals, when used by experienced pros, will do wonders for your entire facility and will help you provide the people using it with a friendlier and more welcoming environment – which also sounds like a great New Year’s resolution for a facility manager.
Resolution 4: Minimize Wear and Tear
It pains us to admit that not all carpeting challenges can be overcome by calling carpet cleaning services, no matter how professional they may be. Some of the damage your carpet will suffer will inevitably be simply due to the day-to-day stress every carpet at a frequent well-walked area must endure. Most spaces, especially those used for formal or business matters tend to have well-established areas where people congregate, by design or organically occurring, as well as less noticeable but no less established paths people take to get from one place to another. Given enough time, or to be more precise, enough thousands of steps trod on what are more or less the same lines, patches of rough material, bold spots, or darker lines – depending on the type of material the carpet is made of- will show up.
The only thing you can do about it is to occasionally rearrange the furniture or change the locations of key elements, it that is a possibility – that is, if your facility does not include things such as a bar or bar chairs, fixed tables or other fixtures. In that case your only option is to incentivize people to use different areas. The exact way to achieve that really depends on too many individual factors unique to your specific facility. But you could make your New Year’s resolution to try and think about how you could minimize wear and tear of your carpet and thus maximize its longevity.
