For commercial facilities that operate 24/7—such as hotels, offices, and care homes—keeping carpets clean and well-maintained is both a significant opportunity and a constant challenge. How do you ensure your carpets look beautiful and stay in service around the clock, from high-traffic common areas to individual rooms and offices?
At Harpenden Cleaning, we understand the pressures faced by facility managers and executive housekeepers. The key is to move away from reactive cleaning and adopt a proactive, planned approach.
The Challenge of High-Traffic Areas
In commercial environments, the appearance of carpets in lobbies, hallways, and lower-floor entrances often suffers the most. The turnaround time for individual rooms, hospitality suites, and ballrooms is also critical, making traditional wet cleaning methods—with their long drying times—impractical.
A common mistake is cleaning carpets only after soil has built up and is visible. This reactive approach is not only inefficient but can also lead to issues like persistent odors and, in some cases, mold growth.
It’s important to remember that changing your flooring system doesn’t change the amount of dirt that enters your facility. The solution lies in a strategic maintenance plan that addresses dirt as it accumulates, ensuring your carpets perform at their best.
Our Planned Attack: The HOST Solution
So, where should a facility manager begin? The answer is to stop “cleaning the carpet” and start “dealing with the dirt.” This requires a planned, day-to-day maintenance strategy.
Here are our recommendations to make a significant, immediate difference in keeping your carpets clean and contributing to a healthy physical environment:
- Implement a Daily Routine: Train your staff to perform frequent, targeted cleaning in high-traffic areas. This includes daily spot removal and vacuuming to prevent dirt from becoming embedded.
- Use the Right Technology: Traditional wet cleaning methods can be disruptive, leading to long drying times and the potential for re-soiling.1 We use the HOST Dry Extraction Cleaning System, which allows for deep cleaning without the inconvenience of getting the carpet wet.2 This means carpets can be cleaned and put back into service immediately, a crucial benefit for any 24/7 operation.
- Schedule Regular Deep Cleans: A planned schedule of deep cleaning is essential. Instead of waiting for visible soiling, our system allows you to proactively clean common areas and rooms on a rotating basis, maintaining a consistently high level of cleanliness and appearance.
- Focus on Prevention: Invest in quality entrance mats to capture dirt at the door.3 Regularly cleaning these mats will significantly reduce the amount of soil that gets tracked onto your carpets.
By adopting a planned, proactive maintenance strategy with a dry cleaning system like HOST, you can achieve and maintain exceptional carpet performance, protect your investment, and ensure a clean, healthy environment for your staff and customers.
Looking for a professional partner for your commercial facility’s carpet care? Contact Harpenden Cleaning today to learn how our HOST system can transform your maintenance program.
