The more active an office building, the dirtier its floors are bound to get. When multiple businesses share a building, however, maintenance needs can vary wildly from one office to the next. As such, those in charge of building maintenance must do their best to maintain comprehensive and consistent protocols while battling a highly variable situation day in and day out. Moreover, multi-use commercial spaces have a lot of ground to cover – literally. Without careful planning, thorough protocols, and proper equipment, commercial carpet care in these facilities can quickly become an uphill battle. Keep your multi-use office building’s carpets clean, safe, secure, and appealing by following the five steps listed below.

Five Steps for Proper Carpet Care for Your Multi-Use Office Building

1. Adhere to Different Schedules and Needs

As mentioned above, multi-use office buildings lack consistency. After all, every business within the building’s walls operates differently. One company might employ a small handful of people while another might feature several employees at a given time. Likewise, some businesses have a more rigid, stagnant operation with minimal movement, while other offices encourage rolling around on chairs, walking frequently, moving furniture, and more. The level and frequency of carpet care in a particular space is largely determined by its activity. Therefore, the commercial carpet cleaning services in charge of a multi-use office building must get to know how each business’ operates, including their number of employees, operating hours, and more. In doing so, these service providers can optimize cleaning protocols to accommodate every business in the building and keep every carpet in great shape.

2. Keep Outdoor Contamination from Entering

Carpets are soft, porous, and potentially charged, so they’ll accumulate dirt, dust, and debris no matter what you do. That said, you can greatly reduce how quickly a carpet gets dirty with some simple preventative measures. One of the best ways to ease the burden of commercial cleaning, in general, is to stop external materials from entering the building. It’s no secret that windows, doors, and screens aim to block pests, pollen, and air – however, a significant portion of dirt gets tracked in by shoes when an occupant enters the facility. These matters are made worse when it’s wet outside, whether from snow, ice, or rain. Keeping outdoor areas clean and providing walk-off mats at strategic locations will limit the amount of outdoor debris that makes its way inside.

3. Maintain Regular Floor Cleaning Protocols

A carpet doesn’t get utterly filthy all at once. Rather, carpets take on small amounts of dirt and dust over time. If you don’t remove these unwanted materials on a regular basis, however, these little problems stack up and become major eyesores (not to mention health and safety concerns). Every carpeted area in your multi-use office building requires regular cleaning, which often entails vacuuming at least twice weekly (some offices prefer daily vacuuming, or close to it). Of course, vacuuming can become disruptive due to its noise and the space it takes up. Therefore, most businesses prefer to tackle this important task at the end of the day after all employees have left the office. Those in charge of vacuuming may need to temporarily move furniture such as chairs, tables, and desks to reach all areas of the carpet in question.

4. Protect Carpets from Stains and Spills

Frequent vacuuming will take care of loose debris like dust and dirt particles, but liquid stains aren’t always so easy to remove. It’s best to prevent spills entirely – you might set a company policy to only allow water and other non-staining beverages and food products in the office. If these rules are too restrictive, make sure employees understand their responsibility to maintain clean personal spaces and take care of any spills immediately. Efficient and proper spot cleaning is key in preventing stains. You can further protect your office carpeting from stains and spills by placing waterproof mats near wet areas such as entrances, exits, water coolers, coffee stations, etc. Some high-end carpets feature waterproof protection, too. All of these efforts will mitigate stains on your carpet and facilitate commercial floor maintenance overall.

5. Schedule Periodic Deep Cleaning

Even if your company is relatively stringent when it comes to carpet care, the efforts described above aren’t enough to ensure your carpet’s long-term viability. Every carpet requires occasional deep cleaning to really get in there and remove deep-seated contaminants. Deep carpet cleaning can look different from one area to the next, but this process often includes high-powered vacuuming, shampooing, and steam cleaning. These various processes are facilitated by commercial carpet cleaning machines such as extractors and shampooers. Some modern deep cleaning devices are partially or fully automated, powered by artificial intelligence (AI). Read our previous blog, “How The Budd Group Implements Robotics for Commercial Carpet Care” for more on this topic. Details aside, the frequency of periodic deep cleaning will once again depend on your business’ level of activity as well as your carpet’s age and condition. Your business’ schedule must also be taken into account to minimize interference and maximize efficiency. Generally speaking, office buildings benefit from deep carpet cleaning every 6-12 months.

Multiple Carpets, Similar Needs

When you neglect your office’s carpets, every aspect of your business will suffer. Employees will become less productive due to poor indoor air quality (IAQ), your reputation will decline, and you’ll have to spend more time, money, and energy on floor maintenance than you would otherwise. Following the five steps mentioned here will ensure that your multi-use office building maintains clean, beautiful carpets no matter how many different businesses operate out of it. At The Budd Group, we have plenty of experience maintaining and enhancing large, multi-use properties – carpet care is just one of many of our specialties.

To learn more about our services and values, give us a call today at 800-221-8158!