A lot of commercial properties and retail spaces rely on carpeting to provide a sense of warmth and comfort, while also helping to present a professional appearance to guests, employees, or clients who visit. Of course, these carpets also take on a lot of foot traffic, as well as the seasonal impact from things like salt and melted snow being tracked in on shoes. These simple everyday accidents can lead to stains, wear spots, and discoloration.
It’s also worth noting that a lot of the carpets found in office buildings and commercial properties are glued down. This creates a much more secure base layer for the carpet, while also reducing the need for costly underlayment padding.
Of course, once you glue the carpet down it is very difficult to remove, which adds to the labor cost to replace a worn-out or poorly maintained carpet. This means that proper cleaning and long-term care of glued-down carpet will save you money by expanding its overall lifespan.
Considering the investment of glued-down carpeting, we decided it was time to look a little closer at the important details of this common commercial floor covering and the best ways to clean it.
Tips For Cleaning & Maintaining Glued Down Carpets
The following are some essential tips and techniques that will help clean and maintain the kind of glued-down carpet you find in a lot of commercial properties and professional office spaces. Using these strategies will go a long way toward extending the lifespan of your floor coverings while saving money against future replacement.
Vacuum Thoroughly
Whether you are talking about daily cleaning, weekly cleaning, or preparing the glued-down carpet for deep cleaning, you first need to get up every possible particle of dirt and dust from the surface of the dry carpet.
It’s best to use a high-quality vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter. This will prevent dust and other airborne particles from escaping the vacuum cleaner and being expelled elsewhere. The best HEPA vacuum filters are rated to capture 99.97% of particulates at the size of 0.3 microns.
The vacuum will then lift away particles of pollen, dander, dust mites, and other particulate matter while also removing potential airborne allergens from the area. Not only does this help keep the glued-down carpet clean, but it also helps to improve air quality for employees and guests who might happen to have allergies or other respiratory health issues.
Though it’s not just enough to casually pass a vacuum cleaner back and forth over high traffic areas of carpeting. You need to use a meticulous approach to vacuum every square inch of your glued-down carpet. Corners and low-traffic areas might not appear to be dirty or dusty, but particulate matter can still settle in them over time. This can make them hard to clean later on. Especially if the room in question has aerosol deodorizers or plug-in deodorizers which can produce an oily residue that traps dust and small particles like glue.
Apply A Pre-Spray Treatment To The Glued Down Carpet
This step serves as a pre-treater for tough stains, discolored spots, and other trouble areas on the carpeting. When pre-spraying the carpet it helps to break up and loosen things like grease, stains, ground-in soil, and other unwanted material that is potentially trapped in the carpet fibers. This helps release debris more easily when it’s time to deep clean the carpet.
Ideally, you want to apply the pre-spray immediately after completing a thorough vacuum. After applying you should wait around 10 to 15 minutes for the pre-spray solution to penetrate the fibers of the carpet.
For a particularly stubborn stain, you might want to use a handheld carpet brush to help work the pre-spray gently into the fibers. This can also help agitate grime and dirt so it releases easier.
Steam Clean The Carpet
There are a few different ways to steam clean a glued-down carpet. You should follow the manufacturer’s directions to the letter. This might call for using a detergent or applying a powdering agent. The goal is to get stuck on stains to release, while also loosening up dirt and grime that may have embedded itself in the carpet fibers.
Shampoo The Carpet
A glued-down carpet with unsightly dark stains that have set into the highly-traffic areas can be a real challenge to completely remove. For a situation like this, you need to use a commercial-grade pH seven shampoo to truly affect the discoloration. This is then used in conjunction with a rotary scrubber which will also help to remove any lingering foot patterns from the carpet.
Dry The Carpet Thoroughly
One of the nice things about glued-down carpets is that you don’t have to worry about any spongy absorbent underlayment. Though you still need to take measures to help dry it quickly and thoroughly. This will go a long way toward preventing dust buildup on the wet carpet fibers while also keeping the air fresh.
It is especially important for transition areas where people will be walking from the potentially wet carpet onto a tile floor. Any wetness that lingers on the bottom of shoes can lead to a serious slip and fall. Drying can be done with fans of professional-grade air movers. If possible, try to give the carpet a full weekend to dry completely before allowing people to walk on it again.
Conclusion
Routine cleaning and periodic deep cleaning three to four times a year will go a long way toward maintaining the appearance and extending the life of your building’s glued-down carpet. If you have access to commercial-grade carpet cleaning equipment and professional cleaning solutions, deep cleaning with steam and shampooing can be done by your building’s maintenance staff.
Though many commercial property managers find that it’s easier and more cost-effective to hire a professional company like Building Services Inc. to deep clean their building’s carpets. We offer janitorial services for seasonal deep cleaning, as well as routine daily or weekly floor cleaning as part of our diverse menu of services.
