Wood floors give your business a softer look, adding a high-end ambiance that tile just can't touch. That beautiful wood finish comes with a caveat, however: The surface can be damaged more easily by careless cleaning crews. Teach your employees how to protect wood floors while they're cleaning, and you'll spend less time and money on repairing and refinishing.
The Problem with Dirt
Dirt will be tracked in by every person who walks through your door — there's no way to prevent it. The problem with dirt isn't that it's messy, it's that it contains sandy particles that can scratch the finish on your wood floor. People are unaware that they're grinding these invisible grains underfoot, but they can damage the floor, scratching away layers of protective finish, and even gouging into the wood itself. The best way to avoid this problem is to position floor mats at every doorway, and to have employees shake out the mats multiple times each day.
The Danger of Furnishings
Shelving units, tables, and even chairs have legs and feet that can scratch your wood floor's surface when you push them out of the way during the cleaning process. Cleaning around large objects in a room can take twice as long, so it's not an option in most cases. The best technique you can use is to affix felt pads to the bottom of every furniture leg in your business. These are round pieces of felt with an adhesive on one side. It's a matter of taking just a minute or two to stick pads on the bottom of each piece of furniture. Half an hour of work can save you dozens of hours (not to mention cash) in floor resurfacing.
The Trick to Safe Wood Floor Cleaning
Wet mops can pick up granules of sand and dirt and trap them in the mop strands. These granules will then scratch the surface of your wood floor as you mop. Dust mopping the floor before cleaning can help with this problem, but it's an extra step that wastes time. The best way to clean your wood floor is by using an autovac that will get your floors clean and dry while being gentle on the finish. A cleaning system like this eliminates the need for wet mopping and cleans the dirt particles from the wood floor without scraping them across the surface.
The wood floors in your business create a welcoming ambiance for your customers. Keeping the surface clean and unscratched is an important part of the aesthetic. To learn more about how to protect wood floors, click here.
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