Keeping Floors Clean, Safe Means Taking It to The Entrance Mat
Commercial facilities managers are in charge of keeping their facility in tip-top shape and a big part of maintenance is prevention. For carpet maintenance, it’s about finding an adequate entry mat: 12 to 15 feet for an office building or up to 20 or 25 feet for a grocery store or hospital to ensure soil is trapped and floors are kept safe.
Along with the size, it is important to:
• Evaluate the level of foot traffic entering your facility. Different mats are designed for different traffic loads.
• Select mats that are facility specific. Matting for an industrial facility might not necessarily be appropriate for an office building.
• Consider climate conditions. Different mats may need to be installed in order to deal with varying climate conditions.
• Be aware that entry matting works best when used as a system. Scraper mats should be placed directly outside the building with wiper/scraper mats placed in the entry area. Extra wiper mats inside the building may trap any remaining soils on shoe bottoms.
Finally, facility managers need to monitor the wear patterns on entrance mats. Excessive wear in one area may indicate the mats are not large enough. In general, the article states that, when considering entryway mats, more is usually better.
