Cleaning Floors & Windows

Whether you are cleaning your own home or starting a small business cleaning commercial space, knowing what kinds of cleaning products to use and how to schedule cleaning activities is important. Scheduling alone can be tricky since the more effective you are at what is known as “maintenance cleaning,” the less arduous heavy cleaning will be. Buying home cleaning supplies may not feel like a big challenge but cleaning supplies for commercial space may require additional research.

Establishing A “Maintenance Cleaning” Routine

When cleaning commercial space, both public and back office work space need to have daily attention although depending on use, it could be every few days. This typically includes sweeping or dusting of hard surface floors, vacuuming carpeted areas, and emptying trash cans. It also includes cleaning bathroom facilities, which typically involves washing floors, sinks, windows and mirrors.

Some space will not require daily scrubbing while other surfaces might, depending on how the building is used and by how many people. For small offices, the beginner will probably only need to wash floors on a weekly basis. You will need to monitor the amount of build-up over several weeks to establish a proper schedule. Once that is determined, develop both a maintenance cleaning routine and a heavier cleaning/scrubbing schedule to stay on top of the dirt.

What Equipment Is Needed?

Basic equipment you will need to keep floors clean will include brooms, mops, pails and disinfectants, along with a reliable burnisher such as the Pullman Holt 20 inch machine. Mop and broom options could include the Carlisle dust mop that comes in several sizes and the Carlisle push broom, also in different sizes and widths. The larger the broom or mop width, the greater the coverage area and the quicker you will finish the job. For washing hard floors, we recommend a wet-dry vacuum such as the 16 Gallon Dustless Vacuum.

For carpet cleaning, you will need to have a powerful vacuum cleaner and electric carpet shampooer. For shampooing, we suggest the Marvel Steam Cleaner using Shipp Carpet Cleaning chemicals and spot remover. You could also buy the Windsor Pro 4 and for smaller areas, the Windsor Presto 3 is excellent.

Flooring Aftercare

After washing or polishing hardwood or tile floors, little is needed in aftercare because the liquid detergents dry so quickly. Once dry, you may want to burnish the floor to create a crystal clear shine that sparkles. Shampooed carpeting is a different story, as it retains water in the fibers. After shampooing, you may want to extract more water. You can either use an extractor to remove the excess or use an industrial strength blower to dry the carpet faster. Equipsupply.com carries two sizes of carpet blowers: the Ventec 1200 cfm or 2500 cfm models.