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Top 5 Cleaning Mistakes Businesses Make (And How To Avoid Them)

Successful businesses understand the importance of a clean environment for both employees and customers. Although it may not seem like a difficult task, maintaining a cleanly appearance and hygienic space takes careful routine and commitment to keep your facility’s appearance at its best. Here are the top cleaning mistakes business owners make, and how you can avoid them.

Using the Wrong Cleaning Products

Invest in cleaning products that are appropriate for the surfaces they are being used on, and read the labels to ensure safety. Disinfect cleaning equipment regularly and be sure to replace any worn equipment for the best results.

Not Cleaning Frequently Enough

Establish a regular cleaning schedule that includes daily cleaning tasks, and weekly or monthly deep cleaning tasks. Consistency is key.

Not Following Instructions

Read product instructions carefully and train your employees on how to use each product and equipment. All employees who perform cleaning tasks should be consistent in performing their duties and using the correct materials for each task.

Overlooking Important Areas

Your daily cleaning routine should include wiping down high-touch surfaces, and using disinfectant cleaners to help reduce the spread of germs. In addition to cleaning your restrooms and kitchen daily, be sure to replenish supplies such as soap and toilet tissue to avoid running out. Regularly change the air filters in your facility to maintain healthy air quality.

Not Hiring Professional Cleaning Services

The best way to avoid these common mistakes is to hire a professional commercial cleaning company. Invest in a general cleaning program by C.M. Cleaning Company, customized to fit your unique business needs and exceed your expectations.

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The Importance of Carpet Fiber Identification

In the cleaning industry, a multitude of chemicals are used on a daily basis for various surfaces. Knowing what chemicals to use on which surfaces can often affect the outcome of any given cleaning job or project, not just visually, but from a health and safety perspective as well. The difference between washing, disinfecting, and sanitizing, for example, must be properly differentiated in many environments such as a healthcare facility, and knowing which chemical products perform which of these tasks is crucial. The very same goes for carpet cleaning. Carpets in a commercial building versus a residence can vary greatly, as they are often made from different fibers.

When deep cleaning carpets using the hot water extraction method, there are many variables that come into play in order to perform the job correctly, most important of which is fiber identification. Every other variable for cleaning a carpet stems from identifying what the carpet is made of. The most effective way to identify the fiber type of a carpet is burn testing. By removing a single carpet fiber and holding it close to a flame, you can determine fiber type based on the way the fiber burns, and how the fiber smells when burning. For example, if a carpet is synthetic (made from nylon or olefin for example), it will form a hard, plastic bead once the flame is extinguished and smell like plastic. A protein or animal produced fiber (wool), will not stay lit once the flame is removed and often produces a burnt hair – like smell.

Depending on the fiber type, there is an expanse of chemicals that can span across everything from a typical olefin or nylon commercial carpet, to an animal product fiber or fine oriental rug. Not only does the industry have fiber specific chemicals, but also goal specific chemicals depending on fiber. For example, some pre-sprays and shampoos can be used on high traffic areas to reduce discoloration and yellowing, or heavier degreasers to remove soils tracked into a building from a production floor or the outdoors. So, next time you are considering a deep carpet cleaning, call our expert team at C.M. Cleaning. You can trust that our technicians will be knowledgeable and informed, using the right products to yield a result that is often visually impactful, and always guaranteed to be truly clean.

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Risks of Dust in the Office

Dust is everywhere making it easy to ignore until it starts to build up and become visible. Believe it or not, much of the makeup of dust is dead skin cells but some of it can also be toxic chemicals. Lead and pesticides have been found in dust, and when disturbed, these pollutants are put into the air allowing them to be breathed in. The three risks from breathing in dust is asthma, allergies, and dermatitis.

Asthma: Bacteria from by-products found in dust can trigger an asthma attack.

Allergies: Many people are allergic to dust and too much in the air can trigger these allergies to start. Symptoms such as itchy and watery eyes, sneezing and a runny or stuffy nose can occur.

Dermatitis: Inhaling dust can cause skin rashes such as eczema. In homes, young children can also get atopic dermatitis if they have been crawling on rugs with dust inside the fibers.

It is impossible to have a completely dust free home or office, but to reduce the amount of dust you can limit the amount of carpet in an area or perform thorough cleaning. Carpets are a breeding ground for dust and Cleaning bagsrequire more cleaning to prevent the amount of dust. Air purifiers reduce the number of airborne particles which will also reduce the amount of dust. When dusting remember to use products that will pick up and trap dust instead of just moving it around.

Having a dust free office or home will help reduce the chance of the people in the facility getting sick. At C.M. Cleaning we use ProTeam backpack vacuums with HePa Filters to trap dust. These vacuums conveniently trap the dust while cleaning inside the filters instead of releasing it from the carpet and allowing it to go airborne. This allows the air to stay cleaner, and for nobody to be breathing in unhealthy air.

We also use yellow dust cloths that we wrap the feather dusters in so when we dust the particles do not go airborne. These yellow dust cloths grab and pick up more particles to reduce the amount of dust left behind.

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The Importance of Vacuuming

Regular vacuuming is the easiest way to keep your carpets looking clean. It is recommended to vacuum a minimum of one to two times a week and daily in high traffic areas.

Carpet is known to trap dust in debris deep into its fibers that could also be bio-contaminants or allergens. Dirty floors are known to affect your family’s health, make your carpets look unappealing and can result in damages. The dust and pollen that build up can highly effect people with asthma and allergies. Additionally, when foot traffic occurs on dusty carpets it causes the dust to go airborne and land on things like shelves, cubicle tops and more.

The ProTeam backpack vacuums with HePa filters are used by C.M. Cleaning employees because of their ability to trap dust in their high filtration systems. Vacuums with high filtration collections systems retrieve soil and safely contain harmful particles, preventing them from being reintroduced into the environment. These backpacks remove more than 98% of the soil which is a 10% increase compared to sweeping.

Vacuuming hard wood floors is also faster, healthier and more efficient than sweeping if the cleaner has the right attachment tool. The ProTeam vacuums clean 52% faster than dust mops in congested areas, such as classrooms, and leave much less small debris behind.

Schools tend to be at a higher risk of poor indoor air quality because they can have four times the occupants as an office building. Children are also more susceptible to air pollution but using a ProTeam vacuum can reduce the pollutants in the air since the filter can trap the dirt and dust instead of releasing it back into the air. When choosing to vacuum dust bunnies tend to not reappear until 72 hours later compared to 24 hours later with a dust mop.

All of C.M. Cleaning’s programs are custom-tailored to your specific facility’s needs, and all programs include the correct vacuuming frequencies. This gives our customer’s peace of mind when it comes to air quality, carpet longevity and an impression of cleanliness.

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Steam Cleaning Carpets

Steam cleaning carpets is becoming an alternative to shampooing. As indicated by the EPA, the typical person can be found inside of their home or office space at least 90% of their time. Therefore, it is important that harmful pollutants are removed regularly. A benefit to steam cleaning a carpet is the minimization of chemicals that are present. There is also a smaller chance of harmful residues contaminating the indoor environment which will keep the air healthy and clean for those within the space.Carpet cleaning services near Boston

Although vacuuming is important to prolong the life of a carpet, it can only remove debris that is collected at the surface of a rug. Performing a deeper treatment will remove the dirt, pet hair, dust mites, and other debris that commonly work their way down further in the carpet. This will help improve the appearance of the rug and the health of those that encounter it.

Shampoo treatments create foam to break down particles and unwanted pollutants in the carpet. Shampooing carpets is quick and can be successful when small stains and high traffic areas need to be addressed. However, chemicals used to brighten up surfaces can negatively impact people and pets, especially those with allergies.

Steam cleaning carpets utilizes equipment that shoots hot water (in a gas state) into the fibers to remove the debris build-up. This helps to reduce any bacteria, germs, mites and other toxins that are present. Steam that is at 212 degrees Fahrenheit or higher is the best way to eliminate as much pollutants as possible. The level of moisture applied can be easily controlled depending upon the surface to prevent damage. The excess water along with the dislodged dirt is then eliminated using the suction part of the equipment. When using a steam cleaner, the drying time is much less than when you shampoo the carpets, so they can be walked on sooner.

C.M. Cleaning can help with your steam cleaning needs to keep your carpets as clean as possible to improve its appearance and the health of your employees.