CM/Spotlight: Hard Floor Care feet placed outside a facility, another five in the vestibule area — an area between two sets of entry doors found in many commer-cial facilities designed to keep cold or hot air outside — and the remainder of the matting inside the facility itself. Further, the 15 or more feet of matting should be viewed as part of a system, with three different components based on the texture of the matting. These three components are the following: 1. Scraper mat The scraper matting is placed outside the facility. Typically made from polypropylene fiber, these mats are designed to aggressively remove the larger particulates of soil and moisture that can damage floors and car-pets the most. 2. Scraper/wiper mat Directly inside the building, in the ves-tibule area mentioned earlier, should be a less aggressive matting material, some-times referred to as a scraper/wiper mat. This mat further removes soil and traps moisture. It is also designed to take advantage of the way people actually walk into a facility. Typically, when walking through the vesti-bule, people twist their feet when they open the next set of doors. This twisting motion helps remove soil and moisture, which is then captured and trapped in the mat. 3. Wiper mat The final matting component, found directly inside the facility, is often referred to as a wiper mat. Not as roughly textured as the other two matting components, some cleaning professionals refer to it as “the final line of defense,” stopping most of the remaining contaminants and moisture from entering the facility. Along with the three components that make up a matting system, some experts suggest that they all be selected from the same manufacturer. This is because matting manufacturers often engineer their mats to work together so that one mat — for instance, the scraper mat — works most effectively with the next mat, and so on. Different Strokes For Different Folks With a basic understanding of how mats work and how their soil and moisture remov-al capabilities can protect indoor flooring, it is important to note that, while high-quality — often referred to as high-performance — matting systems are preferable for use and should be selected, not all mats are made for all facilities. Typically, high-performance matting sys-tems are those purchased from a JanSan distributor; although it is possible, they are usually not the types of mats used by linen services. Because they are of higher quality, a high-performance matting system will often have a warranty of one or more years; a lower quality matting system may have a warranty of just a few months. For example, the type of matting selected for a school is not necessarily the type of matting that should be placed at the entries of an office facility. With schools, children are often walking in right from the playground. They will likely have a considerable amount of dust and sand on the bottoms of their shoes, and a matting system made of a specific textured material designed to trap and capture this dust is preferable. This type of mat would not necessarily be the best matting for an office building entry and may actually prove ineffective at keeping soils and moisture outside in this setting. I should also note that matting placed indoors can also play a major role in helping to protect floors and carpets, and these, too, may be a specific type of matting. For instance, some mats are designed to be used in foodservice areas to capture “sticky” substances like grease and oil, while mats in industrial settings like ware-houses trap fine dust. An astute distributor can help managers as well as cleaning professionals select the best matting for these and other indoor areas of the facility. Cleaning And Care To protect floors and carpets, matting sys-tems must be kept clean; but, how best to accomplish this can vary based on the location. For instance, in a high-traffic setting such as a busy office building, it is recommended that the mats be vacuumed two or three times per day. Further, they should be picked up fre-quently to make sure the undersurface is clean and dry. Soil and moisture can become trapped under the mat, and if the mat is placed inside the facility, this soil and moisture can mar and even discolor the floor. Beyond vacuuming, the most important and effective way to keep matting systems functioning properly is to clean them using a hot water extraction system. Typically, portable carpet extractors are used in commercial locations. Because of the probability of dealing with heavily soiled materials, facility managers and cleaning professionals should select equipment that heats the solution. Heating the solution to approximately 212 degrees Fahrenheit helps improve the effectiveness of the cleaning chemicals, as it helps dissolve and loosen soils embed-ded in the matting. Along with this, equipment that has earned the Seal of Approval (SOA) from the Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI) should be selected because these machines have been independently evaluated and proven to remove contaminants as well as protect the environment. Also, many experts now suggest the use of “box” portable extractors instead of walk-behind extractors because evalua-tions by CRI and other organizations appear to indicate they more thoroughly deep clean carpets as well as matting systems. Hopefully, if a group of facility managers or cleaning professionals were now asked the secret to keeping floors and carpets cleaned, they would know it’s not the finish selected, the dusting or damp mopping or even the cleaning. Instead, it’s the matting. It all starts at the front door and it can have a bigger impact on floors and carpets and the overall health and clean-liness of facilities than many of us ever realized. CM 18 CM/Cleaning & Maintenance Management ® • April 2012
CMM – Archives Apr 2012: 18
