Salt, snow, ice, and other particulate soils that trail onto hard surface floors can be a never-ending battle for your customers during the winter season. Particulate soils can cause significant damage to hard floors due to its soil and grit. There are two main components to hard surface floor care: walk-off matting and hard surface cleaning. First, employ a walk-off matting system to trap particulates. If particulates make it past the walk-off matting system, consider these options below for cleaning hard surfaces.

1. Use a vacuum to pick up particulates rather than dust mopping in small areas. Dust mopping can damage hard surfaces. This is because when particulates are moved across hard surface floors, it can scratch, abrade, and open pores in the finish. Particulates can also become trapped in porous and grouted areas when mopping. If dust mopping is the only choice, use a solution such as Back-to-7, that either has a slightly acidic or neutral pH to help neutralize salt residues.
2. For large areas, use an automatic scrubber with a solution made for daily cleaning, such as Century Maintenance, over dust mopping. Automatic scrubbers can significantly cut down on cleaning time.
3. For floors that can be burnished, increase burnishing frequency during the winter season. Burnishing will not only increase gloss appearance, it will also smooth out the scratches in the floor. Smooth floors can reduce areas where particulates can settle. Burnishing can be a daunting task for starters, but guide sheets and technical bulletins are available.

For more information on floor care, visit Multi-Clean’s Floor Care Systems page and check out the Guide Sheets on all the floor care procedures.