Walk off mats do a significant job of keeping facilities healthy and clean by keeping soil and moisture out. To help protect your investment and to make your mats effective in cleaning, here are some tips to care for and clean mats.

Storing Mats: If you have to store mats, store mats flat on top of one another. Do not roll the mats as this can damage their backing. Also, do not stack other objects on top of them.

Vacuuming: Vacuuming is highly effective in picking up dry soils from mats. Be sure to vacuum in multiple directions; back-and-forth and side-to-side.

Carpet Extraction: If the mats are heavily soiled, consider performing carpet extraction on the mats. Take the mats outside, pre-spray with a carpet detergent such as Pre-Treat, and after a couple of minutes of dwell time, extract the mats with a carpet extractor. Before doing this procedure, make sure that the weather will permit the mats to be dried outside for several hours. Never reinstall mats if they are wet or damp.

Cleaning Under The Mats: Humid conditions can cause moisture to buildup underneath the mats. If the mats begin to slip when people walk over them, there is a good chance that there is moisture in the back of the mats. To fix this, use a neutral cleaner, such as Century Maintenance, to clean the back of the mats and to clean the floor. Again, make sure that the floor and the back of the mats are completely dry before putting the mats back into service.

Replacing Mats: If walk off mats are heavily soiled and if time does not permit to clean the mats immediately, replace the mats with a clean one.

For more resources on carpet care, please refer to the Carpet Care Guide Sheets, or the Carpet Floor Care Method Bulletin 1401, For a listing of Multi-Clean carpet care products, please visit Multi-Clean’s Carpet Care Products Webpage.