LITTLE AND OFTEN
In this case study, Mike Egerton, MD of Host UK explains why regular floor maintenance saves contractors from time-consuming deep cleans, and preserves carpets too.
There’s a popular saying that sounds simple enough, but it’s not always the first method of choice, especially when it comes to carpet cleaning: ‘Little and often’.
A deep carpet clean is no easy task to complete – floor space is almost always full, with many obstacles to remove and navigate, and then the drying time can leave rooms out-of-bounds for days at a time. The majority of facility managers here in the UK have continued using this method because, for most, it’s believed to be the only option. But that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Take a busy place, with high footfall and well-used rooms and corridors: like a school, for example. A lot of the intensive carpet cleaning in schools is done during the summer break, where the corridors are free from students and staff, and the chairs have been stacked on tables. Even with promises of a quiet area within which to work there will be problems with traditional carpet cleaning methods, like there was for The Lee’s Summit School District, in Missouri, USA.
With almost 17,600 young people attending 18 elementary schools, three middle schools and three high schools, as well as a technology academy, early childhood centre, special education facility, alternative high school, swim/dive facility and a handful of administrative support buildings, Lee’s Summit sees its fair share of footfall.
44 | EDUCATIONAL & SCHOOL FACILITIES
But, like many school districts worldwide, those responsible for Lee’s Summit wanted to ensure that they had the best possible standards for the lowest possible cost. They put in force a lot of methods to keep the district facilities in great shape and lasting longer, and one of those methods was the implementation of the Host System across the entire district.
WHY? Carpet is the flooring material preferred by teachers and pupils as it is safe and warm – but, it is deemed to be difficult to look after. Wet cleaning will simply wet the general dust and soil and further embed it into a carpet, and if care isn’t taken to let these carpets dry properly, the residual moisture will cling; dirt will ‘wick back’ and will appear in the form of spots.
Closing off large areas or rooms isn’t always ideal and, even though school holidays mean that schools are quieter, it’s a long gap to leave between cleaning and dirt can build-up and become further embedded and harder to remove.
However it wasn’t just the wet carpets, downtime or disruption that steered Lee’s Summit towards the Host System: it was also the mould. Several hundred square feet of carpet and a number of books in the library were lost due to the malfunction of a HVAC system, which was ultimately caused by humidity. The district was determined
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