MAINTAINING FLOOR – DAILY ROUTINE

Effective housekeeping can help control or eliminate workplace hazards. Poor

housekeeping practices frequently contribute to incidents. If the sight of paper, debris,
clutter and spills is accepted as normal, then other more serious hazards may be taken
for granted.
Housekeeping is not just cleanliness. It includes keeping work areas neat and orderly,
maintaining halls and floors free of slip and trip hazards, and removing of waste
materials (e.g., paper, cardboard) and other fire hazards from work areas. It also
requires paying attention to important details such as the layout of the whole workplace,
aisle marking, the adequacy of storage facilities, and maintenance. Good housekeeping
is also a basic part of incident and fire prevention.
Effective housekeeping is an ongoing operation: it is not a one-time or hit-and-miss
cleanup done occasionally. Periodic "panic" cleanups are costly and ineffective in
reducing incidents.
FLOOR POLISHING
A floor buffer or rotary floor machine is an electrical appliance that is used to clean and maintain
non-carpeted floors, such as hardwood, marble, tile or linoleum. It is also known as a floor
polisher or burnisher if it is a high speed floor buffer with a pad that rotates at over 1000 RPM.

CARPET SHAMPOOING—SPOT REMOVAL

Blot excess liquid with a clean, white absorbent material such as paper towels
or cloths. Flush the area with plain water and blot until as dry as possible. Use
diluted carpet shampoo and work small amounts of the solution into the pile
with the fingers.
CARPET EXTRACTION

Prepping Your Carpet Extractor -

Mix your carpet cleaning chemical according to the directions on the label of the
bottle. A great all-purpose carpet cleaning solution is our Extraction Care Carpet &
Upholstery Cleaner. Fill the solution tank of your extractor with the proper amount of
chemical and water. If it is non-heated unit, it is a good idea to fill your solution tank
with hot tap water. If you're using a heated machine, this would be the time to turn
the heater on and circulate the water so the solution is at an optimum temperature
when you begin cleaning. Attach all hoses and the necessary tools. Place a few
ounces of a defoamer into a container and suck it up through the vacuum hose. This
will coat all surfaces through the hoses and recovery tank, eliminating foam as the
shampoo is recovered.
Prepping the Extraction Area -
Put on a pair of disposable shoe covers to keep from tracking more dirt and debris into
the carpeted area. Remove all furniture and other obstructions from the carpeted area
that you will be cleaning. Vacuum the area with a powerful vacuum, like our 14 inch
commercial vacuum cleaner, to remove as much dirt as possible before the extraction
takes place. If there are any stains, those will need to be treated with the proper stain
remover and portable spotter. Follow the stain removal instructions guide for each
possible type of stain.

Place the extractor in a remote position, often in a corner towards the entrance to the
room. Plug extractor into a 3-pronged outlet. If it is a heated model, you'll need to find 2,
20 amp outlets on separate circuits. Often times a circuit locator is built into the machine
or comes an accessory that can tell you if 2 outlets are, or are not on separate circuits.

Extracting the Carpet -

If the area is extremely soiled, you'll want to do a pre-spray of the entire area to allow the
chemicals to soak and break apart the bonds of the dirt, freeing it from the carpet fibers. This
can be accomplished with a pre-spray extraction wand or pump-up sprayer.
If the area is not completely and totally filled with dirt, you can move right into the first steps of
extraction. Start at a point that is furthest away from the entrance to the room. When using a
box style extractor like our heated box extractor, you'll start with the drag wand. Make a
forward pass, laying down a stream of solution, then come back with the vacuum head on the
drag wand and extract the solution you just put down. Move over and repeat the same steps.
Overlapping by a few inches will ensure a thorough cleaning.
If you're using a self-contained extractor like our professional carpet scrubber extractor, you'll
start in the same corner, but you'll be pulling the extractor as you walk backwards. Flip on the
switches for the pump, vacuum and brush. As the switch is depressed solution will be sprayed
onto the carpeted surface and the brush will spin. So, as you start to walk backwards, you'll
depress the button and the machine will spray down a solution. The brush will come over that
area and scrub the carpet, and then the vacuum shoe will come over that area and remove the
solution. As you're finishing that first pass, make sure to stop spraying a few inches before the
end of your path. Go over that area with the vacuum shoe to ensure all solution is recovered.
Lean the machine back and walk forward to start your next pass. Overlap a few inches to
ensure proper coverage.
Use a hand tool with your extractor, or a small portable spotter to clean up any areas that
are unreachable by your larger extractor. Use the exact same procedures with just a
clean tank of water to rinse out the carpet and remove as much of the shampoo as
possible. Think of this last step as a rinse, similar to what happens when doing a load of
laundry in your washing machine. *Note: If extensive graying occurs after the carpet has
dried, you'll want to use a neutralizing product, like our Film Off neutralizer to remove as
much of the cleaning agent as possible to return the carpet to its natural state. This
occurs from the cleaning agent not being fully removed from the carpet during cleaning
and keeping the carpet in an alkaline state. Proper dilution of the shampoo solution in the
beginning will minimize the possibility of this occurring.
 Drying the Extracted Surfaces -
Set up several carpet dryers like our air moving fan, having them blow in several different
directions. This will help to move as much air as possible across the damp carpet to dry it
as quickly as possible. Turning the air conditioning, heat or circulation fans on high in the
area or building will also help to speed dry time.

Clean Up -
Most carpet extractors will have either a dump valve or a dump hose. A dump valve can be
backed up to a toilet, bucket, floor drain, or slop sink and dumped. If there is any clean solution
left in the solution tank, simply take the vacuum hose and suck up the rest of the clean solution.
Then again dump out the recovery tank. Flush out and clean both tanks as thoroughly as
possible. Leave the tank covers off to allow the tanks to air out and deodorize.

Your carpet extractor should be winterized between uses if it is to be exposed to freezing

temperatures. To winterize your machine, pour 1/2 gallon of sub-zero windshield wiper fluid
into the empty solution tank. Run the pump until fluid flows through the tank, and all
attachments. Then run 1 gallon of water through the extractor before the next use.

CARE AND MAINTENANCE OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF FLOOR