If you’re a facility owner or manager, it’s probably no secret that some of the dirtiest places in your buildings are their floors. Regardless of whether you’re managing a store or retail center, a medical office, an educational facility, an apartment complex, or a hospitality business, your commercial floors see enough foot traffic to bring in a lot of issues. From stains and holes to harmful contaminants, your facility’s flooring and carpets see a lot of wear and tear. But the winter season presents a particular set of environmental challenges that your regular vacuuming routine simply isn’t strong enough to solve. Here are a few reasons why you should consider a commercial carpet clean after the chilly months have passed, as well as things to look for in your carpets post-winter.

Four Reasons to Consider a Commercial Carpet Clean After Winter

1. Everyday Dirt and Grime

When researching why commercial carpet cleaning is important, you may come across a variety of resources informing you of what carpets see with heavy foot traffic day after day. The truth is that while most commercial facilities see dirt, dust, and other grime tracked in on a daily basis, many facility managers don’t have the proper tools and teams in place to take care of the mess. If you’re running or overseeing a commercial property, chances are that a daily or twice-daily vacuum job isn’t enough to remove all that’s being stored within your carpets.

There’s no argument that dirt and grime are unsightly scenes in a commercial space. The presence of unkempt carpets could be enough to turn away potential patients from your medical office, damage the credibility of your store, and keep renters from applying for your apartments. This is certainly enough to negatively impact your bottom line, but it could really damage your facility’s reputation as well. The way a commercial space is kept reflects the values of the business and the work ethic of the staff. A stained carpet might be enough to drive away some of your most valued customer base.

2. Soil from the Elements

Why should you deep clean your carpet? It’s always a good idea for commercial property owners to invest in a professional deep cleaning carpet service from time to time–we recommend at least once every six months–but after the winter season, this task becomes of the utmost importance. Winter conditions can make carpets extra filthy, so you'll want to go above and beyond to ensure your carpets are deep cleaned for both aesthetic and safety purposes.

With increased indoor activity during winter, tracked-in snow, ice, and rock salt can wreak havoc on your floors. Let’s say you don’t have the appropriate welcome mats outside your entrance doors to scrape off the elements—or you don’t have boot trays where your building’s occupants can take off their shoes. You could be seeing your foot traffic bringing in mud, dirt, and slush on their shoes, which will likely result in staining. Excess moisture can also mat down the fibers in your plush carpets, causing an uneven appearance. And if this moisture seeps below the carpet into the hardwood beneath, you could experience more foundational issues.

Think about carpet glue dissolving, causing a “lifting away” effect that might create wrinkles and lumps in the carpet. This presents tripping hazards that could create major liability concerns for you as the facility owner or manager—something to keep top of mind, especially if you’re serving young or senior populations or those with disabilities. Additionally, the flooring underneath the carpet could become damaged from moisture by buckling or cracking, creating this same uneven flooring that could spell trouble for your customers or staff, as well as resulting in a hefty bill to rectify the issue with a costly flooring repair service.

3. Harmful Contaminants

When considering how to clean commercial carpet in your facility, you’ll want to consider not only the elements potentially tracked in by dirty, slushy, or snowy shoes and boots, but also the other harmful factors that could be lurking in your carpet’s tiny fibers. Allergens are a common culprit of sinus-related and other infections and uncomfortable symptoms. If you’re serving special populations—think elderly or immunocompromised people, pre-schoolers or young children, those with disabilities, and more—you want to pay attention to the risks associated with allergens. Deep cleaning your carpets can help to remove dirt and pollutants from both the carpets themselves and from the air your occupants are breathing.

Uncleaned carpets also harbor a lot of germs and bacteria. And since germs are the primary causes of illness, you’ll want to be mindful of how they can negatively impact your building’s occupants. Between colds and bouts of the flu or the continued spread of COVID-19, you as the facility owner or operator want to take every precaution possible to keep your buildings safe and clean. Disinfecting surfaces—and of course, this includes your flooring—is key to preventing contagious illnesses that could mean increased absences, loss of productivity, and potential physical harm to your customers and staff.

4. Other Damage to Your Flooring

Extending the life of all of your flooring—including carpets—should be at the top of your priority list as a commercial facility owner or operator. Damage to your carpets in the form of stains can be aesthetically unpleasing and can also harbor bacteria, especially if the stains are from food, beverages, or other waste. Tears in your carpets are also unsightly, as well as potentially hazardous to those walking on them.

Consider all of the time, money, and effort it takes to repair and replace flooring. With regular carpet cleaning, your carpets can be kept in the best condition possible. Not only will they maintain their color and texture for the long haul, but they’ll stay securely fixed to the surfaces beneath them, decreasing the chances of lifting, buckling, or developing other tripping hazards.

Deep Cleaning Your Carpets

So, when should you deep clean carpets? As we said, every six months is a good rule of thumb. But this largely depends on the amount of traffic your carpets see regularly. If you have heavy foot traffic or live in an area where a lot of debris could be tracked in, this schedule may not be sufficient for your facility. And if you don’t have a post-winter carpet cleaning service scheduled, you’ll certainly want to consider hiring one.

A high-quality carpet cleaning service will use state-of-the-art technology to remove debris, steam away stains, and much more. Some companies may utilize a hot water extraction tool to inject water and carpet cleaning solution into your carpets; think of this as a commercial carpet shampoo. Others may use a powerful suction technology that exceeds the capabilities of a vacuum to lift away both dirt and soil as well as harmful allergens and other contaminants.

Beyond that, you’ll still want to ensure you have daily janitorial services and supplies in place to vacuum regularly, clean up spills and stains quickly, and take care of other obvious lingering debris on your carpets. Regularly inspecting the state of your building’s floors can also help you stay on top of any issues as they arise, rather than waiting for them to develop into further problems that could cost you much more in the long term.

The Budd Group Has Your Carpet Cleaning Covered

As you’re weighing which company to partner with for your deep carpet cleaning this year, consider the experts at The Budd Group. The Budd Group is a family-owned and operated company that has provided exceptional services and solutions to facility managers across many verticals for over 50 years. Serving clients spanning the Southeast United States, The Budd Group offers a comprehensive suite of facilities management solutions—from janitorial and maintenance services to disinfection and landscaping.

We help facility owners and operators take the best care of their building’s assets, ensuring that their biggest asset—their people—are safe and well cared for. We use top-of-the-line equipment and EPA-approved cleaning solutions to thoroughly complete our projects, so you can rest assured that your space is pristine without harm to your staff, customers, or the environment. And you’ll be thrilled at the level of care you receive from The Budd Group, based on our company’s central tenets of hard work, integrity, and outstanding customer service.

Our team comprises more than 4,000 highly trained service associates who know how to execute projects on time, on budget, and to a high level of satisfaction. In fact, our “Make It Right Guarantee” serves as our promise to meet or exceed your expectations in the delivery of high-quality facility support solutions. If we do not deliver the contracted services to your satisfaction, we will make it right! Keep your building looking beautiful and keep its occupants safe and healthy with professional carpet cleaning services. Contact one of our helpful representatives today to discuss your facility’s carpet cleaning needs and how The Budd Group can help you achieve your most optimal outcomes.