Floor and Floor Treatments

Floor And Floor Treatments 3 (1+2)

Lesson :14 Care and Maintenance ofsoft and hard floors

Introduction

There is a difference between maintenance and cleaning when it comes to carpet. Most people only clean it, and they do not do that until it is really too late to remove the embedded soil. The management of most hotels waits until the carpet looks dirty before the shampooing begins, and then it cannot possibly be cleaned. If a proper maintenance program were followed to prevent soil from being embedded before the carpet was visibly dirty, the heavy carpet in­vestment could be protected. About 70 percent of the dirt in carpets is less than 3 microns which cannot be seen by human eye because in size. Human eye can see only 10 microns. By the time dirt is noticed in the carpet, there is so much of it that the fibers really can never come as clean as they were when the fabric was new.

Carpets and rugs are widely used now a days for residential and commercial interiors and public institutions. Specific care and maintenance of the carpet and rugs depends upon the cleanliness of the air condition of the floor, color of the carpet and rugs, types of activities takes place and mode of usage by the users. All these affect the amount of soil accumulation and this call for type and methods of stain and soil removal and frequency of clearing i.e. daily, weekly and periodical cleaning.

For normal usage daily brushing once with hard brush and spot stain removing is ideal. Weekly cleaning with vacuum cleaner helps to remove deeply embedded soil and grit. However, periodically carpets and rugs needs wet and air dry treatment is needed to extend the life of the carpets and rugs. Care should be taken to follow the instructions given by the manufactures while using stains remover and shampooing.

As with many matters in housekeeping that are affected by fast-moving technology, a change in the whole approach to carpet cleaning is taking place. Carpets unlike other flooring materials can look clean even when it is soiled. This is because dirt particles settle down from the surface and into the carpet material. They do damage when you walk on it. There are number of effective cleaning method that you can effectively adopt. Some methods are non mechanical and some are mechanical which are discussed as follows.