Winter weather brings many concerns, including slippery floors. Most people put down ice melt to keep entrances safer for people to walk, and walk-off mats to trap ice, snow, water, and ice melt so that they do not get onto the hard surface flooring. Unfortunately, these contaminants do find their way into facilities. Fortunately, a thorough wet cleaning procedure can remove these contaminants from the floor and prevent damage!
To start, you need the proper products and procedures to be successful at removing ice melt. You need products that will dissolve and chemically suspend the ice melt salts to keep them from re-depositing onto the floor while mopping or auto-scrubbing. You should avoid natural soap products and some synthetic detergent-based products. They do not contain the chemical ingredients to chemically bind ice melt salts in solution and allow the salts to re-deposit onto the floor during the cleaning operation. Products such as Buckeye Blue All-Purpose Cleaner, Tenacity® All-Purpose Cleaner, Green Light™ Super Concentrated Floor Cleaner, True 7™ pH Neutral Cleaner, Buckeye Eco® Floor Cleaner E32/S32, and Straight-Up® Neutral Cleaner all yield excellent results for removing ice melt. These products are designed to chemically suspend and dissolve ice melt salts and keep them in solution. This prevents them from re-depositing back onto the floor. You can learn more about these Buckeye® products and more here.
Removing ice melt isn’t the only tricky cleaning task that comes along with winter weather. You also need to adjust how you mop or auto-scrub floors. It is best to start away from outside entrances and work towards them. If you are mopping, change the cleaning solution often so as not to overload the cleaning solution with ice melt salts. By following this procedure, you will not spread ice melt residues over floor areas that might have been cleaner before you started. Cleaning during winter weather doesn’t have to be difficult if you have the proper products and procedures. Buckeye’s full line of products can help clean smooth or textured flooring. With Buckeye’s Hard Floor Care Program, you can customize the most successful floor care program for your facility. It helps you maintain your floors by using superior products that require less labor, increase efficiency, and produce excellent results. Contact us today to get started!