How to remove persistent odors from commercial floors
This is a quick little blog and video on steam cleaning commercial restroom floors. What we focus on today is commercial floor cleaning and specifically persistent odors, why do they happen and what is the solution to removing them.
Commercial Tile Floor Cleaning Challenges
Most flooring in restrooms of office building’s is hard tile made of ceramic, porcelain or quarry tile with a cement-based grout. Hard tiles like ceramic are very physically hard which makes it very difficult for stains and odors to penetrate.
Grout on the other hand is porous which soil, dirt can absorb easily into. This makes grout very susceptible to permanent staining and odors to penetrate and linger.
If you think about this practically, soils are seeping into the grout an inch below the surface but most cleaning is only mopping the surface. This is why odors can persist even though wet mopping is being completed nightly.
Even with a heavy does of disinfectant, the liquid is not going down far enough to actually reach the soil located an inch below in the grout.
Steam Cleaning Commercial Tile Floors
One solution is to use a steam cleaning system that flushes those soils and odors out and extracts them back to a waste tank for disposal. Our system for example is a van-based extraction system with a waste tank located on the van.
The next step is sealing the grout after a thorough steam cleaning to help prevent soil from penetrating in the future. If we can stop soil from penetrating in the first place, then everyday mopping can maintain the appearance.
Typical service would include:
- Apply disinfectant and let dwell for 15-20 minutes
- Steam clean and extract all tile and grout surfaces
- Dry with an air dryer
- Seal the grout to prevent future staining and odors
