A Guide to Floorcare Essentials

Whether you're operating a concession stand, cafeteria, fast-casual restaurant, or fine dining establishment, it's important to have the right tools to keep your floor clean and sanitary. To help ensure your facility is safe for guests and employees alike, There are varieties of floor care and cleaning products for sweeping, mopping, and more. Use the information below to guide you toward the floor care supplies your operation needs.

Brooms & Brushes

Customers expect to see floors free of dirt, paper, food, and other debris. Brooms are an essential tool for cleaning up messes throughout the day and as part of your opening and closing procedures. Because they will be used so frequently and on different floor types, high-quality brooms are available with a variety of bristles, including angled or straight, flagged or unflagged, and synthetic or natural.

Angled

The heads on these brooms are angled to make it easier for users to clean hard-to-reach parts of the floor, such as corners and along the walls.

Straight

The bristles on this type of broom are cut straight across, making it better suited to sweeping up debris across flat areas.

Flagged

The ends of the fibers on this type are split, which results in softer bristles. Though they may appear frayed, that should not be taken as a sign they are old or should be replaced. They are designed for smooth floors and can pick up fine particles.

Unflagged

Thicker bristles are great for picking up large debris on rougher surfaces, such as on a patio, behind the bar, or in a kitchen.

Natural

The fibers that make up the heads on these are typically made of broomcorn, a type of sorghum that produces stiff heads of the brush. Natural bristles can be used for indoor and outdoor surfaces, from cleaning warehouse floors to sweeping sidewalks.

Synthetic

Polypropylene bristles often made to resemble broomcorn fibers, are resistant to chemicals and liquids and are recommended for carpets and floor mats.

Push brooms are designed to clean larger sections of your floor and are more versatile since they are often able to perform both dry and wet sweeping tasks. The bristles on this type of broom can be made of several materials.

• Horsehair, a natural material recommended for smooth surfaces like hardwood and tile.
• Palmyra, a stiffer natural fiber that is best suited for use on uneven surfaces.
• Polypropylene, a synthetic material capable of sweeping up most debris.
• Tampico, a heat- and chemical-resistant fiber made from agave and yucca plants, can be used to dry sweep smoother floors.

To help employees easily collect the debris they've swept up, you should always keep plenty of dustpans on hand. These may have upright handles that allow employees to brush trash into the pan without bending or stooping. That design is commonly called a lobby dustpan.

There is also a mechanical floor sweeper as an alternative to the classic broom-and-pan combination. This tool has no bristles but uses rubber blades to pick up floor debris. It can be used in the entryway, dining room, and other areas of your operation. However, these sweepers are more expensive than brooms and unable to thoroughly clean corners and other hard-to-reach areas.

You'll also find a selection of scrub brushes, which are made with materials that are resistant to chemicals and heat. They are a great choice for cleaning and sanitizing uneven surfaces. Other floor brushes are designed specifically for cleaning the grout between tiled floors.

Dust mops remove dust from floors prior to wet mopping. dust mops and dust mop frames are available in 24-, 36-, and 48-inch widths. Oval-shaped dust mops are also available for cleaning hard-to-reach areas.

Mops & Squeegees

In addition to dry brushing tools that help keep your floors clear of debris, There are varieties of tools engineered to make wet mopping and drying floors simple. This includes traditional wet mops, mop buckets and pails, and squeegees.

Traditional mops are generally paired with mop buckets, which are mounted on wheels and include a wringer attached to the back. mop buckets are available in several colors, so you can stick with the classic yellow, or use blue, brown, green, and red mop buckets to create a color-based system that designates buckets for use in specific areas of your facility or for specific types of spills.

To find the best mop for your application, you'll need to know about mop styles, sizes, and materials, as well as band styles. Mop heads are available in four sizes distinguished by how much liquid they can hold. The categories are small (absorbency rating of about 10-12 ounces), medium (16-22 ounces), large (24-32 ounces), and extra-large (more than 32 ounces). Mops are also available in two styles and in four materials.

Cut Ends

This is the most popular and cost-effective mop style. However, these are also less efficient and will require more labor from employees. These mop heads cannot be laundered.

Looped Ends

Although they are more expensive, looped-end mops are less likely to fray, will last longer, and can be laundered. A tailband design means they can also clean larger surface areas.

Cotton

The most affordable mop head material, cotton absorbs liquids well and is recommended for general mopping applications. However, the yarn made of cotton is slow to dry, which can lead to mildew and quicker deterioration. This type is also known for leaving behind lint, which can be an issue on highly polished and darkly colored surfaces.

Synthetic

Synthetic yarn will not lint, but is usually more expensive and will not absorb liquids as well as cotton. However, because the synthetic fibers are more durable, this type of mop head is recommended for uneven surfaces, such as tile.

Cotton-Synthetic Blend

Mop heads made of a longer-lasting cotton-synthetic blend offer a middle ground for durability, cost, and performance, but the yarn may shrink when it is laundered. These mop heads will also not absorb liquid as well as those made of 100 percent cotton.

Rayon

Rayon absorbs liquids as well as cotton without leaving behind as much lint. Unlike cotton, rayon dries quickly and resists mildewing. Although these mop heads can also be washed, the yarn made of this material will shrink if dried in high heat.

Choosing Your Mop Head & Handle

The band style on your mop head will help determine which handle it can be used with. There are three band styles – wide, narrow, and screw top – and four handle styles.

·        Wide band. This band style is 5 inches wide and made of mesh-coated vinyl. It is compatible with a jaw-style handle, which has teeth that securely hold the mop in place. These can be color-coded with mop buckets and allow employees to release a dirty mop head without touching it.

·        Narrowband. This band style is 11?4 inches wide and made of textured polyester tape. It can be used with Quick Change and Quick Release handles. Quick Release handles lock mop heads into place to prevent them from falling off and can be color-coded for HACCP compliance. Like with jaw-style handles, employees using Quick Release handles will not have to touch dirty mop heads to release them. Quick Change handles are available in plastic or metal; they are the more cost-effective choice but do not include the labor-saving features of the Quick Release handles.

·        Screw top. Screw top mop heads are 11?4 inches wide and have a textured polyester band with a metal screw attachment. These can be used with a Kwik-On handle, which screws onto the mop head to ensure it will not become detached.

Squeegees are plastic or metal tools with flat, rubber blades on the ends of long or short handles that can be used to remove liquids from floors and windows. When used on floors, water leftover from mopping and liquids from spills can be pushed into nearby drains. These may be 18, 20, 22, 24, or 30 inches wide.

Microfiber Cleaners

There are Microfiber dry mops and Microfiber wet mops, which use microfiber and proprietary fiber blends to more effectively remove dirt and grime. These are machine washable and should remain in good, working condition even after 500 washes, but should never be cleaned in a load treated with a fabric softener, as those can decrease the fabric's absorbency.