The Importance of Floor Mats This Winter

Last week we discussed the importance of cleaning your commercial garage after big winter storms like Blizzard Jonas. The main issue with not cleaning your parking garage after significant winter storms is that slush and salt will inevitably be tracked into your building, and in turn damage your beautiful floors!

If you are a property manager, make sure that you have an effective post-storm entrance matting strategy to tackle unwanted tracked-in slush and salt residue!

According to the Carpet & Rug Institute (CRI) an office building should have at least 12–15 feet of entrance matting. This sounds like a rather large entrance mat, but it’s 100% necessary if you want to protect your floors in heavy foot traffic areas.

Additional matting is recommended for facilities with higher foot traffic, such as hospitals and grocery stores. These facilities should plan to have 20–25 feet of entrance matting.

Entrance matting should be comprised of three separate sections:

1. Exterior Matting: an aggressive, “scraper-type” of matting to catch larger pieces of debris, such as deicing granules.
2. First Interior Mat: Use a medium-texture matting to trap the smaller particles.
3. Second Interior Mat: A fine texture, or “wiper-type” catches the smallest particles and liquids.

It is important the interior mats are capable of holding water from melting snow and slush. Flat, smoother surface matting is not designed to hold the sheer amount of moisture coming into the facility.

Proper matting can effectively hold up to 1 1/2 gallons of water per square yard.Crazy statistics! The bi-level surface holds and captures dirt, sand, and other debris, protecting your floors from almost anything!

Additionally, it is made with a 100% post-consumer recycled P.E.T. polyester fiber system that is reclaimed from plastic bottles and a 100% rubber backing that contains 15% to 20% post-consumer car tire rubber. Sustainability efforts all around – from cleaning products to floor mats!

Call KEVCO today for any of your commercial garage cleaning, or post-storm entrance matting needs! We want to help you keep your floors in pristine condition, and protect them from all of the nasty residues that are being tracked into your building as a result of winter storms in the D.C., Maryland, and Virginia area.