Office carpets: making the most of the year-end closure

Why this window beats a weekend

For the rest of the year, office carpet is cleaned between two working days. The method is chosen backwards, starting from the hour the first person walks back onto the floor. When that hour is close, low-moisture methods win: they dry quickly, but they mostly work at the surface.

The year-end closure changes the sum. The building stands empty for several days in a row, and that time benefits three stages:

• pre-treatment, which can work for as long as it needs on the trodden-in grease of the corridors instead of being rinsed off straight away;
• the clean itself, which can reach the soil at the base of the fibres with a proper rinse, across the whole floor rather than half of it;
• drying, which is finished before anyone walks on it.

That last point matters more than people expect. A carpet that is still damp when it is walked on picks up dirt from shoe soles far faster than a dry one, and the first traffic marks come back in the corridors within the week. With a few days in hand, that risk disappears. The different methods and what each is for are set out on our page about on-site fitted carpet cleaning.

What to decide in November

A deep clean over the holidays is almost entirely decided before the closure. The information needed is simple, but it has to be gathered while the teams are still in the building:

• the exact dates the building is closed, and the days when access is still possible;
• the area to be cleaned in square metres, floor by floor;
• how the carpet is laid: loose-lay tiles, fully bonded broadloom, carpet on a raised access floor;
• the areas that suffer most: entrance lobby, main corridor, lift landings, coffee point, busy meeting rooms;
• a few photographs of those areas, taken in daylight.

Then come the access questions. Who holds the badges or keys during the closure? Has the security company been told the dates and times? Which alarm zones need to be switched off? Will the service lift be available to bring equipment up? Where are a water point and sockets that are not on the server room circuit?

In a building shared with other occupiers, bring the building manager into the loop. They often have their own rules for outside contractors over the holidays, and it is better to know them before than after. Once you have everything together, you can send it to us for a quote.

Heating and ventilation: the trap of a building on standby

Many office buildings switch to an economy setting as soon as the staff leave: heating turned down, ventilation slowed or stopped, sometimes floor by floor. For the energy bill, that makes sense. For a carpet that has just been cleaned, it is the worst possible setting.

In cold, still air, the water left in the pile and under the backing evaporates slowly. Drying that should have taken a day drags on, and a stale smell can settle in windowless meeting rooms. The time gained from the closure is lost.

The fix is one conversation with whoever runs the building's technical systems:

• keep ventilation running on the treated floors for the drying period;
• hold a minimum temperature rather than switching the heating off altogether;
• leave the internal doors of the treated rooms open, meeting rooms included.

We bring low-profile air movers and, where a room is enclosed, a dehumidifier to finish the drying. They support working ventilation; they cannot make up for a building that has been put to sleep.

Furniture, carpet tiles and the office party

The last weeks of the year are also party season. Knocked-over glasses, fizzy drinks, plates put down on the floor: December adds its share of stains just as the clean is being prepared. Ask whoever organises the event to report every spill, with where it happened and what it was. A coffee, soft drink or red wine stain with a name and a date is far easier to treat than an anonymous ring found three weeks later.

At the time, one reflex: blot with a white cloth, without rubbing. Keep kitchen washing-up liquid and aerosol stain removers away, as they leave a sticky residue that dust clings to. Stubborn cases are a matter for carpet stain removal, which we build into the deep clean.

What moves and what stays

Before everyone leaves, have the floor cleared of anything lying on it: boxes, bins, extension leads, bags, Christmas tree stands and plant pots. A pot left on the carpet while it dries leaves a damp ring that shows. Pedestals and wheeled chairs are moved; tall cupboards stay where they are. A photo of each bank of desks makes putting everything back simple.

Tiles to replace

Where the carpet is in tiles, use the preparation to find the ones that cannot be saved: burns, a stain that has reached the backing, a tile swollen by an old leak. Check, too, whether spare tiles were kept from the original installation, in a plant room or a basement. Their presence changes how those areas are handled.

Back to work in January, and after

A floor cleaned over the holidays reopens in January, in the middle of a Brussels winter: rain, mud from the pavements, sometimes road salt. The first days decide how long the result lasts. Two entrance mats in a row, a scraper mat outside and an absorbent one inside, stop a good share of what shoes bring in. Vacuuming the lobby and corridors every day through those weeks does the rest.

It is also worth knowing what a clean will not do. In a busy corridor, part of the darkening lies in the fibre itself, flattened and worn by traffic. Cleaning removes the dirt and partly lifts the pile; it does not give back material that has gone. The difference with the rest of the floor narrows clearly, without always disappearing.

Finally, a yearly deep clean needs looking after. Between two full cleans, shorter visits to the walkways alone, and spot cleaning on request, extend the life of the carpet considerably. That is the principle of the regular maintenance described on our office carpet cleaning page. Hotels and restaurants, which stay open over the holidays, are organised differently: see hotel and hospitality carpets.