How to Select the Right Floor Cleaning Machine
Whether you’re in a residential building or commercial space, clean floors are of the utmost importance. They are important for health and hygiene reasons and in commercial spaces, they’re important for keeping up appearances and not driving away customers and clients.
However, how do you clean floors effectively and efficiently? Using the old mop and bucket may be inexpensive, but it’s time consuming and does a poor job of cleaning your floors. What you really need is the right floor cleaning machine. Here’s a quick guide on how to choose one.
How to Select Right Floor Cleaning Machines
When choosing a floor cleaning machine, there are several factors you need to consider.
- Floor Surface
One of the very first things you need to consider is the material of the floor surface. Different floor surfaces will require a different kind of cleaning machine or equipment. If you use the wrong kind of machine, it could damage the floor surface or simply not clean it effectively.
Different floor surfaces can include carpeted floors, hardwood floors, concrete, tiled floors, and vinyl. For tiled floors, a scrubber with fine bristles works best, while for concrete floors, a scrubber with stiff brushes is more effective at cleaning away debris and getting rid of grime and for carpets you may need a steam cleaner.
If you’re not sure which type of flooring to choose for commercial purposes which will be easy to clean and maintain, you can check out some flooring options here.
- Size of the Cleaning Area
Whichever floor or space you may be cleaning, the goal is to clean the area as quickly and efficiently as possible. When you have a large office space, sure, cleaning with a toothbrush will certainly make the place shine, but it will take ages, which is simply not practical.
Consider the size of the area and choose an appropriate machine that can effectively complete the work. When you are at home, a simple vacuum cleaner can be enough to get the job done. However, in large commercial spaces, you need industrial sweepers or scrubbers to cover the expansive area more quickly and not get in anyone’s way.
- Type of Dirt or Grime
Another factor you have to consider is the type of dirt or grime you are trying to clean. Certain cleaning machines are more suited for certain types of dirt. For instance, if you are in the lobby of a building where there’s a lot of foot traffic, there’s bound to be a lot of dirt and mud which gets tracked in from the outside.
For such cleaning, a simple sweeper can be enough to keep the space clean. However, if you are in an area where there are a lot of oily or greasy spills with deep-rooted grime, a powerful scrubber will be more appropriate to get the dirt out and clean the floors.
- Environment
This is not always an important consideration, but it can be beneficial to think about when choosing the right cleaning machine for floors. The kind of environment you are cleaning can also determine the type of machine you use or specific features that you will need.
For instance, if you are cleaning floors in a hospital, you have to be extra careful of properly cleaning the floors while also making sure that the machine is quiet so as to not disturb any patients.
- Power Source
Choosing a machine with the right kind of power source is also very important as it can determine how quickly and conveniently you are able to complete your job. Most floor cleaning machines either run on electricity or on some fuel source like petrol or diesel.
Machines running on electricity need to be plugged in, and they need to have a power cord that is long enough to allow you to manoeuvre the machine wherever you need to. As you can imagine, if you have to clean a large area, it can be incredibly difficult or even impossible to use an electric machine.
That’s why the other option is a cordless machine that runs on batteries or a fuel like diesel or petrol. Since these machines are not restricted by any cords. However petrol or diesel powered cleaners release exhaust fumes and may not be suitable for indoor cleaning.
Features of the Machine
You will also want to consider the specific features of a machine. For instance:
- Tank Size: For fuel powered cleaners, you have to make sure you choose a cleaning machine that has an adequately sized tank. If the area to be cleaned is too large and you are stuck with a small tank, you will constantly have to refill it every hour or so, which will only make the job more tedious.
- Ease of Use: This can be somewhat subjective, but you do want a cleaning machine that is easy to use. It should not have a lot of complex controls and a million buttons which leaves everyone simply confounded on how to use it. There should be a simple and straightforward control panel that is intuitive enough to allow the user to operate the machine conveniently.
- Dilution and Pressure Adjustments: Another feature that requires consideration is, if the machine allows for dilution and pressure adjustments. As mentioned earlier, you may be working with different floor surfaces or different types of dirt or grime.
Accordingly, rather than buying a new machine for every new thing, you need a machine that is more versatile. It should allow you to adjust the pressure of the cleaning or dilution so you can target various concerns easily.
Using the wrong cleaning machine in your building not only makes the entire cleaning job ineffective but also poses the risk of damaging your flooring. Moreover, floor cleaning machines are not something you buy again and again. Therefore, you need to do your research and buy the right machine the first time around. This will serve as a great investment to maintain clean and neat floors in any building.
