True carpet cleaning ~ critical for schools
Carpet cleaning for health, improving indoor air quality is of critical importance for schools and colleges.
Carpet is recognised as the preferred choice of floor covering in the U.S, firstly, because it provides the most comfortable surface to learn on and secondly it’s positive impact on indoor air quality (IAQ)
Correct maintenance of the carpet is essential to ensure continuing effectiveness relating to air quality as well as the cosmetic appearance of the carpet surface. Ineffective or poor maintenance of carpets have seen some schools returning to hard flooring such as vinyl, with the belief that hard floor surfaces actually improve IAQ.
Pasco County School in Florida recently released its results relating to indoor air quality after a comprehensive study. These results have provided a conclusive argument for the use of carpets in schools and colleges, giving us a highly relevant reason to choose carpets, both in the UK and the US.
Pasco County Steering Committee tested five carpet cleaning methods at one of its elementary schools, with each method executed by a manufacturer representative. These methods included the following:
Truck mount wet extraction - Low moisture cleaning - Low moisture encapsulation - Portable extraction - High flow wet extraction.
After a four week testing period, Pasco schools representative determined that the low moisture, dry extraction system was the preferred choice, due to factors such as - limited time and resources required, an excellent positive contribution to indoor air quality, the immediate use of cleaned carpet and eae of training and operation. Ten year old, vinyl backed nylon faced carpet was returned to ‘as new’ appearance, enabling the school to save money on replacement.