It costs roughly $700 to remove every pound of dirt that enters a commercial building. This high cost comes from a mixture of cleaning products, tools, manpower, and lost productivity.
Furthermore, 80% of dust, dirt and other grime enters the building on the bottoms of shoes. Preventing this dirt from making it past the front doors is crucial to the business’ health, cleanliness, and finances.
Something as simple as placing floor mats at entrance doors can help your company save money for the following five reasons:
A quality floor mat can catch up to 75% of dirt tracked in on shoes. These mats are often called “entrance filters” because they filter off harmful dust and dirt, preventing it from moving further into the building
In this way, there is less dirt tracked throughout the rooms, which means less scrubbing throughout the building. Heavy-duty, cost-consuming cleaning can be condensed to one spot—the floor mats. This saves money on products and manpower, while also keeping your building cleaner for longer.
Although it may seem that dirt is transferred from the shoe directly to the floor, in fact, more than half of the dirt tracked in from the outside enters into the air. In this way, dust and dirt heavily impact air quality of an environment.
These particles are the silent, unseen menaces that decrease productivity and health of your worker. Having an entrance floor mat can reduce exposure to these harmful pollutants in the air, bettering the overall quality and atmosphere of the building.
Dirt not cleaned off immediately can damage the surfaces of your floors long-term. Furthermore, any moisture that is tracked in from outside can eat away at the protective layers of your floor, irreparably damaging tile, marble, hardwood, and carpets. This causes an unattractive appearance that takes a lot of buffing and scrubbing in order to look presentable.
Ultimately, this leads to a shorter lifespan of the floor before an expensive replacement is necessary. A simple entrance mat can sop up that moisture to prevent floors from discoloration, aging, and cracking.
35% of all workplace injuries are from slips and falls. These incidences have two major causes: uneven or damaged tile or carpet and unclean floors. If it’s wet outside, a mat will help people dry their feet before stepping onto the slick surface of the lobby. Mats will also remove debris that can cause unexpected slipperiness.
Furthermore, mats not only protect the wellbeing of your employees, but they can also keep the business safe from liability. A customer fell in Wal-Mart and was awarded $1 million for a minor injury. The cost of a quality floor mat is a lot less than the cost of legal fees from a fall in your building.
You want your building to look spotless, but you especially want your lobby and entranceway to make a great first impression on both employees and clients. 42% of people judge the cleanliness of a business based on the floor’s appearance. Rather than cleaning the lobby area nonstop all day to keep it shining and perfect for incoming customers and workers, a mat will help maintain that first impression without all the hard work.
A clean entrance will make your employees more productive and happier, and it will encourage your clients to trust you, work with you, and give you their money.
How Much Matting Do You Need?
The more matting you have the better. People usually don’t stop to wipe their feet on the mat, because they’re hurrying to get here or there. 10-12 feet of matting in commonly-tread directions will allow for 4-5 steps on the mat, ensuring that the largest quantity of dirt is pulled off as they walk.
If you don’t want longer mats for appearance reasons, you can place smaller mats at different key points to pick up grime. For example, you could place two by the entrance, one by the elevator, and one by the bathroom. This will pick up dirt and moisture at key points without compromising the look of your building.
You can also find a floor mat to match the décor of your building! Try out an Americo Camelot Navy Floor Mat, a Ridge Runner Green Floor Mat, or an Ole Olefin Heather Charcoal Floor Mat! Floorcare has a lot of styles, materials, and colors to choose from to ensure the mat will blend seamlessly with your building’s design.
Not sure which mat would look and function best in your building? Contact Floorcare for advice specific to your organization.