Table of contents
- Choose by task and surface: Dry mops vs. wet commercial mops
- Color code your mops: The importance of color coding
- Customize for performance: Strength, size, and handle design
Managing a facility means juggling countless details to ensure everything is clean, safe, and running smoothly for your team and visitors. Among the many tools at your disposal, one simple item is often underestimated yet plays a vital role: commercial mops.
Integrated into a comprehensive facility services program, the right commercial mop does more than just clean floors. Floor mops are key to preventing slips and falls, enhancing overall hygiene, and making your maintenance routines more efficient throughout the entire building.
Choosing the best commercial floor mops for your specific needs is a crucial step. Let’s explore some practical tips to help you make the right selection for your facility.
1. Choose by task and surface
Dry mops vs. wet commercial mops
Dry Mops
Dust mops (dry mops) are ideal for dust control on hard floors, especially in large, high-traffic areas. They’re gentler than brooms and capture loose debris efficiently.
Options include:
- Dust mops: Budget-friendly and reliable for everyday dusting.
- Microfiber dry mops: Superior dirt-trapping and finer particulate capture to reduce airborne dust.
Wet mops
Wet commercial mops are best for spill cleanup, sanitization, and bacterial control in higher-risk environments.
Options include:
- Classic loop-end cotton mops: Familiar, cost-effective, and widely compatible with most commercial mop buckets and wringers.
- Microfiber wet mops: Antimicrobial fibers support hygiene protocols, lightweight, fast-drying material offers high absorbency and superior soil release, withstands bleach, and resists lint and mildew.
2. Color code your mops
The importance of color coding
Color coding is a great way to keep cross-contamination at bay. You can customize the colors for specific spaces so that each area has its own dedicated mop and bucket.
Here is a recommended color-coding system:
Red Mops
For high-risk or sanitary areas like healthcare settings and workplaces where it is important to separate mops used for bathrooms from mops used in other areas.
Green Mops
For areas where consumption of food is handled. Restaurants and kitchens needing to follow safety guidelines are good examples.
Yellow Mops
For moderate-risk areas like gyms, labs, or even sink areas.
Blue Mops
For common and low risk areas like offices, convention centers, and shopping malls.
3. Customize for performance
Strength, size, and handle design
When you choose a commercial mop, you’ll find different characteristics to consider. From size to types of materials, there is a mop for all kinds of spaces.
Our facility experts can guide you when it comes to:
Strength & Durability
Choose ply count and strand type based on use level. Heavy-use areas benefit from higher ply and loop-end designs that resist fraying and laundering.
Size & Absorbency
Wet mops are commonly sized by ounces. Smaller heads (holds up to 10 oz.) suit touch-ups and tight spaces; larger heads (24–40 oz.) can handle bigger spills and large-format floors.
Mop Handle Design
The way the mop’s head attaches to the handle affects speed and safety. Screw-tops are simple, common, and secure for general use while jaw-style/clamps are convenient and are faster to swap heads reducing downtime.
Conclusion
Integrating commercial mops into a broader facility services program helps you maintain cleaner, safer floors while standardizing processes across locations.
You’ll benefit from:
- Consistent access to clean, refreshed mop heads
- Standardized color-coding and protocols
- Predictable costs through managed inventory
