The HEPA 700 is the industry’s quietest, high-performance air scrubber with variable airflow up to 700 CFM for Xactimate’s XL HEPA rate. The unit passes DOP tests with standard filters, and you can connect up to 8 units using dual GFCI outlets. For large jobs, it fits the same rack space as the HEPA 500 and stacks securely for transport.

Contact: 800-932-3030 |

View all the companies featured in the Tools and Technology Showcase.

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Simply set up your free business account in the Command Center Pro dashboard to monitor jobs
and control your team’s access to important job data—from the office or in the field. Your techs can even use the app to log after-hours jobs.

The Command Center Pro dashboard also tracks equipment maintenance and delivers detailed job
reports, including graphed dehumidifier readings. Apps available in Apple and Google stores this summer.

Contact: 800-932-3030 |

View all the companies featured in the Tools and Technology Showcase.

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Contact: 800-535-3878

View all the companies featured in the Tools and Technology Showcase.

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Contact: 814-834-9140 |

View all the companies featured in the Tools and Technology Showcase.

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We work in a great industry, full of great people. Business owners, managers, technicians… all of us make up an industry that serves its customers and keeps things clean or restores what has been damaged.

Some of you are sole proprietors, one-truck operations, and are happy with your business model. Others of you are multi-truck companies with several employees, and are always looking to expand.

All of you want to attract more customers. And all of you want to keep the faithful customers you already have. If I am wrong, feel free to call me out on this.

I had an experience as a customer recently to show just how fickle faithfulness really is. Let me share. Maybe you can relate.

I have been a long-time fan of a particular brand of ice cream: Breyers. Specifically, their Waffle Cone flavor. But one day, when at the store to stock up, they were out! No Waffle Cone? I had a decision to make. Either go without ice cream for a few days (unthinkable) or try a different brand (necessary). So, my wife suggested Tillamook Mudslide. After all, it was ice cream, had chocolate in it, so why not?

And I’m glad that Breyers failed me, because I like Tillamook so much more. How did this happen? Breyers couldn’t deliver, so I jumped ship. I bailed. I was unfaithful. Yet, I didn’t mean for it to happen, and neither did Breyers. I suspect they will carry on and not be forced to file Chapter anything even without me as a customer. I am but one tiny fish in a big pond when it comes to ice cream addicts.

Now, some of you might be thinking, “Ice cream is one thing; it is just a commodity, but the service I offer is different.” In some ways, yes. But, there are other companies out there that just might be better than you think, and serve as an enticement for your customers if the time or circumstance is right.

I think by now you can see the slant of my column. If you give your competition even the slightest opportunity at poaching your customers, poach they will. If you give your customers the slightest excuse to try out your competition, try out they will. And I can see you shaking your head. “My customers won’t leave me,” you are thinking. Think again. Customers are more than names on a list. They are real people. Some may stay, others may not. Don’t gamble. Be smart.

Your company’s customer list should be a no-poaching zone. Keep great customer service your focus. Don’t make excuses when you aren’t perfect. Thank your customers for the opportunity to serve them, and be sincere when you do.

Jeff Cross is the media director of ������ý Media, which includes Cleanfax magazine. He is the previous owner of a successful cleaning and restoration firm. He also works as a trainer and consultant for business owners, managers, and front-line technicians. He can be reached at jeffcross@issa.com.

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In the restoration industry, there tends to be a lot of talk, workshops, and support groups focused on the technical aspects of our work. One of the obvious topics that is sometimes missing is, “How do you effectively and efficiently manage a restoration company on the business side?”  In the 10 years that I have been consulting in the restoration field, management systems and leadership training for owners and key managers are often overlooked by those in the industry.

Management fundamentals apply to the restoration industry just as well as
to any other type of business. Management is defined as setting goals and
objectives, and then guiding an individual or group toward those goals. To be effective business managers, we need to have systems and processes in place that allow us to measure and control profitability in order to make smart decisions for our companies.

Defining company culture

The foundation of a successful company is motivating your employees to follow your management systems, processes, and company culture. This means defining what is important to your company and putting those words into action. Value and mission statements look great on the wall, but do those guiding principles translate into actions and attitudes that employees embrace, customers experience, and the public can see?

For example, if a professional image is one of the cornerstones of your culture, do you have a uniform policy that puts that value into action? Is the uniform policy supported by a uniform allowance, visual inspections by managers, and reasonable consequences if that standard is not met?

Create business and marketing plans

Once you have established your cultural norms and committed to consistently re-enforcing and upholding them, you must have a plan from which to generate profitability. This starts with a well-organized and practical business plan that outlines your goals and benchmarks for success. A marketing plan serves to support the business plan, functioning as the engine that drives the goals and objectives on a daily basis.

When I attend industry events and expos, I talk with many small business owners that work hard on the technical side but have no written plan that holds them accountable as business managers. At my company, STOP Restoration, our business and marketing plan is the common link between franchise owner and STOP consultant. As a team, we are all striving toward the success of our shared plan.

Hiring and retention

Profitability can come from many sources in your company, but one of the primary factors affecting your success is your team. Recruiting, hiring, and retaining good employees will require distinctly different objectives and processes, as well as budgeting for time and financial investment. You will need to put in the attention and effort required to build trust and rapport with your staff over time. Management systems ensure you have created an environment that reflects your defined culture, so people want to stay and achieve success. These systems start with the first inquiry by telephone, text, or submission of a resume and end with the exit interview.

Since your employees are your most valuable assets, having personnel management systems in place shows a well-planned process of investing in that resource. For example, research shows that employees rate salary as only the eighth most important reason to stay with a company. Thus, focusing on high salary alone to retain employees will likely end in high turnover. Moreover, if the average small business owner spends approximately $6,000 on recruiting, hiring, and training an employee, personnel management systems must be in place to support and encourage those employees after their initial training to protect that investment.

Communication systems

Defined expectations, a clear chain of command, and routine communication are just some of the key factors that contribute to the foundation of profitability. Without these pillars of communication in place, inefficiency, confusion, and high resignation rates can set in.

None of your management systems can function without collaborative communication: “Is production talking to administration? Is administration clear on what marketing needs? Did marketing send those documents to administration?”

Your business must have clearly defined methods of relaying information from one department to another. The most effective method is written policies, followed by supporting documents, which are reviewed for accuracy and efficiency (measured and controlled) by managers. Requiring cross-pollination at specific meetings can also drastically improve communication, collaboration, and accountability—which in turn allows managers to make educated business decisions to improve service and profitability.

In conclusion

After decades in this industry, we have witnessed firsthand the intense focus that can be placed on technical expertise. I encourage you to step back and evaluate how many management systems and processes you have in your business.

Moreover, how much management training is done within your company? Do you seek experts both inside and outside your business to conduct training and evaluations of these systems? Does that training clearly draw parallels between profitability and management’s ability to train, track, and produce higher levels of productivity?

We are living in an unprecedented age of management with four different generations in the workforce all in need of quality leadership to perform at their peak. Investing in management systems will result in a strong company culture that increases your top and bottom line.

Through college, Daren Clark worked in construction, janitorial maintenance, and as a technician for a 24-hour flood restoration company. He then served for 20 years with the county of San Diego, with 10 of those in management. While in San Diego, he earned his master’s degree in administration and joined the Team in 2012. Clark enjoys spending time with his family and nurturing his classic car hobby in California.

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The owner of a golf club was going to throw away hundreds of chairs because he thought they would be beyond cleaning. This one, covered with wax, was the worst one. We asked him to let us try to clean it and see what we could do. We ended up cleaning 200 chairs, and they all came out awesome. Hard work pays off!

For an opportunity to win a gift card worth $250, send your images and a brief 100-word description on how you obtained your results to Jeff Cross, media director, at jeffcross@issa.com, or submit via Facebook messenger at facebook.com/cleanfax. Contest rules available by request.

[infobox title=’DID YOU KNOW’][/infobox]

Flame-retardant chemicals decompose over time, forming acids, potentially causing serious damage to certain textiles, especially with prolonged exposure. Be cautious when cleaning treated fabrics; even before damage shows, there will be identifiable pH changes.

Read more at www.cleanfax.com/flame-retardants.

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Do you have a dream? Do you have goals for your life or business? Here may be the problem standing in our way: We won’t reach our dream without a phenomenal dream team.

With the so-called “Great Resignation” in motion, it seems the biggest problem small business owners face is finding “good people.”

It can be frustrating. You feel like you’ll never have the team you need to reach your goals. If you have a dream but no team, you have to give up the dream or build up the team.

I know how you feel. I’ve always had big dreams. Over the past 37 years running a high-end residential cleaning company, I’ve endured just about every employee problem imaginable.

Finding the right people was a problem. I remember one day, an old low-rider-type car was sitting outside our office for the longest time. Two unsavory-looking characters were sitting in the vehicle with the doors open. Pot smoke billowed out of the car.

Assuming these guys were up to no good, I began to reach for the phone to have the police come by and assess the situation. About that time, one of them got out of the car and began walking toward our door.

He was wearing flip-flops, cut-off blue jeans, a yellow tank-top, and sunglasses (which he did not remove when he stepped inside the door).

“Can I help you?” I asked. “Y’all hiring?” he asked. I couldn’t believe it! He had been sitting out there smoking weed for the past 30 minutes, and he walked in here to ask for a job?

My response may not have been exactly legal when I said it, but my answer was, “We require a drug test. Is that going to be a problem for you?”

What he said next absolutely floored me! “That gonna be today?” In other words, if you give me a little time, I can pass that test. All of us know that there are little tricks to get a clean drug test if a person knows when it is going to be.

And it wasn’t just finding people that was a problem for me. Managing people was hard. I remember an occasion when I was so angry with my techs about something they did, that I ripped open my shirt and buttons flew everywhere.

Today, I truly have a phenomenal dream team. I have 30 of the most engaged, positive, eager-to-please team members you could possibly find. Plus, I have about 18 people who help me with my coaching company.

What is most important is that I have helped many cleaning and restoration companies (and a hundred other industries) build a team so they can reach their dream.

In this 8-part series, I will share how to:

• FIND the right people.
• ATTRACT the right people.
• HIRE the right people.
• PAY the right people.
• TRAIN the right people.
• COACH the right people.
• DEVELOP the right people.
• SUSTAIN the right people.

The common theme is “right people.” This is a reference from leadership expert Jim Collins and his book, Good to Great. Collins is famous for saying, “Get the right people on the bus, and then get them in the right seat.”

So, who are the right people? In his book, The Ideal Team Player, leadership author Patrick Lencioni says the right person is one who is humble, hungry, and smart. Not IQ- smart, but EQ-smart (otherwise known as ‘emotional quotient’). They have an elevated level of emotional intelligence, which is a fancy way of saying they are “people smart.”

My philosophy is that all in business and life is about relationships. When people have all three of these qualities, they are able to build great relationships with prospects, clients, fellow team members, vendors, and you.

The opposite of these qualities would be someone arrogant, lazy, and unaware of how they are coming across to others.

Let’s start by learning how to FIND the right people first.

Finding the right team members is just like finding customers. In fact, we call our team members internal customers because the relationship is much the same. If your team members aren’t happy, they won’t consistently make your clients happy.

Keep in mind, this article series is not about finding people through online ads. I’m not saying that those methods don’t work, but I think you’ll agree with me that a referred team member, or someone who knows you and has some kind of connection or relationship with you, is a better candidate.

That is, if you know how to build relationships with people. What I find is that many small business owners don’t have success in finding, hiring, and keeping people because they do not understand leadership. They don’t really know how to build that kind of relationship with the candidates and employees.

In fact, it is this point that is at the root of these problems. In 2013, I became the first Ziglar Legacy Certified Trainer in the world. One of the programs we teach is called Building Winning Relationships. This is the most important skill you can have as a business owner. But, people ignore it.

Have you ever noticed that when two people have a conflict, they play the blame game? A business owner or manager laments, “If I could just find good people…” The employee complains, “If my boss wasn’t such a jerk…”

In this series, I am going to challenge you to be the person you need to be to build your own dream team. You see, “everything rises and falls on leadership,” and “the toughest person to lead is always ourself.”

My friend and leadership expert John C. Maxwell said that. He also said that “leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less.” So how can you influence someone else’s life? By adding value to them. My mentor and hero, the late Hilary Hinton “Zig” Ziglar, always said, “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”

You see, most small business owners and managers get this backward. They may tend to lord over their employees and then harshly judge them without training.

My friend and colleague Ellen Rohr (who built two companies from zero to $40 million in franchise sales) says, “Tracking without training is mean.” That makes sense.

So, you’ll need to shift from boss mentality to leader mentality. In this series, I am going to challenge you to learn how to build winning relationships. I will share proven leadership concepts that will help you find, attract, and develop the right people, ultimately ending up with a dream team that will help you reach your dream.

I feel so blessed and thankful to have found team members that have been with my business now for over twenty-five years! The business is turnkey, which means I never have to be there. Ever. It is predictable and profitable, even while I am walking on my dream beach.

I hope this series in Cleanfax  (see them developed in upcoming issues) helps you not only develop superior leadership skills, but also build your own dream team for your business so you can have more freedom in your life.

Howard Partridge started his cleaning business out of the trunk of his car over 37 years ago and transformed it into a multi-million-dollar operation. For the past 25 years, his training and coaching firm has helped thousands of small businesses around the world dramatically improve their performance. For more information, visit

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Cleaning for appearance is what drives virtually all carpet and floor cleaning professionals and technicians, whether in homes or buildings. Yet, we all know that cleaning for health, whether surface cleaning or improving indoor air quality, is critical, and the science is emerging now more than ever before. The world has changed, and more people are demanding proof that the homes and buildings they inhabit and use are clean and safe. It’s a demand that we should embrace, because it involves the work we do and the impact the cleaning industry has on better health.

With this in mind, I sat down with two industry professionals: Doug Hoffman, the executive director of NORMI, and Dr. Gavin Macgregor-Skinner, a senior director with GBAC, a division of ������ý, the worldwide cleaning industry association. Both have a passion for cleaning beyond appearance. In other words, they believe in cleaning for health, and by doing that, protecting people in buildings by using science as a guide.

The following Q&A feature article can and should be used by all cleaning professionals as guidance and justification for the work they do.

What do we know and not know about contaminants on floors?

Doug Hoffman, the executive director of NORMI

The floor is the largest horizontal surface in any building and, therefore, is a repository for all types of contaminants. We know about the breadcrumbs, dog hair, and mud from our shoes, but have we considered the microscopic stuff that has been floating around in the air and now settled onto the floor: the microbes and mold spores for potential mold growth?

Cracks and crevices are the enemy when it comes to keeping floors clean and luxury plank flooring, wood, floor tile, and even sheet vinyl are full of them. And then there is the carpet, the largest filter in the building collecting whatever falls on the floor and trapping it in the fibers and padding. It is seldom noticed, but if you have ever pulled up carpet to replace it, you know the incredible amount of dirt and grime that can collect underneath our feet.

Some areas of the building are dirtier than others because of the higher volume of traffic, and the floors show it. Moisture prone areas like bathrooms and laundry rooms soak up spills and create a haven for bio-nesting for mold and bacteria.

Dr. Gavin Macgregor-Skinner, senior director of GBAC

The CDC (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) published guidelines on Cleaning and Disinfecting Your Facility: Every Day and When Someone is Sick (updated November 15, 2021) that were for cleaning and disinfecting buildings in community settings to reduce the risk of COVID-19 spreading. The guidance lists examples of high-touch surfaces such as pens, counters, shopping carts, tables, doorknobs, light switches, handles, stair rails, elevator buttons, desks, keyboards, phones, toilets, faucets, and sinks.

But there’s been very little discussion or guidance provided on the risk of floors in spreading SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 disease or even the spread of infectious disease-causing agents (virus, bacteria, fungus) on your shoes.

Other published government guidelines for COVID-19 and other infectious diseases similarly provide very little on cleaning and disinfecting floors.

Here are some issues affecting floors in the spread of infectious diseases:

• Step 1: Infected person coughs or sneezes, producing respiratory droplets that contain bacteria or viruses that land on surfaces in their location.
• Step 2: Bacteria or virus is now transferred onto various surfaces including the floor.
• Step 3: Person walks on floor and bacteria, or virus is now transferred onto their shoes. Risk of virus spreads as they walk around from soles of shoes or aerosolizing back into the air.
• Step 4: Person returns home, further spreading the virus.
• Step 5: Person takes off their shoes. Bacteria or virus has now transferred onto their hands.
• Step 6: Person, not knowing the virus is on their hands, touches their face, increasing the likelihood they become infected.

As the largest horizontal surface in a building, the floor is a breeding ground for all types of germs and contaminants. Appropriate cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting guidelines and regular floor maintenance are key components to successful infection-risk mitigation.

When people enter a building, unless they can visibly see a dirty floor, they may not think about the floors as a source of germs that can make them sick. But there is research that shows floors are covered with germs that can be a potential source of infection.

Even if we don’t directly touch the floors, most of us don’t consider what may be on our shoes or socks. Most likely, we do not think to wash our hands with soap and water every time we put on or remove our shoes. By washing your hands and minimizing your interaction with floors, you can decrease your risk of infection and the risk of spreading infection to others.

We need to be better educated on which germs can survive on floors and how they spread.

A study published by Deshpande and colleagues in the American Journal of Infection Control focused on what bacteria might live on floors of hospitals. The researchers used swabs and then cultured the samples from 120 floor sites among four Cleveland-area hospitals. The bacteria they found that could lead to hospital-acquired infections included:

• 22% of the floor sites were positive for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) that can cause skin infections, blood stream infections, and pneumonia and is resistant to many common antibiotics.
• 33% of the floor sites were positive for vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) that can cause urinary tract infections and wound infections. It is resistant to vancomycin, an important antibiotic.
• 72% of floor sites were positive for Clostridium difficile (C. diff) that causes severe diarrhea. This study found that C. difficile was not only found on floors in isolation rooms where people with this infection are kept but also in other rooms where people did not have this infection. This shows that C. difficile is able to spread between rooms and can survive on floors.
• 24% of high-touch objects that were in contact with the floor were contaminated with more than one
• 57% of contaminated objects in contact with the floor transferred bacteria to hands.

What is the correlation between surfaces, such as floors, and indoor air quality? What type of testing can prove what you believe?

Hoffman

When performed by a well-trained professional, the IAQ assessment always includes testing both surfaces and air for contaminants. We may not think about how our surfaces get so dirty, but much of the contamination we collect from surface samples is the result of airborne contaminants settling out. The dust we see on our piano is dust that has been in the air, and now, through natural ionization processes, becomes the haze that needs to be wiped from the surface. Dead skin cells, mold spores, pollen, insect parts, and pet dander are some of those airborne contaminants that eventually land on the surfaces of our bookcases, furniture, and floors.

Microbes do not have wings but do have the tendency to float around on the small particulate like a magic carpet ride. We may inhale them or touch a surface where they have landed and, suddenly, we now have an infection someone else had and we did not even have contact with that person. Additionally, touch transmission is another reason why it is important to keep all our surfaces clean, including our floors.

Diagnostic testing is objective and can show us exactly how contaminated our surfaces are and, after cleaning, can prove we have done a good job removing the contamination that was in the air and now on the ground. Swab sampling, bulk sampling, swipe, and carpet sample collections are great options to evaluate what’s going on with our floor surfaces.

What do you recommend we do about these contaminants and cleaning processes for floors? How can we really make a difference for building occupants?

Macgregor-Skinner

The challenges we face in a post-pandemic society are not new, but now is the appropriate time for all industries to rethink and reassess their approach to infection-risk mitigation. Choosing appropriate flooring materials and ensuring that standard operating procedures for cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting floors are adhered to will make a crucial difference in maintaining a healthy workforce and protecting the public.

It is important that the cleaning of floors for infection prevention isn’t overlooked. We can improve this through education and sharing studies that show that infectious disease pathogens can easily spread via foot traffic and floors, not just by person-to-person contact or droplets in the air.

Studies show that floors and shoe soles can have high concentrations of bacteria and viruses and be tracked to other rooms. The presence of germs on floors is largely attributed to gravity and airflow, but then they can be carried elsewhere by foot traffic or can re-enter the air from the ground due to foot traffic. As people walk, they not only collect and spread germs on the soles of their shoes as they move from one area to another but can also aerosolize bacteria or viruses when they kick it back in the air.

This further illustrates the need for regular and thorough cleaning and disinfecting of all floor surfaces, in addition to the high-touch surfaces which often receive the greater focus for disinfection.

Hoffman

Objective methods of testing surfaces, like surface sampling, could allow us to compare post-cleaning sampling to a pre-cleaning baseline, helping us evaluate the cleanliness of the surfaces under our feet. But this, unfortunately, is seldom done and most often discouraged. We recommend objective testing in every assessment.

Carpeting is especially difficult to keep clean but should be vacuumed regularly to reduce the collection of contaminants. You have probably seen videos where vacuuming itself creates a dust cloud that only settles back into the carpet once the vacuum is turned off. That only confirms that regular vacuuming, daily, needs to be done. A good maintenance schedule should include carpet cleaning techniques that are thorough but protect the carpet.

When cracks and crevices are apparent in wood, luxury plank, or vinyl tile, special care should be taken to periodically scrub the surfaces with a soft bristle brush rather than relying only on the occasional dust mop. Pushing around the dust often allows it to fill those cracks and create an opportunity, if a spill should occur, for mold to grow.

Tile grout is a sponge that absorbs moisture, so care should be taken to seal the grout. By filling the surface with a good sealant, and applying it on a routine basis, there is less possibility of trapping contaminants, and the surface will become smoother and easier to keep clean.

We do not think about the fact that things in the air land on the surfaces and things on the surfaces become airborne. With air constantly moving in our indoor environments, we should address all the air and every surface to have a cleaner, safer, healthier indoor environment.

Why are not more resources spent on removing contaminants and cleaning for health? What surprises you the most?

Hoffman

This is a good question, and I do not know if I have a good answer. I remember when I was in the building trades and I wanted to do something that I knew would build a better house, the response was usually, “Yes, that would be nice, but I’d rather have granite countertops.”  It seems like the idea of cleaning for appearance instead of cleaning for health has become a way of life.

It might be that resources are not dedicated to this, and budgets are slashed because we are more concerned about what people can see than about what they cannot see, and yet what they cannot see is the most dangerous.

Scientists tell us that the most dangerous particulate in the air is not the stuff that is trapped in a filter but the submicron particles that go right past our nose hairs and get lodged deep in our lungs. There’s evidence that some of that tiny stuff can enter our blood stream, the stuff we can’t even see with the naked eye. Waterborne illnesses often come from “clear” water because no one would drink cloudy water. We cannot see these contaminants but those are the ones that are most dangerous. Therefore, it is so important to incorporate testing in any cleaning protocols.

Macgregor-Skinner

Koganti and colleagues conducted a study to determine the extent that germs from the floor spread to the hands of people, as well as high-touch surfaces, both inside and outside the hospital room. They took bacteriophage M2, a nonpathogenic virus engineered not to cause infection, and placed it on wood laminate floors next to hospital beds.

They then swabbed a variety of surfaces to ascertain if and where the virus had spread. It was reported that the virus had spread to not only hands, shoes, socks, but also bed rails, bed linens, tray tables, chairs, pulse oximeters, doorknobs, light switches, sinks, and even close-by rooms and nursing stations. In the nursing station, the virus was found on the keyboards, computer mice, and phones.

This study showed that infectious disease-causing pathogens on hospital floors can spread to many surfaces both inside and outside the hospital room.

If you could build a team to keep buildings healthy, what would that look like, especially with floor care?

Hoffman

If I were building a cleaning team to keep buildings healthy, I would do personality profiling to find people who were detail-oriented. I would look for people who are obviously concerned about their appearance and who keep their car clean. Seriously, I have found it difficult to teach someone who is untidy to be as concerned about the cleanliness of surfaces as I am. I would want them to buy into a rigorous cleaning schedule and enjoy the challenge of keeping it clean.

My mother thoroughly cleaned our house every spring and fall, which would include pulling all the rugs out of the house, cleaning the venetian blinds (I got that job), and washing the windows inside and out. That seems to have become a lost art and most cleaning now is for appearance, not for health.

I would build a team who understands that appearance is NOT as important as health, because if you are cleaning for health, the appearance will take care of itself. Cleaning cannot be a low budget item and requires ongoing toolbox training to keep the team sharp and current on new chemistries and techniques.

How do we convince those we clean for and who oversee cleaning budgets to increase frequency and quality of cleaning?

Macgregor-Skinner

We need to define what “clean” is and we need to measure it. With respect to floors, both detergents and disinfectants help to control germs. But, they are not synonymous. Detergents remove dirt, grease, and germs through scrubbing with soap and water solutions. Disinfectants are either chemical or physical interventions that require dwell time or contact time to kill bacteria and inactivate viruses.

We need to ensure our cleaning methods target the right sites for decreasing the risk of infection and are applied frequently enough to reduce the number of germs that could cause infection.

Hoffman

COVID-19 brought a heightened awareness to the table. But, like so many things, I fear we are becoming distracted, and maybe laxer, about the frequency and quality of our cleaning processes. We should be talking more about the contaminants that we are living with every day and not just the latest virus variant. If we realized how we could reduce illness and increase the quality of our health by simple, regular, and thorough cleaning of all surfaces, we would be encouraged to do better.

We have tremendous new technologies in air filtration/purification equipment that reduce the airborne contaminants and keep surfaces, including floors, cleaner. We should incorporate these in every way we can. We have ways of monitoring indoor air quality so we can catch anomalies before they become a problem and provide ongoing sampling to verify that our cleaning processes are working. This kind of holistic approach is the answer, and educating the decision-makers on the long-term benefits of such will convince them of the importance of this line item.

Who is responsible for protecting public health when it comes to indoor spaces?

Hoffman

As much as I would like to think that someone else is responsible, I am convinced that, like so many things, it is up to me. The building owner, property manager, facilities maintenance director, or leasing company certainly must bear some responsibility for the cleanliness of their buildings. But, I do believe, and have experienced, the truism that “the squeaky wheel gets the grease,” and so I need to become that “squeaky wheel.”  This does not have to be a confrontation but a simple sit-down to discuss my needs and the concerns about my own health, and the health of my family or workers. If the millennial employee has taught us anything, we have learned that the needs of the individual must have a seat at the table, so expressing our needs is a great place to start.

Macgregor-Skinner

It is everyone’s responsibility. Cleaning for health needs to be part of a business continuity of operations plan. But, we know all too well that when a facility needs to cut costs, cleaning is a cost-cutting target.

CEOs and senior management need to understand that removing visible and invisible dirt from floors and surfaces in their buildings requires trained staff, ongoing monitoring, measurement of bioburden, education, continuous improvement processes, and two-way communication between those responsible for cleaning and the users of the building, as well as those responsible for budget, health, and safety.

If you were to give a short speech to cleaning professionals, what would you tell them?

Macgregor-Skinner

Cleaning of floors and other surfaces that accumulate infectious disease-causing agents was often a low priority. Times have changed. We know surfaces serve as a source of infection. As a cleaning professional, you need to learn the science and the evidence-based procedures and go to market with “Cleaning for Health.”

Hoffman

You are the front-line first responders dealing with indoor environmental contamination. You are the ones who can improve the health of those you serve. You can protect them from whatever danger they might face, from touching contaminated surfaces to breathing contaminated air. You must be sure they go back home in the same condition in which they came to work. And by taking good care of the air and the surfaces, you will protect your own family when you return home after a hard day of work keeping the building clean. It is that important.

There are very few things in our indoor air environments as dynamic as indoor air quality and the condition of our surfaces. It is constantly changing. The possibility of a life-threatening or debilitating illness is ever-present and needs to be addressed constantly. But, the good news is this: Getting a grip on the correct procedures and processes that manage the quality of cleaning produces a much cleaner, safer, and healthier environment.

IAQ management is about controlling the quality of the air we breathe and the cleanliness of the surfaces we touch and walk on. On a personal note, I have great faith that people really want to do the right thing and do a good job. When properly educated and trained, they will rise to the occasion and make things better.

Doug Hoffman is the founder and executive director of the National Organization of Remediators and Mold Inspectors (), a not-for-profit training and certification organization for IAQ professionals. His passion has been helping people understand how to live healthier lives indoors and empowering them with the ability to have clean air. Get more information from his book, Mold-Free Construction, at www.moldfreeconstruction.com.

Dr. Gavin Macgregor-Skinner is a senior director of the l (GBAC), a division of ������ý. As an infection prevention expert and epidemiologist, he works to develop protocols and education for the global cleaning industry, helping facilities, businesses, organizations, and cleaning professionals to create safe environments.

References:

• CDC Guidelines on Cleaning Your Facility: Every Day when Someone is Sick (updated November 15, 2021)
• Deshpande, A., Cadnum, J.L., Fertelli, D., Sitzlar, B., Thota, P., Mana, T.S., Jencson, A., Alhmidi, H., Koganti, S., Donskey, C.J. (2017). Are hospital floors an underappreciated reservoir for transmission of health care-associated pathogens. American Journal of Infection Control, 45, 336-338.
• Guo, Z., Wang, Z., Zhang, S., Li, X., Li, L., Li, C….Chen, W. (2020). Aerosol and Surface Distribution of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 in Hospital Wards, Wuhan, China, 2020. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 26(7), 1583-1591.
• Koganti S, Alhmidi H, Tomas ME, Cadnum JL, Jencson A, Donskey CJ. Evaluation of Hospital Floors as a Potential Source of Pathogen Dissemination Using a Nonpathogenic Virus as a Surrogate Marker. Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology. 2016 Nov;37(11):1374-1377.

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When rugs are woven, there is often some additional work done to help create a particular finished look. With wool rugs, “luster washing” is a common treatment we see come into our rug facilities, and it is one to make note of in pre-wash inspections as luster-washed rugs present unique cleaning challenges.

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Luster washing is a chemical wash to help give a wool rug more sheen. Using solutions that are often bleach-based, the process dissolves the outer cuticle layers of the wool to make them smoother. This softens the colors, makes the wool softer to the touch, and gives the fibers more shine, like silk. In fact, with extreme chemical work, these rugs are often mistaken for silk by consumers.

Luster washing done well creates a beautiful effect; however, this process to add luster to rugs has a cost.

The price of high sheen

The chemicals used in luster washing are removing the natural protective layers of the wool. Under the microscope, the layered scales of wool become smoother after this process.

The unintended consequence of removing the outer cuticle layers is that it also reduces the natural strength, durability, and repellency of the wool. This makes the wool more susceptible to UV fading, more prone to permanent stains from spills, and more likely to wear from foot traffic.

The most familiar example of the consequences of a strong luster wash are Chinese hand-knotted wool rugs woven in the 1980s. These were rugs made with excellent wool and dyes and given a strong chemical wash to create a heightened shine and softer feel.

Since the chemical wash affected only the surface pile of these rugs, it’s possible to see the exact physical impact on the wool fibers when you compare their chemically affected tips to the base of the fibers.

This particular production of Chinese wool rugs is known to be very sensitive to sun fade. They are rugs that cannot be dried in the sun after cleaning because they will dramatically lose their color.

Due to the high sheen of these Chinese wool rugs, they can continue to look attractive even when they are especially dirty. The shine can hide damage that is occurring to the fibers, in particular fading of colors or pile wear. If you are not detailed with your pre-wash inspection, you might uncover some surprising problems as the damage will be much more evident after cleaning.

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A Chinese hand-knotted luster-washed wool rug cut open to show the wool knots. The tips of the wool are chemically softened and faded. The base of the fiber is darker and stronger.

Grinning open the fibers during a pre-wash inspection will show fade and if the rug has been chemically luster washed.

The original pink wool of this Chinese rug has faded to beige on the front side.

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This particular Chinese rug (below) had not been cleaned for more than seven years.

A Chinese luster-washed wool rug with more than seven years of soiling that is hiding some pre-existing damage. Sun fade areas are noted, as is an area where a plastic protector has caused damage. Layers of soil can camouflage problems on these rugs.

The wool had a strong shine despite the layers of “life” embedded in the fibers. It was important to prepare the client for the fact that several areas of sun fade from the windows were going to become more noticeable after the rug was cleaned. Additionally, a plastic chair protector that was used along the right side of the rug caused some fiber damage due to small plastic teeth on the underside that cut away at the weakened wool.

Knowing that the rug is luster washed and sensitive to fading and wear, these areas could be discussed with the customer before the wash proceeded to help manage expectations. As anticipated, removing the years of soiling revealed all the areas impacted by sun and use.

After washing, the rug comes back to life with stronger color and shine but also shows every area of damage much more clearly.

Luster-washed wool rugs are also much more prone to creating pooling effects in traffic areas. The wool is less resilient so it will wear in incorrect directions, which can create shadowing due to the change in light reflection.

On a luster-washed wool rug, years of traffic has led to fibers pointing toward the side rather than down with the natural grain of the weave. The change in reflection creates a strong light and dark difference in the color as a result.

In Chinese rugs, you tend to see this effect particularly along the edges and in high use areas. The friction of traffic breaks away the lightest tips of the wool and reveals a slightly darker tone underneath. This can become a darker shadow in front of a sofa with regular foot traffic. The weakened wool can also lead to pile distortion in traffic areas where fibers lay in the wrong direction, creating color difference.

With stronger wool, pile distortion can often be corrected. With luster-washed wool, it is a bigger challenge to try and improve these areas because it is not just temporary distortion, but fiber wear and damage.

It is important to be aware of how these rugs are being used in their setting to spot potential areas of concern BEFORE you reveal them with your great rug cleaning work.

How to help customers protect the look of luster-washed wool rugs

You cannot bulletproof these rugs, but there are strategies that can minimize and even out wear, as well as protect the fibers to buy an owner time for effective cleanup of spills before the rug stains permanently.

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  Luster-washed wool rugs are not able to repel spills, so they are much more susceptible to staining. Fiber protector is especially important to recommend with these rugs.

  Rotate regularly: These rugs in open areas will wear faster and develop shadowing (light/dark areas) as the tips of the fibers break away from years of traffic. Recommend that customers rotate luster-washed rugs regularly to help even up this wear over time.

• Vacuum regularly: It is the fine grit that cuts at the wool to cause wear, so regular vacuuming by owners of these rugs is especially important. A quality rug pad will also act as a shock absorber to help slow down wear.
• Use fiber protector: Applying a fiber protector to luster-washed rugs will help repel spills and soils, giving owners more time to clean up while limiting permanent staining damage.
• Clean spills promptly: With the chemical wash having removed the wool’s natural repellency to spills, immediate cleanup is more important than ever.
• Use professional cleaning products: Clients need guidance to avoid grocery store spot and stain removers on these rugs, as many are not safe for use on wool. With these chemically-weakened wool rugs, consumer products often create cleanup disasters.
• Limit UV exposure: Recommend that clients use window treatments to limit UV exposure to these rugs to slow down the fading process. Some wool protectors offer UV protection as well.

In the past, luster wash work was performed only to the face side of wool rugs. This made them easier to identify in an inspection process because the back side would be much darker than the front side. A rug cleaner could grin open the rows of wool and see that the tips of the fibers are lighter than the base.

Today with the popularity of “distressed” rugs, chemical work is being performed to BOTH sides of rugs to fade the front and back. This aggressive chemical work makes the rugs harder to identify and creates  new challenges for both rug owners and professional rug cleaners. We will dive into that topic in my next article.

Lisa Wagner is a second-generation rug care expert, NIRC Certified Rug Specialist, and an owner of Blatchford’s Rug Cleaning in San Diego, California. For rug course and training details, visit .

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