Seasons change – and right now, spring is in the air. The days are getting longer, the birds are signing, and everything just feels a little brighter all round.
But as the seasons change, so does office cleaning.
Every season brings a new challenge for office cleaners: from the muddy footprints of winter, to the pollen buildup of spring – to the grubby handprints on windows flung open in the summer heat.
Each season needs a tailored cleaning strategy. Not just for the sake of cleanliness, but for efficiency, too. Understanding the seasonal changes you need to make to your office cleaning will keep you running a tight ship, year-round.
So, let’s take you through a tour of the seasons, and the cleaning challenges of each one.
Winter: battling the elements
Winter months probably bring the worst of the challenges. As gloomy and miserable as it is out there in the depths of winter, offices suffer the harsh conditions, too.
Staff and visitors will be tracking in water, slush, and salt grit – leading to wet, rough, dirty flooring throughout the office. Wet hard floors are slippery, posing a safety hazard, too. Naturally, as we battle the elements, office occupants will have a tendency to crank the heating up – which will reduce humidity levels.
The consequences of this are dry air and greater dust accumulation. But it also “bakes” all that mud and slush stomped into carpets, making it harder to clean out.
All this conflicting moisture and dryness can be a real pain to contend with, unless you’ve got a winter cleaning plan in place…
Winter cleaning strategies
Place some heavy-duty mats at entrances, to catch the majority of any filth and water on the way in. Regularly clean these mats, and think about more regular mopping to prevent slip hazards. Grit can do some pretty bad damage to both soft and hard flooring, so make sure it’s regularly swept away.
Read more – How to Keep Dirt and Mud Out of the Office in Winter
Keep up the dusting, too. Pay special attention to heating systems, which can blow dust around or dry out key dust collecting areas. And with the rise in illnesses during winter, keep your WCs stocked with soap, and disinfect high touch surfaces regularly.
Spring cleaning
Ah, spring. As pleasant as the emergence from winter may be, it brings its own set of office cleaning challenges. Increased pollen can infiltrate indoor spaces, making life miserable for staff with hayfever – and dust buildup left over winter will only make matters worse.
Spring cleaning strategies
Spring cleaning is genuinely a thing – and a great opportunity for an office deep clean. A deep clean will thoroughly cleanse carpets, upholstery, and all office contents, to remove dust and allergens. Spring is the perfect time for a deep clean, because it’ll also get all that built up mud and dirt from winter out for the rest of the year.
Read more – Invigorate Your Commercial Office This Spring
Summer: managing heat and footfall
Summer brings warmth, longer days and increased activity. More staff socials, client meetings, and general hustle and bustle can give your flooring a tough time – plus all the heat and humidity can promote mould and nasty smells to take hold. Oh, and then there’s the bins…
Summer cleaning strategies
Keep up the regular dusting and hoovering, but put your bin maintenance into overdrive!
Bins attract flies in the summer, and they love to lay their eggs in them. The result is a maggot and fly infestation – which can hurtle out of control. Trust us – no one wants to return to an office after the weekend to a swarming cloud of flies…
Read more – Summer of Grubs: How to Clean Bins (and Avoid Bugs)
Windows will be opened and shut more often, so keeping the insides of windows fingerprint free will be more time consuming. Check out this guide to office window cleaning for some handy tips.
Oh – and don’t forget to make sure your air conditioning units are working properly, and have had their annual checks. Dust can build up in these units, and get blown around – making dusting a bigger chore than it needs to be in the summer.
Autumn: preparing for the cold
Temperatures fall, and so do the leaves from the trees. It’s not uncommon for leaves to be tracked indoors, leading to unsightly entrances. And with more time spent indoors, you’ll begin to notice increased wear on facilities.
Autumn cleaning strategies
Those winter mats might be useful from autumn onwards – so keep them at entrance points to capture leaves and dirt, and be sure to clean them regularly. And as you gear up for winter, stock up on hand sanitiser and other germ-beating essentials.
A clean office for every season
Looking for the most efficient way to clean through the seasons? Keep your office in top condition, all year – with regular, professional office cleaning from The Abbey Cleaning Service.
Call 029 2067 9323 today, and find out how we’ll help get your office clean, without disrupting your work day.
