Fort Worth, TX - Many cleaning professionals were caught off guard last winter, especially when it came to protecting their customers' floors. 

Last winter was so harsh that many floors took a serious beating before anything could be done to protect them.     

To help prevent this from happening again and better prepare for whatever this winter brings, this month's  Powr-Flite Floor Care Troubleshooter focuses on the key offenders that can damage floors:  

Ice melt: These products can damage a floor's finish and create a slip-and-fall hazard. For this offender, and the ones mentioned below, installing extra entry matting can help protect floors.

Sand and grit: Along with ice melt materials, sand and grit collect in ice and snow and make their way onto floors.

Pounding shoes: Building users typically wear heavier shoes in the winter.  These heavier shoes can pound sand, grit, and soils into floor surfaces, further marring the finish and damaging the floor.

More foot traffic: People tend to stay indoors more in the winter months so expect foot traffic to increase. 

In addition to installing more matting this winter, Debby Davis, a floor care expert with Powr-Flite, recommends:

* Spend more time maintaining first floor areas.  "This helps prevent soils from making their way to other areas of the facility."

* Vacuum hard-surface floors instead of dustmop.  "Vacuuming using a backpack vacuum actually pulls and removes sand, dust, and grit from floors.  Dust mopping often pushes them further into floor pores."

* Increase damp mopping frequencies or, to improve worker productivity significantly, use automatic scrubbers that clean, scrub, and dry floors in one pass.

* Burnish or buff (if using a low-speed finish) much more frequently to further clean the floor and restore its shine.

"One of the best ways to prepare for winter is to automate floor care as much as possible," adds Davis.  "Invariably, using automatic scrubbers is not only faster, but also much more effective-they can provide the knockout punch that can keep your customers' floors looking their best this winter."

The Powr-Flite Troubleshooter addresses some of the most common floor care problems cleaning professionals encounter ... and, most importantly, how to tackle them.

About Powr-Flite 

Established more than 40 years ago, Powr-Flite manufactures a full line of floor-care equipment and carpet extractors for the professional cleaning industry. Based in Fort Worth, TX, the company has over 20 patented designs and its products are recognized throughout the world for their innovation, durability, quality and performance. Their products are marketed directly to end-use customers as well as through distributors throughout the North America, Europe and the Far East.