Double the life of your entry mats

MatTek’s Entrance matting is the barrier from the elements designed to prevent dirt, grime, and moisture keeping a safe and clean building. It is  important to regularly maintain and clean entry mats to ensure they are working to their fullest capacity.

Maintain and Clean entry mats

With regular cleaning and maintenance, we have seen customers gain up to an extra 5 years lifecycle from their mats over against other customers who failed to maintain and clean them correctly.

We Recommend the following as a guide to help you maintain your entry mats.

Vacuuming

Consistent vacuuming is one of the most important parts of cleaning and maintaining your entry mats. Done effectively, vacuuming can remove 85% of the soil in your entrance mat. To effectively vacuum entry matting we recommend the following steps:

1. Use a Power/Turbo/rotating head lowering the head to the lowest setting to reduce the open-air space as much as possible. If this is not available use a stiff bristle broom to sweep over the entry mat prior to vacuuming. This helps bring soil and sand to the surface.
2. Turn the vacuum to its most powerful suction setting
3. Make at least eight to ten vacuum passes over the entire area of the mat using slow, deliberate passes both forward and backward. Slow movement allows time for air to circulate through the mat and extract the soil.

Pile Lifting Vacuum Cleaning

Pile lifting requires a different type of vacuum cleaner (usually with a dual motor) that is more aggressive in removing deeply embedded soil, and effectively separates the fibres to restore the pile. This should be carried out periodically according to the level of use. Obviously, heavy-duty areas will require this more frequently.

Spot Cleaning

Spot cleaning is vitally important to prevent temporary blemishes from becoming permanent. Removing stains and foreign contaminants from your mat as soon as possible will help prevent permanent damage. Below are some common examples of common stains and how to effectively maintain the entry matting.

Concrete / Asphalt or Tar – White spirit or solvent spot remover followed by a dry foam carpet shampoo or hot water extraction.

Blood – Apply cold water first, then a strong solution (4 teaspoon in 1 litre of water) of biological washing powder in cold water, if stain persists. (Enzymes will digest majority of the stain).

Chewing Gum – Apply freeze spray chewing gum remover, scrape the residue, then carpet shampoo.

Chocolate – Cold water followed by dry foam carpet shampoo.

Cigarette Burns – Scrape off carefully using a sharp short bladed knife, then treat with a lukewarm mild detergent solution. In the case of a severe burn

a leather punch can be used to cut out the burn and then the area filled by a circle from the carpet remnants.

Coffee or soft drinks – Wash immediately with cold or warm mild detergent solution, followed by solvent spot remover to remove residual fat.

Fat, oil or grease – Solvent spot remover followed by mild detergent solution.

Fatty Food – Lukewarm biological washing powder solution (4 teaspoon in 1 litre of warm water). If stain persists after drying, solvent spot remover can be used.

Urine – Diluted white vinegar solution (acetic acid) followed by mild detergent solution. For old stains consult a professional cleaner.

Vomit – Mild detergent solution then treat with diluted protein spot remover.

Deep Cleaning

This is recommended from time-to-time to maintain and clean entry mats for a thorough, deep clean and especially important for hygiene, such as in hospitals, shopping centres, schools, hotels and restaurants. There are specialist carpet cleaning companies who will perform this task although hot water extraction equipment is also available from a variety of hire companies for rental/purchase. The hot water extraction method involves a solution of water and cleaning agent being sprayed onto the pile and then powerfully vacuumed, which ‘sucks up’ the solution and dirty soil into a holding tank.

Pressure Washing

For mats where they are not fixed into position these can be taken outside and gently pressure washed. Heavily soiled areas may require gentle scrubbing with a soft-bristled scrub brush and an all-purpose general detergent before pressure washing for maximum cleaning. If your matting requires the application of a detergent, ensure that you completely rinse away all traces before returning your mat to service

Allow your mat to fully dry before returning it to service. Fans or air movers can help accelerate the drying process – most mats can fully dry in approximately 3-4 hours after being pressure washed.

Recess Cleaning

Some mats do not trap all dirt and debris on top of the mat especially mats that are not glued down. Therefore, mats that are not permanently fixed down should be routinely removed from the recess to allow for the recess to be cleaned out.

Storage and handling

If the entry matting is required to be stored it is very important to store the entrance mat correctly. Below are a few golden rules to follow to ensure you do not damage your entry mat during storage:

1. Store the entrance mat loosely rolled up with the fibre (walk on side) on the outside of the roll. This ensures it sits flat when rolled out again.
2. Never stand the entrance mats up on the end, this can damage the edging and cause stretching or bubbling when the entrance mat is rolled out again.
3. Don’t fold the entrance mat, only roll. Folding the mat can damage the backing.
4. Never stack other mats or store other objects on top of mats. This can cause the mat to be damaged and stretched and will affect how the mat rolls out.
5. Use our storage trolleys, designed for east entry mat storage and handling.

Logo Mats

Logo mats should NOT be stored rolled up as rolling can break the bond between the logo and the backing and cause the logo to detach.

Heavy Rolling Loads

As with all matting and flooring, when subject to heavy wheeled traffic (scissor lifts/pallet trucks etc. should be suitably protected. MatTek’s Protect-a-Mat system is specifically designed to protect entry mats during heavy rolling load access.

Specialist Advice to maintain and clean entry mats

Contact MatTek on 1800 892 872 or sales@mattek.com.au for further help or information on how to maintain and clean entry mats.

Please Note: Careful and regular maintenance is necessary to ensure applicable warranties are not voided. This information is based on our experience to date and the results of careful testing. Varying site conditions and methods of use may influence the practical application. This information is offered as a general guide only and specific advice should always be sought from a reputable cleaning professional before undertaking any cleaning or maintenance. Whilst MatTek has made every effort to ensure the accuracy and effectiveness of this information, we make no representation as to the accuracy or effectiveness of the information and takes no responsibility for any loss, damage or injury which may be caused as a direct or indirect result of the use of this information.