The do’s & don’ts of mop-care can be tricky for any commercial property that is responsible for regularly cleaning floors. Mark Julo of Golden Star, Inc. who manufacturers wet mops has some suggestions:
DO: REPLACE A LAUNDERABLE MOP HEAD AFTER ONE WEEK OF USE
“Disposable wet mops are generally overused. They should be used for about a week or five working days, and then discarded. However, it’s not uncommon to see a disposable wet mop used 3 to 4 weeks before being discarded. We know the mops have exceeded their useful life and “cleaning” has stopped taking place.”
DO: REMOVE THE MOPHEAD FROM WATER WHEN NOT IN USE
“If a mop is going to be used again after its initial use and before being laundered, it can be left on the wet mop handle. However, it should be removed from the bucket, and particularly, the water…if it remains wet the mop will eventually mildew and sour, producing a bad odor. Removing the mop from the water will help alleviate rust developing when metal wet mop handles are used. In addition, cleaning chemicals are often used in wet mop buckets and the life of the wet mop can be significantly reduced when mops are left in buckets for extended periods”.
DON’T: OVERUSE THE MOP
“When dealing with launderable wet mops, you want to exercise the advantage of the product by not overusing it.” says Julo. “Launderable wet mops should be used to clean a designated amount of square feet based on the size of the mop and the condition of the floor in terms of soil level. The mop should be removed from the handle and set aside to be laundered when it’s clean the desired amount of square feet.”
DO: REPLACE THE DISPOSABLE MOPHEAD ALL TOGETHER BETWEEN 16 and 75 WASHABLE CYCLES
“In general terms, from the least launderable to the most launderable wet mops, the lifespan should range between 16 and 75 wash and dry cycles. If you’re laundering wet mops once a week that will translate to a range of 4 months to 16 months…there are a lot of variables that can affect the number of launderings but those numbers are based on the basic launderable wet mops to the mops specifically designed to be laundered repeatedly.”
DON’T: OVERSATURATE THE MOP
“The advantage of using launderable wet mops is not having to reuse wet mops that have already covered a certain amount of square feet and reached a certain soil level. Once the mop and water have reached a certain soil level, there’s no value in continuing to use a dirty wet mop and dirty water when a clean launderable mop is available.”
