Your Guide to Tackling Common Stains & Spills in the Office

Offices are like multi-purpose spaces where employees work, collaborate and even share their meals.  Inevitably, that also means these areas are prone to stains and dirt if employees using them are not mindful enough to maintain their fair share of cleanliness. While hiring deep cleaning office services to regularly clean the office space is a solution, you should also educate employees to clean up unexpected stains such as coffee spills and ink marks when they happen to prevent permanent marks or damages. Here are five tips you can introduce to combat common stains at the workplace:

1. Coffee 

Coffee is a common beverage consumed at the workplace because of its energy-boosting benefit. However, when this drink is spilt on office carpets, it not only causes unsightly stains but makes the job a lot tougher for the office carpet cleaning services team.

If this unfortunate event happens, try a do-it-yourself office carpet cleaning technique to prevent the coffee stains from settling in permanently.  Start by pressing a dry cloth on the area to absorb most of the coffee, then rinse the stain with a mixture of water and baking soda. Again, press a dry cloth on the affected area to absorb the mixture. Repeat the process until the stains disappear, and let the carpet dry naturally.

2. Food grease

Food grease is another common stain at the workplace that is hard to clean. Sometimes employees may splatter sauces or leave crumbs on the carpet or fabric upholstery, leaving an unsightly mess. 

To clean the office carpet stains left behind by greasy food, try to pick up or vacuum away solid food crumbs first.  Using a clean white cloth dampened with a mixture of lukewarm water and vinegar (both in equal proportion), attempt to wipe the greasy and ugly marks away. Then, blot the area dry using a dry cloth.  Repeat the blotting technique until the stains are removed.

3. Ink 

Pen ink marks are extremely tricky to handle. It is something that even your office carpet cleaning services team will frown upon. If the office carpet is unfortunate enough to be tainted with pen ink, get a dry cloth to blot the ink spot without rubbing it to spread the ink further. Then, dampen a clean, dry cloth with a dishwashing liquid solution before pressing it on the ink spot to blot the stain from the outside in. Thereafter, blot dry the spot with another dry cloth.

For such stains, try to remove them as much as you can; however, you may still need to engage the help of professional office carpet cleaning services to restore the carpets to their original condition. 

4. Dirt/mud 

With so many employees walking in and out of the office, it is inevitable for them to bring dirt and mud onto the office carpets with their shoes. Even though dirt and mud stains are easier to remove than grease, you should still adopt in-house cleaning methods to remove the mud stains before the deep cleaning office services team arrives to do a more thorough cleaning. 

An effective way to remove mud stains is to spray the area with a solution with equal parts of vinegar, baking soda, and water.  Let the solution sit for a few minutes before blotting the affected area.

5. Pet excrement 

More offices are allowing employees to bring their pets to work.  While this is a fun idea, it also means the office carpet and furniture upholsteries are more prone to accidental pet stains. To effectively remove pet wastes and stains, remove the poop immediately, then use a dry cloth to absorb any liquid residue. Clean the office carpet with a solution of water and detergent or scrub where necessary. Leave the solution for 15 minutes before blotting the carpet with a dry cloth.  Repeat until the stain disappears.

Nimbus provides professional office cleaning solutions for workspaces in Singapore. View our comprehensive range of office management services and office carpet cleaning to find out more.

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