Most walk-off mats can be cleaned with ease using standard cleaning techniques. The difficulty has been the vacuuming step. Since many mats have a vinyl or rubber backing, they can be difficult to vacuum; it is hard to move air through the backing. The HOST extractorVAC has improved the vacuuming of these mats considerably. Another problem with mat cleaning is the fact that they are small and unless they are included as part of a larger cleaning contract, they get overlooked. A way around this is to buy a HOST spotZAPPER and a few 2.2 lb. bags of HOST Dry Extraction Cleaner. This is an inexpensive way to take care of mats in between regular overall cleaning. The spotZAPPER is an excellent tool for this purpose. The Andersen Company recommends the HOST Dry Extraction Cleaning System for maintain their mats.

There are some special types of soil barriers that cannot strictly be called mats. They are meant to be installed permanently in the entrance of the building. One of these is made by Forbo Flooring Systems and is called Coral Plus Extra^®; another is by The Andersen Company and is referred to as Waterhog matting. Coral Plus Extra is specially designed tufted mat with a vinyl backing. The face yarn is nylon 6,6 BCF (bulked continuous filament). According to the manufacturer, Coral Plus Extra stops 90% of the tracked in dirt and moisture. The Coral Plus Extra is installed permanently at entrances and other high soiling areas.

Cleaning can be accomplished using the HOST Liberator or Freestyle with zebra brushes and HOST Dry Extraction Cleaner. This material does an excellent job of hiding the dirt, so the results are often hard to see, but look in the bagless hopper of your extractorVAC and you will be amazed! Tandus Abrasive Action: Sold as a modular tile or in 6 foot roll goods. This is an excellent fabric for entrances and other high traffic, high soiling areas. The HOST Dry Extraction System is ideal for pile lifting/vacuuming and cleaning Abrasive Action entry system.

Waterhog matting is an excellent choice for entrance matting. The manufacturer claims superior dirt and moisture trapping abilities. These mats do an excellent job of trapping dirt and moisture so it doesn’t get into the building. The key is proper maintenance and cleaning so they can continue to do their job. The HOST extractorVAC is an ideal machine for power vacuuming and cleaning these mats. The counter-revolving brushes dig deep and help pull out the dry dirt these mats contain. HOST cleaning completes the job. If these mats are allowed to soil heavily without cleaning, it will require a great deal of effort to clean them properly because they hold so much dirt. Encourage your customers and clients to have these entrance mats cleaned frequently or it will be nearly impossible to achieve satisfactory cleaning results. The most important part of the cleaning procedure is the power vacuuming with the HOST eVAC. This will remove a tremendous amount of the dry dirt and make the cleaning easier. For best results use HOST when cleaning Waterhog matting.