Removing ice melt residue from floors can keep customers safe, make your facility look its best and even extend the life of your floors.

Why You Need to Remove Ice Melt Residue from Floors 

Winter weather certainly creates challenges for floor care. De-icing products, snow, slush and debris are tracked in continuously from sidewalks, parking lots and roads. While ice melt and rock salt protect pedestrians from dangerous patches of ice on sidewalks and in parking lots and protect travelers on roads, it also can wreak havoc on commercial floors. Without proper maintenance, both hard surface and carpeted floors can fall victim to damages caused by ice melt and rock salt.

Having an employee manning your entryways every day with floor cleaner to remove any slush or debris that makes its way inside isn’t practical, but routinely cleaning affected areas can help reduce salt stains and prevent damages.

What Does Salt Damage Look Like? 

The most common symptom of damage seen on hard surface floors is salt stains. When ice melt mixes with dirt and snow and dries, it leaves white splotches or outlines with a grayish color. These discolorations can become permanent if you don’t make removing ice melt stains a priority.

Ice melt generally, and rock salt specifically, has a bad reputation for scratching hard surface floors. When you feel and hear salt crunching under your boot when walking, that debris is actually being smashed right into the surface of your floors. With each step, the floor finish degrades.

These damages make your floors look worn-down and dull. Residue from salt left behind can eat away at floor finishes, making floors even more susceptible to further issues and damages. The risk of cracking goes up on damaged floors too, as dirt, water and other harmful components can seep inside the tiles or slabs.

Ice melt poses a threat to carpets too. Small pellets can be ground into matting and carpets, cutting and dulling fibers and reducing the lifespan of your carpets. Effectively removing ice melt residue is the best way to prevent these issues and protect your floors and carpets from damages.

The Right Products for Removing Ice Melt Residue 

Using the right kind of cleaning products is essential when it comes to removing ice melt residue. Unlike typical dirt and debris, rock salt can’t be cleaned with just some cleanser and a mop. Most common cleaning solutions will only aggravate the problem by spreading around sticky residue.

Floor neutralizers are specifically designed for dissolving ice melt chlorides (along with scum, hard water films and soap!). These products enable you to effectively clean the floors without creating a chemical reaction that makes the problem worse.

Removing Ice Melt Residue from Hard Surface Floors

Betco’s pHerfect neutralizes common ice melt ingredients like sodium and magnesium chloride while also penetrating and cleaning tough soils. With this solution, you can neutralize and clean in one simple step, and it’s best for conditioning floors after stripping and before coating. Betco knows floors better than anyone, and this stuff works!

To remove ice melt residue from floors, dilute 5 oz. of pHerfect per gallon of water and damp mop the floor surface. Click here to order pHerfect today!

Removing Ice Melt Residue from Carpets and Rugs 

Bridgepoint Systems’ Urine Neutralizer may sound like it’s just for cleaning up after pets, but it works perfectly to remove ice melt residue from carpets and rugs! It effectively dissolves and removes alkaline salt deposits and can even tackle stains that are months old.

To remove ice melt from carpets, vacuum thoroughly first. Most of the salt and soil embedded deep into carpets has already dried, and vacuuming will remove dry debris and help the cleaning solution work more effectively.

Dilute Urine Neutralizer with 4 parts water in an electric sprayer or pump and apply to the area you want to clean. Remember that stains can run deep, and the contaminated area may be much larger than the stain you see on the surface. Apply enough solution to reach the pad and subfloor, then let it sit for 10 minutes. Next, use an extractor to remove the solution and then rinse the area clean using water. Click here for detailed instructions and more info about Bridgepoint Systems’ Urine Neutralizer.

Remember that even carpets that appear to look clean on the surface may be hiding a build-up of ice melt residue. Performing regular maintenance and thoroughly cleaning and rinsing your carpets is the only way to prevent build-up and staining.

Following these tips can keep your floors and carpets looking their best all winter long, no matter what Mother Nature throws at us! Contact HJS Supply today to learn more about these products and for more expert advice on removing tough ice melt residue stains.