Southeastern Equipment & Supply Blog

It has been said that your floors are like the “shoes” of a room .  It takes no time for them to get dull, dirty, and beat up considering they are the most used part of the room.  However, just as in what type of shoes you wear say a lot about you, so do your floors.  If you have on the finest outfit, tailored to perfection, looking like a star when you walk into any room, it could easily be ruined by a filthy pair of beat up, dull, grungy looking shoes.  Just like you wouldn’t want to give off the wrong impression by not looking the part, likewise, your floors say a lot about you.  To me, there is nothing worse than walking into a place of business and looking down to see dirty, ill-maintained floors.  How well you care for the cleanliness of your business says a lot about the care and devotion you put into your product, as well as your customers.  Looks are EVERYTHING sometimes, and remember, you only have one chance to make a favorable a...

Why extract? Regular carpet cleaning is a must in order to maintain a professional appearance and to prolong the life of your carpet. In carpet care, it is important to treat soiled spots quickly and periodically extract the carpet. This ensures that surface stains and odors are removed on a regular basis. If extraction is not done on a regular basis, stains can set in permanently, leading to costly carpet replacement. What is involved in carpet extraction, more specifically hot water extraction (HWE)? Quite simply, it is the process of delivering a cleaning chemical, agitation or pressure is applied and then a vacuum recovery system is used. This method used to be called “steam cleaning” even though no steam was being used to clean the carpet. What to Consider Here are a few different features to look for when purchasing an HWE. Water pressure - A minimal amount of pressure is needed to distribute the water and chemicals to the carpet. Some manufacturers advertise their m...

It doesn't matter whether you have a large or small business, conducting effective maintenance on your equipment is essential. The term “preventative” or “planned” maintenance commonly refers to the practice of regularly servicing equipment on a pre-determined schedule so that it does not develop catastrophic failures and performs better over its useful lifecycle. PROS Some advantages recognized by utilizing preventative maintenance are; Longer equipment lifecycle – When your equipment is being checked and maintained, it will be kept in its best shape, therefore extending its lifetime. Less risk factor – Because your equipment is regularly checked, there is less risk of unplanned breakdowns. Follows a set schedule - By following a service schedule, you are able to keep a budget while maintaining your equipment. You will also be able to have a maintenance history and be better able to make an educated decision when it comes time to replacing your equipment. Money s...

Contract Cleaning vs In-house Maintenance: The Things to Consider For some time now the decision to keep your cleaning duties in-house or to outsource them has become a difficult choice to make, and now it is harder than ever. Many factors go into how to determine if this is the right choice for your organization and a one-plan-fits-all outline is no longer an easy path to follow. In this week's blog, we will go into detail on some of the things to consider when making this decision. Services: Over the past few years, the extent of services companies provide has increased from simple to extensive and include things like electrical, plumbing, security, and lawn maintenance on top of janitorial services. If outsourcing specialty services that require specific machines can now be the responsibility of a separate company releasing the need of investing capital funds that could be positioned in alternative areas. Convenience: Tennant R3 Carpet Extractor With the outso...

What Type of Automatic Scrubber Do I Need? In last week's blog , we discussed on why we should scrub and the basic inner workings of the automatic floor scrubber. This week, we will go into detail of how to pick the right scrubber based on the size of the area that needs to be cleaned. Also, do you need a rider or walk-behind, disk or cylindrical? Size When it comes to deciding on what size of floor scrubber to purchase, there are a number of things to consider. 1. Square footage needed to be cleaned. Primary and secondary. 2. Storage area 3. Size of the fill/dump location/Doorways/Elevators When determining the square footage, there is more to consider than just the largest areas needing to be cleaned.  To get the most use out of your investment, you may want to think about some of the smaller spaces too.  For example, a school may have in mind purchasing a machine to clean the gymnasium or the hallways.  The larger the scrub path, the quicker ...

Why Scrub? For years, the only and most effective way to clean floors was to use the “old fashioned” mop and bucket. In fact, this method is still widely used today although it is not the most efficient nor the most sanitary. There are some negative aspects to consider when cleaning with a mop and bucket. First and foremost, the cleaning solution is quickly contaminated as the mop comes in contact with the dirty floor and keeps getting submerged back into the cleaning solution. Before long, dirty water is just being spread over the floor. Additionally, mopping cannot clean the grout in tiled floors and baseboards tend to gather dirt from the mops. Mopping tends to “wipe” as it cleans without providing any real pressure to deep clean the surface and mopping large areas is very time-consuming. Realizing all of the pitfalls associated with mopping, most businesses have turned to the automatic floor scrubber. The automatic scrubber is an excellent way to clean effectively and effici...

Imagine for a moment, 12 individuals grinding out the last few minutes of a 20-minute high-intensity workout consisting of two 25 feet overhead walking barbell lunges, chest to bar pull ups, and bar facing burpees over the bar. Not just 20 minutes to complete these movements, but 20 minutes to complete as many rounds of these movements, and by a round I mean 25 foot overhead walking barbell lunges with 95 pounds on the bar for men and 65 pounds on the bar for women, eight bar facing burpees over the bar, 25 foot overhead walking barbell lunges (same weight), and eight chest to bar pull ups. Yes, all of that is one round! Seems like a lot of work, right? Let’s add some variables to that equation: it's 98 degrees outside, so inside a non-air-conditioned facility it could be anywhere between 85 to 90 degrees with a slight breeze. This means lots of sweat. Don’t forget the humidity factor. That doubles the sweat. Since they are sweaty and they have to use a barbell and do chest to ba...

*batteries not  may be included In the world of commercial scrubbers and sweepers, there are many different options and features. One of the features weighing on a purchasing agents mind is going to be what kind of propulsion system to go with. While LP (Liquid Propane) is an option for certain types of sweepers and a small selection of scrubbers, the overwhelming majority of machines are going to be designed for battery power. This is because for the majority of commercial scrubber and sweeper use cases - whether ride-on or walk-behind - a battery system provides the correct balance of safety, usability, and convenience. So that’s it - Battery is the way to go for your new scrubber, right? Well, not so fast… Now we have to consider what TYPE of battery is best for YOU. The truth is, all of the currently available battery configurations have strength’s and weaknesses respectively, and the best way to know which one is going to be right for you is to be thoroughly familiar ...

Your new or reconditioned floor care equipment has just arrived! How do you protect your investment? This is a question many ask themselves after they have purchased floor care equipment. Here are a few tips on how you can protect your investment. Maintenance Routine Depending on the make and model of your floor care equipment you will want to perform some and/or these tasks daily... Recovery tanks should be emptied and rinsed. Clean and shut-off filters, make sure to leave lids off so that they can air dry. Solution tanks should be emptied. Brushes/pads should be cleaned and rinsed. Vacuum ports and squeegees should be cleaned  Jets should be cleaned regularly (expert tip: soak jets in a mixture of vinegar and water overnight to keep down mineral deposits.) These simple preventative maintenance steps performed either by you or an employee (the equipment operator) on the equipment daily can really go a long way in protecting your investment. A solid mainten...

When I was thinking of writing on this topic, I realized that this may only benefit a small number of our subscribers.  A number of our customers are either in a warm climate, in the southern hemisphere (where it is currently summer), or you just don't have that much snow.  Where we are in South Carolina, snow comes maybe once or twice a year.  However, the principles of caring for your floors in the winter time can apply in any setting. Here are the tried-and-true commercial floor cleaning tips we recommend: 1. Entrance Floor Mats This tip is pretty intuitive but incredibly important to emphasize. Snow, rain, slush, and ice can be a huge headache for your business, not only from a safety perspective but also from a floor wear perspective. Salt melt that is tracked into your home or business can be detrimental to your floors.  A manageable solution is ensuring that you have proper matting at your entrance.  Have a good floor mat at your place of entry capt...