Alternatives to Mopping—the Best Solution for Small Spaces

November 16, 2022 11:25 AM by Tennant Company

Posted in Cleaning Solutions, Innovation & Technology, Industry News & Trends,

Sometimes, doing things the way they’ve always been done isn’t the best way forward. For example, take the traditional mop-and-bucket approach to floor cleaning. It’s time-consuming, labor-intensive, fatiguing, and imprecise.

Plus, floors cleaned with a mop and bucket typically take longer to dry, so the cleaned area needs to be cordoned off to prevent slip and fall incidents. In addition, mop-and-bucket floor cleaning can leave surface soil on the floor—which is counterproductive to having clean floors that instill confidence among consumers and employees.

Especially in small spaces, the mop-and-bucket approach has long been a typical go-to for floor cleaning. But a much better alternative to mopping is mechanized cleaning for small spaces. No matter facility’s size, it’s time to drop the traditional mop and bucket. Today, mechanized cleaning equipment comes in all sizes, from large ride-on cleaning machines to smaller walk-behind scrubbers.

So, what are the benefits of mechanized cleaning in small spaces?

Enhancing Customer Experience and Satisfaction
Protecting Safe and Healthy Spaces
Increasing Staff Satisfaction and Retention

Small Floor Scrubbers are the Ideal Mop Alternative

Even if your facility is large, you have small spaces that would benefit from a small, mechanized scrubber. Spaces such as bathrooms, kitchens, entrances and areas that just need occasional spot cleaning. These are the areas where cleaning with a mop and bucket is still common today. But that’s changing. Advances in mechanized cleaning systems are making micro-scrubbers and other small, mobile automatic scrubbers more affordable, faster to implement, and more cost-effective. Let’s look deeper into the three primary reasons to use modernized, mechanized cleaning in small spaces:

Enhancing Customer Experience and Satisfaction

Mechanized floor cleaning rapidly increases floor cleaning performance. It also helps your facility stand out from the crowd with consistently clean floors that reflect your business's commitment to health and safety. Likewise, modernized floor cleaning empowers your employees to clean more efficiently and reduces the labor costs associated with floor cleaning.

Protecting Safe and Healthy Spaces

Modernized floor cleaning immediately elevates the cleanliness and safety of your facilities by ensuring 100% clean-water cleaning, offering proper dilution of cleaning agents, and dramatically mitigating slip-and-fall risks.

Increasing Staff Satisfaction and Retention

Increase staff satisfaction and retention

Mechanized floor cleaning reduces the physical burdens of cleaning floors with a mop and bucket, giving staff time back for other tasks. This helps drive higher job satisfaction and retention—powering better staff productivity as well as helping eliminate staff turnover.

Introducing the best mop alternative —i-mop®

We’ve recently expanded our portfolio of walk-behind scrubbers with the introduction of i-mop® Lite. This micro-scrubber is lightweight and easily maneuvers to clean in tight spaces and around obstacles—which is ideal for cleaning floors in small areas. This micro-scrubber’s maneuverable design makes it easy to clean in tight spaces with 360° movement.

The i-mop Lite is among the best mop alternatives for cleaning in small spaces. It's lightweight with a minimal footprint and can be easily picked up, carried, stored, and used. It also has wheels that make it easy to push when not being operated.

Lithium-ion batteries power the i-mop Lite so that it can clean from 15,069 ft2 hourly with a run time of 45 minutes per charge. In addition, it comes with a rechargeable modular battery pack, and you can order additional battery packs for continuous run-time by swapping out and recharging with an extra set of batteries.

Built for Easy, Effective Cleaning

The i-mop® Lite was built with cleaning small spaces in mind. The detachable tank makes it easy to replace or change cleaning solutions quickly or empty recovery water in a sink with minimal downtime. It has a powerful 500 RPM motor that offers twice the speed of many conventional disk scrubbers.

It also has a heavy-duty hinge for 360° steering, which makes it highly maneuverable in small spaces around obstacles and under furniture. This scrubber has simple, intuitive controls for easy operation and training. The angle shutoff automatically ceases operation when the handle is placed below 32 degrees, helping prevent potential damage to the vacuum motor. In addition, counter-rotating twin brushes with splash guards push the solution toward the center—rather than splashing off to the side of the machine.

Micro Scrubbers Built for Small Areas

Tennant offers a range of smaller walk-behind micro-scrubbers to clean small areas in any facility. Our ergonomically designed CS5 micro-scrubber leaves a safer, drier floor by quietly and effectively recovering used water. Its two-squeegee design enables operators to clean and dry in both forward and reverse motion. The CS5 can clean hard-to-reach areas because of its movable handle and compact size. Weighing just over 40 pounds, this micro-scrubber can run up to 50 minutes with its lightweight, lithium-ion battery.

The Tennant CS16 micro walk-behind floor scrubber is another choice to clean in small areas because of its compact, reliable, and user-friendly design. It has easy-to-use controls, a low profile design and an adjustable ergonomic handle for easy operation. It’s ideal for hard-to-reach spaces in hospitals, retail stores, convenience stores, and offices. It can even be operated in Eco Mode setting to reduce noise level and increase run time up to 70 minutes. The CS16 micro-scrubber also minimizes the strain on operators and improves ergonomics with motorized brush agitation.

Time for a Better Alternative to Mopping

The mop-and-bucket approach certainly had a place in the history of cleaning processes. They were prevalent in ancient times because there was no mop alternative. More advanced mops emerged in the 20th century—but not much has changed.

There are many pitfalls with conventional mopping beyond the mop’s rudimentary construction. Mildew can build on the mop, resulting in spreading bacteria on floors. Too much cleaning solution on the mop can leave streaks on floors. Mop heads need to be washed after use—or you risk just spreading dirt around. In addition, the cleaning solution in buckets needs to be changed frequently to ensure you’re not mopping with a contaminated solution.

The time has come for mechanized floor cleaning in small spaces. No matter the size of your facility, having a mop alternative to quickly clean these spaces makes good, clean business sense.

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