Most people are aware of the problems that string mops can pose, especially in certain commercial environments. A string mop is one of the most effective and simple tools that a maintenance department can have access to for quick clean-up of spills and cleaning areas that are not significant in surface and space. However, the main problem with string mops is that after the first scrubbing of the floor, the water has been contaminated.
This means every time the mop is dropped back into the bucket, and then brought back onto the floor surface, it is simply spreading that dirty material around.
This is one reason why many commercial facilities have done away with mops.
They see it as a waste of time. However, this could be essentially hamstringing your maintenance department, especially if they have spills or some other minor issue that have been reported to them.
For example, someone may report to the commercial facility management or even the maintenance department that a toilet overflowed. It may be a small spill, but having to bring an entire commercial floor cleaning machine up to this restroom facility, get it plugged in, and of course having a wet/dry vac to pick up the water first, is going to add significant time to the cleaning process.
For a quick cleanup of some of these mishaps, the traditional mop and bucket can still be an efficient and effective way to do the job. It is not going to completely do it for long-term, but to minimize the amount of time the maintenance crew has to spend cleaning up minor spills, a mop and bucket can be effective.
Of course, this means the area should be cleaned more thoroughly with the proper equipment when time permits, usually after the facility is closing up for the day.
Does your commercial facility still utilize the traditional mop and bucket? If not, do you notice extra strain being placed on man-hours within the maintenance department?