Winnipeg winters require extensive use of road salt and calcium chloride to keep pedestrian walkways safe. Unfortunately, when hundreds of employees track this salt into your corporate lobby, it poses a severe threat to your flooring. The traditional janitorial response is to attack the salt with highly aggressive, toxic acidic neutralizers. At SilverBirch, we take a different, more sustainable approach.
The Problem with Traditional Neutralizers
Ice melt compounds are extremely alkaline. To remove them, traditional cleaning companies use harsh acidic floor rinses. While these acids dissolve the salt, they also emit strong, irritating fumes into the lobby air, and if improperly diluted, they can permanently etch natural stone and destroy the protective zinc coating on VCT floors.
SilverBirch's Sustainable Approach
We protect both your flooring assets and your indoor air quality by shifting the focus from harsh chemistry to advanced mechanics and preventative care.
- Preventative Matting Strategies: We work with property managers to design optimal "walk-off" matting systems. By capturing the salt before it hits the hard floor, we drastically reduce the need for chemical intervention.
- Bio-Based Neutralizers: When chemical neutralization is necessary, we use EcoLogo-certified, bio-based acidic rinses derived from natural citrus and fermentation processes. These neutralizers effectively dissolve calcium chloride without emitting harmful VOCs.
- Immediate Auto-Scrubbing: Instead of wet-mopping, which often just spreads the salt slurry around, we utilize advanced auto-scrubbers. These machines apply our bio-based neutralizer, scrub the floor, and instantly vacuum the resulting liquid into a recovery tank, ensuring the salt is completely removed from the building environment.
Winter maintenance doesn't have to be toxic. By choosing SilverBirch, you ensure your lobby remains pristine and your employees breathe easier.