Winter Safety

Winter time in Wisconsin sure is pretty when it starts but by January 5th almost everyone is tired of it.

This is our annual Winter Safety Message.

While everyone is conscious about lawsuits stemming from slips and falls on ice, you also need to be aware of the potential damage ice melt and salt can do to the interior furnishings of your building. Excessive ice removers can damage your flooring and carpeting so be cautious on how much is applied outside.

The other annual tip is electrical safety.

Leaving the holiday decorations plugged in and running all night is not advisable, costs more money and is fire hazard.

So is the number of personal space heaters that are left running under desks, these can really raise your electric bill.

Hope everyone has a safe winter!

Ants

It's that time of year again. April and May showers have brought out the ants!
You will start to notice little signs of ant colonies in/near vending machines, cafeteria's, break rooms, coffee stations, restrooms and the janitor's closet. They are attracted first to moisture and second to a food source.

We clean each time, as scheduled and remove all traces of food that might attract them. If we are not cleaning on a daily basis then you too will need to do your part in policing these areas to avoid infestation.

Maids or Commercial Cleaning

Let's take a moment for a little clarification and hopefully reduce some common mis-conceptions.

We in the janitorial industry are not maid services, they are in the housekeeping industry. Companies like Molly Maid, Merry Maids, Polly's Broom Holders etc... are in the house cleaning industry, they perform services such as doing your dishes, vacuuming your drapes weekly, pulling out all your furniture each week to sweep and vacuum behind, etc...

Janitorial services or commercial cleaning companies like L & K Cleaning operate off of cleaning specifications that are submitted with their price proposal. When you ask your office cleaning service provider to pull out all your filing cabinets to clean behind them, you will be getting a quote or price estimate. Yes we vacuum your drapes, once every 6 months, not weekly. No we will not run around and collect your 400 coffee cups off of your desks unless that was specified during the bid walk. We don't water your houseplants on your desks either.

If you doubt me, call a few housekeeping or maid services and ask for a price quote for cleaning your office that includes all these extra services. I will match their price, service to service.
I need the increase with the price of gas going up.

Of Mice and Mainly -- your office

It's been a very long, cold and snowy winter here in southern Wisconsin. Record breaking snowfall, 84" so far, long periods of below freezing temperatures are causing a larger than normal number of non-paying tenants to invade your offices.

When winter is this severe, forage for mice and rats is even more scarce than usual. This causes them to seek out food sources in areas where they normally would shy away from. Mainly, your front office. We have noticed that a number of our customers have set out traps and bait trays this past winter.

You're just not putting them in the right place! Next to your file cabinet may make you feel a little more secure but by the time that mouse has found your bait or trap they have already contaminated a lot of areas within your office.

Most rodents are entering your building from the warehouse, loading dock, storage area or manufacturing area. This is where there are more points of access. This is also where you need to focus on trapping or poisoning them before they make it all the way to the front office to get to the receptionist candy dish.

A couple of tips to reduce these vermin is in the area of prevention.

1. Had a birthday party? Don't leave the cake out, especially uncovered, put it in the refrigerator or have someone take it home.

2. All those boxes of cookies, crackers, bags of candy and other goodies stored under the desks? Not a good idea, it's a junk food buffet for these critters and what they don't get now, the ants will find in another month.

3. Break areas, coffee stations and cafeterias--don't leave food out overnight, close up the donuts and put away the bagels, besides eating that stuff after it's been out, uncovered all night, isn't healthy for you either!

We clean all of these surfaces nightly and take out the trash as well but we won't throw away food that isn't marked 'TRASH'.

For some of our customers that are only serviced sporadically, ( anything less than 5x a week is sporadic) we clean these areas on each service call but you will need to keep watchful eye on the food invitations left out on the nights we aren't scheduled.

Remember that mouse droppings can carry the Hanta Virus which has been proven deadly to humans. If you see mouse droppings or other signs of vermin post a note on our communication portal and we will address it immediately on the next service call. We are trained in hazardous material handling and infectious disease prevention.

I can't wait for spring and warm weather and I know most of you can't too!

As always if you have any concerns or questions post a note on the communication portal or email me at ken@lk-clean.com or laura@lk-clean.com . If you have lost or misplaced your access code for the communication portal, please email ops@lk-clean.com