Author: MaintenX

If you want to save yourself serious some serious time and money on replacing your facility’s floors, read on for some summer tips to keep your facility’s floors going strong for years to come.

Control Indoor Humidity Levels

Regularly measuring the humidity levels inside your facility is very important in general, but especially in the sweltering summer months.

You can control the humidity levels inside your facility by:

• Properly maintaining your facility’s air conditioning system and components
• Watching out for any spills and leaks during scheduled maintenance checks
• Considering installing a dehumidifier to help mitigate the issue of mold and slips

Protect Your Facility’s Flooring from the Sun

Fading is an unwelcome consequence of your facility’s flooring being exposed to sunlight for long periods. Whenever you can, shield your floors from direct sunlight.

Maintain your Facility’s Floors

No matter what type of facility you run, people coming in and out are bringing a lot of unwelcome contaminants with them:

• Dirt
• Mud
• Outdoor allergens
• Other contaminants

Making sure that your facility’s floors are correctly maintained during the summertime is vital for your business. This will defend your floors from damage and stains while protecting your occupants from allergens and noxious, as well as improving overall occupant safety by preventing accidents.

Facility managers sometimes find it hard to decide whether to continue operating their facilities management services in-house or to outsource it to an external service company. Cost is often the number one factor, and outsourcing can save your company a lot of money. In fact, outsourcing facility services comes with a lot of benefits. If your facility is thinking about outsourcing its facilities services, keep reading.

Outsourcing Facilities Maintenance Makes for Much Better Responsiveness Overall

Traditional facilities management is slow and expensive. When facility maintenance problems are put off time and again, the dreaded deferred maintenance will rear its ugly (and costly) head. Outsourcing the needed facility maintenance and repair services can improve responsiveness and speed up service while saving on your facility maintenance budget.

Working with a Third Party for Facilities Maintenance Services Is Cost-Effective

Outsourcing facilities management services to an outside company, like MaintenX, is also profitable. This is because independent facility management companies come with the expertise, skills, and resources it takes to keep costs low and efficiency high.

Less Work for Internal Staff Saves Time and Money

Facility maintenance companies that you contract with can save you a lot of money while keeping your facility up and running and in top shape.

Want to know more about the benefits of outsourced maintenance? Call the experts at MaintenX today!

A facility maintenance checklist is an invaluable security tool to keep a building safe through periodical planning, checkups, and maintenance undertakings. It’s the facility manager’s job to oversee maintenance, and checklists ensure that all tasks get accomplished.  

Not following your daily facility maintenance checklist can let small problems develop into big ones over time, causing extreme and even life-threatening security and human health concerns. 

One dangerous example can be a power cut in a facility without a properly maintained backup generator, which jeopardizes resources in your facility that must be kept under exact temperatures. This can also cause a serious risk to the life and health of your facility’s occupants.

Construction Features

The walls and their underlying structures of your facility can wear out over time and should be checked at least one a month for any visible cracks, fissures, faulty or exposed wires. Building arches, eaves and canopies should be inspected carefully as they tend to ruin more often. Routine roofing and soffit check-ups must be conducted along with the rest of the inspection of the building exterior.

Allergic Symptoms from Mold

Mold is dangerous for your facility’s structure and assets, but it’s also a danger for your facility’s occupants. Common allergic reactions to mold include sneezing, sore eyes and a runny nose or nasal congestion.

But how do you know the warning signs of mold? Read on to find out.

Smelling Mold

When there’s mold in a facility, oftentimes a moldy smell is the only clue that it’s there. Do you self and your occupants a favor and don’t ignore mold odors if you can’t see any mold. You should thoroughly inspect the facility before mold problems get worse.

Seeing Signs of Mold Growth

Visible mold growth might look like a clear sign of mold in your facility. But that being said, many people don’t notice small amounts of mold. Sometimes people in your facility just ignore the smell.

If you can see mold growth in any part of your facility, even if a little, then you need to immediately act.

Know your Molds

Mold comes in many shapes and sizes. Some mold looks white and thread-like. Mold can be black, gray, brown, green, or white.

Signs of Water Problems

If you discover long-term moisture issues in your facility, it’s a safe bet mold isn’t far behind. So, if you know you’ve had water and moisture issues in your facility, then it’s a pretty good sign you could have mold.

Want to know more about mold and how to prevent it? Call MaintenX today!

Whether they are natural or manmade, disasters can have a huge impact on your facility’s infrastructure, profitability, and your ability to do business at all. If facility managers and business owners don’t want to fall victim to these risks, they will need a plan in place before disaster rears its head.

If your facility does not already have one, make sure to create a disaster preparedness plan to protect your facility’s assets and the people who work within its walls. Here are some steps you should take to evaluate threats to your business and keep your facility and assets safe in an emergency.

Assess Potential Threats to the Facility

It is very important that you craft a disaster preparedness plan for your facility. Start by thinking about those potential situations that could pose a risk to facility occupants, such as a fire, flood, or other major weather disaster.

Look out for less Obvious Disasters

Does your facility have protections in place against the threat of cyber-attacks? Do you have an active company-wide safety protocol in case an active shooter situation occurs?

Considering the range of disasters facing your facility can be very distressing. In reality, though, different scenarios each pose different levels of risk to your facility, depending on your location, industry, and other factors.

Want to learn more about how to keep your facility safe? Call MaintenX today!

Fires in your facility are devastating events and can cause many problems. Not only are the lives of your facility’s occupants jeopardized, but valuable facility assets can be damaged or destroyed.

While putting out a fire is essential, the water damage that results will be a financial burden on companies and facility managers. Water can also destroy a facility’s walls, equipment, and carpets.

Sprinkler systems within your facility can reduce damage, in contrast with water hoses. When a fire has been put out, business owners and facility managers alike should take all appropriate steps to handle the situation.

Once the fire has been put out, enough time has passed and your facility is safe to re-enter, calling the insurance company should be your highest priority. They may advise a visitation by an adjuster before repairs on your facility begin. Business owners are usually quite good at understanding what is and is not covered by their facility’s insurance policy. If you don’t know the particulars, it’s vital to make sure you understand.

Your facility may be out of commission for a long time, depending on the scope of the damage, but it is important to take steps to ensure that you can get back to business as soon as possible.

Want to know more about how to deal with fires? Call MaintenX today!

Your building is important to your business, but so are the people who occupy it, so their safety is of the utmost importance. That’s exactly the reason that fire safety and prevention are top priorities. Follow the following fire safety tips:

Prevent Fires in your Facility Before they Happen

The very first step to fire safety for your business is to stop fires from occurring. While it may not always be under your control, there are a few things that can be done around your facility to help keep your precious property and its even more precious occupants safe:

• Don’t overload electrical outlets, and make sure to use the correct plugs (three-prong plugs in three-prong outlets)

• Repair damaged outlets, cords, cables, etc.
• Keep combustible items like trash and recycling away from electrical equipment
• Keep all of your facility’s equipment dry, clean and well-ventilated
• Make sure all electrical equipment is Underwriters Laboratories (UL) listed (or listed by another nationally recognized lab)
• If your facility includes equipment like space heaters, make sure to always keep them away from anything flammable
• Keep your facility’s portable generators outside

Readiness and practice are both key in the event of an emergency in your facility, so consider sending periodic emails and having regular meetings on fire safety and exit strategies as an added precaution.

Want to learn more? Call MaintenX today!

An old facility can cause a lot of headaches for facility managers. For many aging facilities, their various internal systems are often new additions that need to be customized to the individual system and existing structures.

That’s why careful planning is needed in order to balance facility managers’ objectives about interior systems like:

• HVAC
• Electrical
• Plumbing
• Structural systems
• Information and communication equipment
• Conveyance systems

Because new mechanical and related systems, like electrical and fire suppression, can use up a lot of a building’s square footage and budget, decisions need to be made in a cohesive and coordinated way.

The interiors of older buildings should be considered when installing newer systems in your facility. This can be a complex issue to resolve. But with proper planning and a clear objective and budget, it can be implemented in a way that saves you money while improving the environment for your facility’s occupants.

Changes can have a large impact over time for both your facility and occupants. This is why care must be taken during the initial stages to avoid the gradual loss of integrity of underlying structures and infrastructure. 

A facility’s upgrade plan should respect the integrity and specific design intent. Building updates should be installed to avoid damage to the building and its older structures and materials.

Preventative maintenance can help facility managers ensure that their facility’s HVAC system continues working while prolonging the life of their equipment. That being said, unforeseen problems happen and if a facility manager sacrifices staff and maintenance costs to deal with these issues, it can be both expensive and time-consuming. Below are some tips for helping you craft a facility maintenance strategy utilizing reactive and preventative maintenance techniques.

Make a Plan and Stick to It

One thing that facility managers should keep in mind: responding to emergency situations should only take up a small percentage of a facility maintenance technician’s daily work.

It’s also important to remember that breakdown maintenance repairs cost a lot more in the long-term than planned repairs do.

One strategy that facility managers can use for dealing with unexpected issues is to make sure to come up with strategies for how to deal with their facility’s reactive maintenance needs. It’s a good idea to assign a single employee who will handle reactive maintenance issues. That way, you have a dedicated worker who can keep an eye out for any issues that could cost you more money in the future if not taken care of proactively.

Make Sure to Be Prepared

No matter what your facility’s maintenance plan may be, be sure you are always prepared for unexpected issues that could arise at any time. If you have the right tools on hand, this will benefit your facility and your bottom line.

Want to know more? Contact MaintenX today!

As temperatures get more extreme across the globe, it’s getting more difficult for facility managers to save money while cutting down on CO emissions. Humidity is also an important factor to consider for facility managers; as moisture levels rise in your facility, they can lead to a bevy of serious problems for the health of your facility’s occupants and your company’s equipment and infrastructure. That’s why facility managers need to make a point to keep their facility’s humidity level in check to keep occupants comfortable and safe from issues like toxic molds and dangerous floors.

Keep a Watchful Eye Out

Facility managers need to include a system of routine checks for cracks and any other openings that could potentially leak air into and out of their facility. Maintenance staff should also make a point to look for issues like:

• Condensation on facility windows
• Mold on walls and in corners
• Bad odors

Check if the Humidity is too Low in your Facility

If humidity is too low in a building, there are a lot of available solutions. For facilities where low humidity could hurt occupants, install an overhead misting system.

Want to know more? Call MaintenX today!