Image Credit: New Pig Corporation

Brooms, mops, and janitorial brushes are designed or suitable for maintenance and repair operations (MRO) and include products such as:

• Scratch brushes
• Wet mops
• Dry dust mops
• Brooms
• Paint brushes
• Other scrubbing or washout products

Brooms, mops, and maintenance brushes typically consist of a handle attached to a head that contains bristles, filaments, or fabric used to clean or sweep; used to capture dust and dirt; or used to remove rust, scale, and other debris from surfaces or equipment. Other types of brushes are also used to apply coatings such as paints or lubricants, and to wick away liquids. 

Types of Brooms, Mops, and Janitorial Brushes

There are a wide variety of brooms, mops, and janitorial brushes used to maintain and clean residential, commercial, and industrial spaces.

Wet Applications

Brooms, mops, and janitorial brushes include wet cleaning implements such as mop and bucket combinations. The buckets may also feature wringers to remove excess water from the mop.

Mops are commonly constructed of loops of soft rope or fabric and are used to washdown floors in high traffic areas. Mops can come as loop end, where the rounded loops form the end of the mop, or cut end, where the fabric loops are cut off to provide a blunt, finished end. Mops may also come equipped with an attached scrubbing pad to remove sticky or greasy stains.

To clean areas that require a high degree of sanitation or dust control, such as hospitals or cleanrooms, maintenance personnel can use mops made of synthetic, lint-free, and mildew-resistant materials.

Brooms, mops, and janitorial brushes also include tools like paint brushes or applicators for coatings, adhesives, lubricants, and other compounds. These brushes are made with both synthetic and natural fibers, and are designed to apply compounds such as solvents and sealants, adhesives, and lubricants, both in manual and machine automated applications. Specialty brooms, mops, and maintenance brushes for applying compounds include tire mount lubricators, glue brushes, and coating rollers.
 

Dry Applications

Other brooms, mops, and janitorial brushes are used in dry applications, such as dusting or sweeping. Dusters are a type of mop that uses a dry fabric head to collect dust, dirt, sand, and other small debris from surfaces. Other types of brooms, mops, and maintenance brushes include feather dusters and dust mitts, floor dusters and pans, and push brooms.

Dry brooms, mops, and janitorial brushes feature either plastic or natural fiber bristles. Natural fibers may include corn or palmyra fibers, while plastic fibers are typically made of polypropylene.

Brooms may also have angled bristles to reach into corners or around equipment. Other dry brooms, mops, and maintenance brushes include deck scrub brushes, where the bristles are fitted into a solid head that also serves as the handle, or counter brushes, which have an extension that serves as a handle, allowing maintenance personnel to clean surfaces using a sweeping motion. Specialty scrub brushes also include implements to clean porcelain, ceramic tiles, and grout; brushes with stiff bristles to remove metal; and brushes that are specially shaped for use on curved surfaces.

Standards

H-B-71 - BROOM, PUSH, VEGETABLE FIBER

SAA AS 3538 - TEXTILES-MOPS-WET

H-B-1490/7 - BRUSH,SCRUB,GENERAL UTILITY