Cleaning your elevator cab interior can be a tall order.  With multiple types of surfaces and finishes no one cleaner seems to do the trick.  Today we are going to talk about the best way to clean a few common elevator cab interior surfaces and finishes.  The surface types we will be discussing today are plastic laminate, glass and stainless steel finishes.

First and foremost, I highly recommend that you always follow the vendor or manufactures cleaning instructions.  Some cleaning supplies will do more harm than good to the finishes in your elevator cabs.  General vendor cleaning instructions should have been provided by the Elevator Interior Renovation company that most recently renovated your elevator cab interiors. If vendor cleaning instructions were not provided by your elevator cab renovator, we recommend contacting the company that completed your elevator interior renovation and request cleaning instructions for your new finishes.

Plastic Laminates

Plastic laminate is the most common surface found in elevator cab interiors.   Plastic laminate is highly versatile and forgiving, making it an excellent material to be applied to the inside of elevator cabs.  Laminates are often used on elevator interior wall panels.  When cleaning plastic laminates it is best to use an non-abrasive soft cloth and some general multi-purpose cleaner.  This will help keep your laminate finishes looking fresh and new.  Apply your multi-purpose cleaner to the soft cloth and wipe down your plastic laminate surfaces.  If applying a spray on cleaner directly to the plastic laminate, be careful to keep your spray away from any seams or edges.  Applying to much liquid to these areas can cause the edges of your plastic laminate surface to de-laminate, damaging your panel.

Glass and Mirrors

Glass is a less common surface to find in an elevator cab but often adds a unique look to any cab it is installed in.  Glass surfaces are fairly easy to clean. You can clean the glass inside your elevator cab interior with a microfiber cloth and about any general glass cleaner. Its always recommended to spray the glass cleaner on the microfiber cloth as many general glass cleaners are vinegar based. Vinegar is acidic and can be harmful to your other elevator interior surfaces.  Avoid over spray whenever possible.  Start at the top of your glass surface and work your way down.  After your have finished wiping your surface give it a once over with a dry microfiber cloth to wipe away any streaks that may remain.

Stainless Steel

Metal finishes can add a very sharp look to your elevator cab.  There are a wide variety of metal types and finishes to choose from.  Different types of metal finishes often require different cleaning agents.  Today we will discuss cleaning techniques for stainless steel with a #4 satin finish and stainless steel with a#8 polished finish.  Stainless steel with a #4 satin finish is best cleaned with a stainless steel cleaner and a soft cloth.  Apply a generous amount of stainless steel cleaner to the soft cloth and wipe the metal surface with the grain direction of the finish.  Stainless steel with a #8 polished finish is best cleaned with a general glass cleaner and a soft cloth.  Apply glass cleaner to a soft cloth and wipe your metal until the streaks are gone.

Always remember to apply light pressure when cleaning you elevator surfaces.  To much pressure can cause damage to your finished surfaces.  In the next post we will discuss cleaning methods for some other common types of elevator finishes.