Signs & diagnostics
Floors that stay tacky near the cooking line no matter how often they are mopped are often reporting a problem overhead. When the extract stops catching the plume, airborne grease settles across every surface in reach - and the floor is simply where you notice it underfoot.
The short answer
Floors that stay tacky near the cooking line no matter how often they are mopped are often reporting a problem overhead. When the extract stops catching the plume, airborne grease settles across every surface in reach - and the floor is simply where you notice it underfoot.
The detail
A well-captured plume takes its grease out of the room before it can land anywhere. When capture falls, that grease stays airborne, drifts on the kitchen's air currents and settles on whatever it reaches - walls, shelving, equipment and, because it is the largest flat surface, the floor. Mopping lifts the surface film but not the source, so the tackiness returns.
The clue is the location and persistence. Grease films that concentrate near the cooking line and come back quickly after cleaning are consistent with an aerosol raining down from an under-capturing canopy, rather than spills or mopping technique. The floor is downstream of a ventilation problem.
The cause runs the familiar course. Grease loads the baffle filters and duct, resistance rises, the fan moves less air, capture velocity drops, and the plume the canopy used to grab now escapes to coat the room. Sticky floors are the same escaped grease that speckles ceilings and stains walls, just at a level you feel underfoot.
It is a safety issue as well as a cleaning one. A greasy floor near a busy line is a slip hazard, so an extract that is letting grease settle is quietly adding risk to the work as well as cost to the cleaning routine - both of which trace back to lost capture.
What it means for you
Because the grease on the floor came down from an under-capturing canopy, the durable fix is above head height. Restoring the filters, plenum and duct to TR19 Grease condition brings back the airflow and capture, so the plume is taken out of the room again and stops raining grease onto the surfaces below.
If floors stay tacky after a verified clean, the escape is coming from something a clean cannot fix - a canopy that does not cover the equipment, an undersized fan, or make-up air below the roughly 85 percent it needs - and those become the next things to look at.
Phoenix Duct Clean restores the capture that keeps grease inside the system, so the floors and surfaces stop collecting it - turning a losing battle with the mop into a clean that holds.
The service behind the guide
Sibling guides
Condensation under the canopy · Five signs it needs cleaning now · Records to keep between cleans
Questions
Because mopping lifts the surface film but not its source. If the extract is under-capturing, airborne grease keeps settling out of the plume onto the floor and everything else in reach, so the tackiness returns no matter how often you mop. The cause is overhead, not on the floor.
By the pattern. A grease film that concentrates near the cooking line, coats surfaces generally and returns quickly after cleaning points to an aerosol raining down from a canopy that is not capturing, rather than localised spills or mopping technique.
It can be. A greasy floor near a busy line is a slip hazard, so an extract letting grease settle adds a safety risk on top of the extra cleaning. Fixing the capture removes the source rather than managing the hazard day to day.
If lost capture from grease is the cause, restoring the system to TR19 condition brings back the airflow so the plume is caught at source and stops coating the room. If floors stay tacky after a verified clean, a canopy, fan or make-up air issue is letting the plume escape.
Yes. A kitchen running negative because make-up air is below around 85 percent of the extract rate pulls uncontrolled air across the space, disturbing the plume and spreading escaped grease more widely, which can carry the film further from the line.
Phoenix Duct Clean · by the numbers
Look up, not down. Book a clean to stop grease escaping the canopy and settling on your surfaces.