Stripping and Waxing

It's that time of year again, the onslaught of winter is near. I stripped my floors in the spring but want them to last the winter. What do I do? How do I do it?

Why Deep Scrub.

Deep scrub is the answer. If your floors look good and have been stripped once in the last 12 months you probably don't need to strip them again. The nice thing with deep scrubbing is you will remove 2 to 3 coats of finish off the floor not have to worry about all that rinsing and rinsing and rinsing just to remove everything off the floor. Just lay down, scrub, rinse and apply 2 to 3 coats of floor finish. Procedures will be posted at bottom of blog. BUT if for whatever reason you do have to strip your floors don't bother sealing them again.

When installing a new floor there is a factory sealer which comes off quite easily with a light strip. After which we have been trained to apply 2 coats of sealer. Once that has been done it needs not be done again, the floor has been sealed and is good. We have all seen floors with build up and the build up traditional consists of Sealer, wax, covered by sealer and wax, covered by sealer and wax. Remove sealer from this equation and will have only sealer still on the base and then beautifully finished floors with floor finish (wax) only on them.

Scrub and Recoat with General Purpose Cleaner

Procedure

Safety first:

· Read MSDS sheets prior to begin work and follow all protective measures.

· Read the labels on the bottles as required by the manufacturer.

· Place Wet floor signs in all entrances and traffic areas as required.

· Make sure you have all the equipment and supplies required to start the job.

· Check the equipment reliability including its electric cables.

Scrubbing:

· Place opened carton boxes at the end of door ways to protect the floor in adjacent rooms

· Dust mops the room thoroughly and scrape off any gum or other sticky residual.

· Fill mop bucket with cool water – 5 gallons.

· Add 16 oz of General Purpose Cleaner concentrate detergent – mixing ration of 1:40.

· Close the bottle containing the detergent.

· Liberally apply solution covering a 10 feet by 10 feet section.

· Make sure you have full coverage.

· Place the pad under the swing machine. Use red to remove one coat and blue to remove two coats.

· Work swing machine with a natural motion, back and forth overlapping and covering the whole area.

· Using the doodlebug, agitate the edges at the room perimeter.

· Thoroughly pick up with a wet vacuum and the squeegee. Make sure that no residue is let behind.

· Let the floor dry before applying a new coat of finish.

Finishing:

· Place a garbage bag in the mop bucket as a liner

· Pour only needed amount of finish into the mop bucket

· Use a clean damp finishing mop

· Saturate finishing mop in the finish solution.

· Gently wring lower two thirds of mop

· Starting at the mop bucket, cut in an area of approximately 6 feet by 10 feet section.

· Remember to stop 6 inches from the wall edge when applying multiple coats.

· Use figure eight motion to fill in the cut in area.

· Make sure you are covering the whole area. Flip the mop when it starts to drag.

· Allow proper dry time between coats. (30 minutes is the average time)

· Wait five minutes before using any type of fan.

· Test the area finished for tackiness before applying the next coat.

Clean up:

· Remove the unused finish if required and the bag liner.

· Rinse wringer and mop bucket.

· Wipe bucket down with a warm cloth for heavy build up spots.

· Rinse out completely all finish mops and hand to dry.

· Rinse mop handle and place in storage.

· Seal all containers for storage and make sure they are all properly identified.

· Dispose of any garbage, and empty containers into the trashcan.

· Do not remove wet floor signs until the floor is completely dry.

· Time for a break!!!