Friday, November 27, 2009

Gym Floor Refinishing

What is the best why to refinish my gym floors some may ask? And do water base products work? For years the system has been simply (although not really so simple). We would take out our buffer, throw a 120 grit screen and screen the floor for 3-4hrs. Then we would vacuum for just as long and spend the next 3 weeks cleaning up dust. If you were fast enough you may have a chance to get the first coat of high toxic varnish down will you cough out a long because of wearing a dust mask instead of a vapor mask. The following day IF it was dry you would repeat the process. Typically the gym would be closed for about 3 days and people would complain about the smell for 3 weeks. The questions is, is there an effective and better way? Enter water base gym finish.

How does it work? We replace the screening method with a water and chemical scrub which will give the same results as a screening. The key thing is we wet the floor for no more than 5-10 minutes. And yes it is safe on the wood as we are not wetting for long enough to penetrate the wood surface. After picking up the chemical and letting the floor dry we apply to coats of water base urethane. The urethane is just as hard as an oil base compound, is easier to play on, and has low to no odour, in fact most water base gym finishes meet California VOC compliance.

If you would like to see what water base gym finish can do for your wood floor me know and I could arrange to have a local contractor show you.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Preparing for Winter

As winter looms there are several things we should do in our facility to prepare for the onslaught.

1) Install matting - For some reason we in Canada do not see the need to have matting all year round, but did you know that the average person brings 50 lbs of dirt a year into their work place and the matting will stop 95% of that IF we put 15' worth at the door. It is also cheaper to stop the matting at the door then it is to try and chase it down through the rest of your facility. So if you were wondering about putting down matting it should be the first thing you do to prepare for winter.

2) Change Floor Soaps - It is a good idea to change from a neutral floor soap to a neutral or slightly acidic neutralizer better know as a Winter Rinse for the winter months. For those who still use rock salt it will help to break down the calcium and keep your facility cleaner, less of a film to try and polish off and definitely less dust flying around.

3) Ice Melt - I would recommend that if you are using rock salt to switch to ice melt. Ice melt is safer on plants, animals and concrete, it is also easier on carpets and floor finish. For the small price increase it will save you a lot of trouble down the road.

4) Check up all equipment - A final thing I would recommend is have all your scrubber and vacuums maintenance checked. There is nothing worse than having a scrubber go down January 10 after the biggest snowfall of the year and having to mop your facility from end to end. A thorough maintenance check now can save you a large repair bill and long day of mopping in January.

So enjoy the coming months and keep in mind summer is around the corner.