Saturday, September 29, 2012

How to Remove Finish from Marmoleum

Do Not Strip Marmoleum Floors - This process is to strip without stripping

Required Materials:
- General Purpose cleaner/degreaser (not caustic)
- Black pads
- Swing buffer
- Wet vac
- Mops and Buckets
- Edging pad
- Autoscrubber if available

Procedure:

- Fill one bucket with cold water and GP Cleaner usually at 1:5
- Fill other bucket with cold water for rinse- Bring items to area- Sweep floor
- Spot test an area for color fastness- Flood an area of about 10' X 10' with solution and allow to sit for 5 mins- During dwell time look for sticker or other items to be removed. - Using either the Black pad and swing buffer or autoscrubber scrub floor until entire area has been scrubbed twice
- Scrub edges with edging pad or doddlebug
- Pick up solution in scrubbed area with either a wet vac or autoscrubber ( if using autoscrubber leave water off)


- Rinse floor with autoscrubber and begin next area
- When dry apply 2 or 3 coats of finish

Tips:

- When used with the right chemical this procedure will remove all the old finish and you will have effectively stripped the floor without using any stripper
- Never use any product with a PH of higher than 9 on this kind of flooring
- Spot test floor for bleeding and color removal
- If floor begins to bubble stop the process immediately
- Do not allow chemical to dwell longer than 5 minutes

Phil-T
"Nothings too filthy for Phil-T"

Friday, September 21, 2012

How to Clean Tile and Grout

Tile and Grout cleaning is labour intensive and important to know. Tiles can be found in all areas of a facility and in most homes. Here is the step by step to deep clean your grout and tiles for a like new look.

Materials Required:
- Heavy duty degreaser
- Grout cleaner or Acid bowl cleaner
- Wet vac
- 2 Buckets
- Mops
- Grout brush
- Doddle bug and Pads
- Swing buffer with brush or Blue pad ( depending on size of area)
- Scraper

Procedure:
- Fill one bucket with cold water and degreaser at 5:1 and one bucket with water
- Bring items to area to be cleaned
- Sweep floor
- Flood floor with water and degreaser and allow to dwell for 10 minutes
- Scrub floor with swing buffer or doddle bug pad and grout brush
- Pick up solution with wet vac
- Rinse floor with clean water
- Fill a small bucket or spray bottle with cold water and grout cleaner/acid at 10:1 and a second bucket with clean water
- Apply water and cleaner to floor especially grout lines and allow to dwell for 5 mins
- Scrub area with swing buffer and grout brush
- Pick up solution with wet vac
- Rinse floor with clean water
- Allow to dry and return to service

Tips:
- Acid should be strong enough at 10:1 if after spot testing desired results are not there dilute acid 5:1
- If tile has been waxed then it will need to be stripped first see How to strip and wax a floor
- In my opinion this is the best possible grout brush to use never go without it when cleaning grout.

Phil-T Klean
"Nothings too filthy for Phil-T"

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

How to Maintain a Natural Stone Floor

Stone floor are very resilient and require little to make them beautiful. Natural stone floors can include concrete, marble, terrazzo, quartz and slate (always pretest small area with slate as this is a very soft stone). This guide is for maintaining and not restoration.

Items Required:
- Diamond Floor Pads 
- Swing Buffer/ Autoscrubber if available
- Neutral soap and water
- Stone and Tile Impregnator

Procedure:
- Strip off old floor finish if any - See article How to Strip and Wax
- Place Sienna grit pad on Autoscrubber and scrub floors at normal pressure with water and Neutral Floor cleaner but no vacuum. After scrubbing floor twice with water on, turn off water and continue to scrub floor for four more pass, adding water as required. On the final pass drop squeegee and pick up water. Allow floor to dry. If autoscrubber is not available flood floor with Neutral Floor Soap and use balance scrubber and Sienna grit pad going over the entire area 6-8 times, then pick up water with wet vac or mop.
- Repeat step 2 with Purple Diamond pad.
Allow floor to dry 6hrs. Pour Impregnator in bucket or backpack waxer and apply to floor using either a clean mop or microfiber flat mop. All areas within 15 feet of doorways or cafeterias should be impregnated. Allow to dry for 2hrs and apply a second coat. Allow to dry overnight. (Optional but recommend for 15’ from doorways)
- If using auto scrubber place Purple maintenance pad on floor scrubber and wash floor as required. Pads may be rotated monthly from Purple to regular red pad to save money.
- If using balance scrubber buff floors weekly or bi-weekly with Purple Maintenance pad.

Tips:
- Be patient
- Floors will begin to shine slowly and after 2-3 months of maintenance will give desired results and look better than waxed finish
- Though Impregnator is optional it is highly recommended in areas that are near doors or food consumption areas.
- Stain removal - For acid based stains (i.e. Jus, coffee or pop) use an alkaline floor stripper at 5:1

Phil-T
"Nothings too filthy for Phil-T"

Friday, September 14, 2012

How to Maintain a Floor

Floors Maintenance 101

Maintaining your floor is the most important step to have beautiful long lasting floors and to save you money. There are several very simple steps. By following these you can decrease your strip and wax schedule and put money in your pocket.

Materials Required
- Broom or Vacuum
- Mop and Bucket
- Autoscrubber (for larger areas or if budget allows)
- Polisher
- White or Blue-Ice pad
- Neutral soap

Procedure
- First and most important procedure sweep or vacuum the floor. By doing this first you will remove any debris and avoid grinding it into the floor.
- Using Cold water fill bucket and add detergent. Detergent should be PH7 or Neutral and diluted according to manufacturers directions.
- If using autoscrubber wash mains area with machine. Then wash edges with mop and bucket
- If not using autoscrubber wash or spot mop soiled floors
- Weekly wash floors with a floor restorer.
- Depending on traffic, buff floors with polisher and white or blue-ice pad. Floors should be buffed at least once a week.
- Floors should be scrubbed and waxed quarterly or bi-yearly
- Floors should be stripped as required

Tips
- An effective entrance mat system will cut down on dirt and debris. Try and have 15' of matting at all entrances
- Dilute chemical as recommended as this will avoid leaving residue on the floor
- When choosing a polisher, the higher the RPM the more effective the buff
- If no other option available use a low speed buffer to polish floors. Something is better than nothing.
- This procedure can be used on most waxed floors, stone floors, and marmoleum (except the final step of stripping the floor)

Phil-T
"Nothings too filthy for Phil-T"

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Friday, September 7, 2012

How to Strip and Wax VCT Floors

Materials Required:
- Black pads
- Swing buffer low speed
- Floor stripper
- 3 Buckets
- Wet vac
- Edging pads (doodlebug)
- Sealer
- Floor finish
- Scraper
- 3 Mops
- Squeegee
- Autoscrubber (if your supervisor is Okay with it)

Process:
- Gather materials above
- Fill 1 pail with cold water and stripper - Usual dilution between 1:4 - 1:10 depending on build up
- Fill 2 buckets with cold water for rinse
- Bring items to area to be stripped
- Sweep floor
- Flood an area of 10 X 10 with stripper and allow to dwell for 10 mins
- After 5 mins rewet area to allow stripper to fully penetrate the old wax
- Periodically check floor. If still slippery, stripper has not finished working. When floors is no longer slippery (usually the 10 min mark) begin to scrub from the outside corner. This will allow you to always be working on a less slippery surface.
- Double scrub entire area with swing buffer and black pad.
- Using doddle bug or edger scrub the edges of floor.
- Scrap any areas that require with floor scraper
- Pick up stripper using wet vac or autoscrubber
- Check floor for yellow or brown areas or what may appear to be patches of old wax on floor. If there is still old wax on the floor repeat the above steps.
- When floor is clear of old wax, lay down next area to be stripped - Again an area of 10' X 10'
- Using the rinse water flood the floor that has been stripped.
- Pick up rinse water using wet vac or autoscrubber
- Using final rinse bucket give the area a good rinse
- Clean up
- When dry apply 2 coats of sealer and 3 coats of floor finish
- If not using sealer apply 5 or 6 coats of floor finish

Notes:
- Usually stripper will remove 4-6 coats of wax. If your floor has more than that expect to double or triple strip each area.
- Dilution is very important. Don't make the mistake of Glug Glug. You will work twice as hard and it will take much longer than expected.
- Dwell time is just as important as dilution. Give the chemical the time it needs to breakdown the old wax.
- Autoscrubber use - If using ensure to clean up everything. Remove pads, squeegees and clean inside the vacuum tank thoroughly. Remember that most stripper today are not as corrosive as they were 10 years ago so as much as they may not breakdown your equipment, dried up stripped wax is not easy to remove from equipment and makes your equipment look older than it is.
- If working in one area and crossing floor or carpet that needs to be kept clean use a box at the edge of the floor to avoid dripping stripper on unwanted areas.
- Productivity is usually around 500/sqft an hour but will decrease in heavy build up
- This process may be used on VCT floors or Sealed stone floors. When dealing with Marmoleum please do not ever use any conventional strippers. And when possible avoid stripping altogether. Stay tuned for Marmoleum floor process.

As any process in the cleaning industry stripping and waxing should be preformed by a trained professional. This guide may help in the process but when not sure you are better to get trained before attempting any process never preformed.

For training or help feel free to contact us

Phil-T
"Nothing is too filthy for Phil-T"