shine on finished floor in long hallway of facility with windows


Proper procedures, products and pre-emptive measures prolong the smooth of VCT floors

People often equate shininess with cleanliness — especially when it comes to floors. Only maintaining a mirror-similar finish tin can be a costly investment, too as a liability for facility cleaning managers. Fortunately, facilities are moving away from floors that impart a wet look in favor of durable finishes and maintenance that enhance safety and delay the need to strip and refinish.

"Making the floor shine until you can see your face in it is old school," says Bill Griffin, president of Cleaning Consultant Services Inc. in Seattle. "Newer floor doesn't accept that loftier level of smooth because information technology's more than plush to restore and maintain, and it can result in skid-and-fall issues. And then people are backing off and going for a luster or satin finish."

Despite the trend toward low-maintenance floor, some facilities cannot beget to replace existing vinyl limerick tile (VCT), while others cull not to: VCT is extremely durable when properly maintained. And although keeping VCT in similar-new condition can be labor-intensive, facilities are finding ways to improve the smooth without breaking the bank.

TLC For VCT

According to Neb McGarvey, director of training and sustainability for Philip Rosenau Co. Inc. in Warminster, Pennsylvania, clean floors exit a lasting impression on a facility's occupants and visitors.

"Floors speak to the overall functioning of a building, just as a restroom does," he says. "People are forming their opinions nearly what goes on in that facility based upon the flooring."

But a shiny floor isn't necessarily a make clean floor.

"Expect at the corners, baseboards and around the door moldings," advises John Poole, senior consultant for the American Institute of Cleaning Sciences in Atlanta. "That will tell yous if the floor'south make clean or non. If there are marks on the floor and dust bunnies in the corners, it's not clean."

To prep for shiny floors that go the distance, experts recommend dust mopping or autoscrubbing the floor on a daily footing to forestall dirt from beingness ground into the finish. Griffin also encourages facilities to place protective pads or glides under chairs and other piece of furniture, and keep them clean to prevent them from scratching or marker the flooring.

Poole advocates a matting program: "The most important matter is having proficient matting at the entrances to capture dirt before it gets into the building," he says. "People tend to overlook that facet, and they don't consider that what'south brought from the outside inside can wreak havoc on floors."

Preventive and daily maintenance not merely preserves the floor'southward appearance, but extends the time betwixt stripping and refinishing — a costly, time-consuming process that can jeopardize employees' health and safety.

"Stripping and refinishing is arguably the most hazardous performance in the cleaning industry," notes McGarvey. "We're dealing with i of the harshest chemicals — typically the stripper — and we're putting that downward on the floor and turning a sheet of plastic into a liquid, which makes that an water ice rink. And so we take people standing in the solution with electricity at their fingertips. It'south a wonder we become through that without harming more than individuals every year."

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The Loftier Cost Of Shiny Floors

POSTED ON: x/26/2018