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Floor cleaning help wanted!Posted by Cloverleaf (Cloverleaf), 8 November 2003
I have a floor to clean this week.
It is tiles with what I can only describe as indentations or recessed holes just below the surface. These indentations are filled with ground in dirt.
I went to inspect today. Put a solution of stripping agent on floor and left to dwell for 5 mins. The dirt in the indentations would not move unless I scraped away with a sharp object. I said to the customer that I could clean the tiles but could not remove the dirt from the indentations.
Thes tiles are very porus and easily marked. I can only describe them as kiln dried biegh in colour tiles.
Any sugestions welcome.
JohnPosted by Dynafoam (Dynafoam), 8 November 2003
John,
I don't normaly get involved with hard surface cleaning, so this should not be considered as expert advice. 
Some months ago whilst cleaning the carpets in a six-bed house, prior to my client movin in, I was asked to clean tiles similar to the ones you described, in a vwry large conservatory.
Bearing in mind that I had one equiped only for carpet cleaning, the method I used was:
1] Heavy pre-spray with solution of trafic lane cleaner plus neutral shampoo - both at half normal strength.
2] Agitated with Host machine with multi-directional passes. (The contra-rotating brushes working in the vertical plane 'lifting' the soil from the recesses, the shampoo foam helping to hold the soil)
3] Rinse with hard-floor wand on HWE, a weak acidic rinse agent (B109) in tank. Defoamer in waste tank.
By the end of stage 2 the floor was covered in a creamy grey sludge, and the end result most satisfactory.
Maybe the 'real pro' would snear at this method - all I can say is that it worked for this old carpet cleaner 
,
Hope it helps you,
John.Posted by BusyBs (BusyBs), 9 November 2003
hi
hope this helps,
we clean a vets floor that is similar to the description you give, we tried everything and nothing would shift it.
we then came across a powder product called deepio (used in chippys alot ) you add to hot water and scrub, gave it a try not expecting much and it stripped all the grime from the floor, to help with the scrubbing we also bought a rubber bristle brush the two together make short work of the floor, we now use this once a month to stop the grime building up, and clean in the normal way in between.
donnaPosted by Cloverleaf (Cloverleaf), 9 November 2003
Thank you both for your input!
As well as a rotary scrubber, I also have a scrubber drier with twin rotating hard bristle heads, I think I will take this with me to try and see if it will get into the holes where the grime is.
Cheers John 
Posted by nick.solution (nick.solution), 16 December 2003
Hi John you could try a rotawash machine with built in spray bar and use finestone cleaner from solution Uk because its micro splitting it will break down the soil then rinse with water and use a wet vac or hard floor attachement on you extraction machine to rinse compltely and dry
all the best Nick
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