[Tony Stewart]

A rugby club wants this floor restored to it's original state. They have mopped it them put down a layer of polish each week for the last 8 years and the red lino floor is what is underneath. The amount of polish is huge and the red comes through when the floor gets scratched (i.e. it chips off the old polish). I put down some Selden stripper hot, agitated it with a black pad, then left it for 15 minutes and then agitated again. All I did was just put a better shine on it, which is the first picture. There is an area of  84 sqm to strip and seal. The brown floor is the dirt and polish.
Can anyone suggest something stronger to remove the polish. I don't want them to scape it off as the rugby boys want to do for there is the risk of scratching the floor doing that. I presume it is lino/vinyl?

Thanks a lot................regards Tony

[Billy Russell]

i'd love a crack at that, I've been testing a new method for stripping vinyl floors, so far has cut my stripping times of old built up polish by over half, not done anything this bad yet though

[B Bailey]

Have you tried putting stripper down neat.

[Tony Stewart]

Hey Billy that was quick...............missed you at the rug course and just my luck, booked into the hard floor course in June in Cramlington and this one comes up.............if it were a carpet it would be classed as a minger!

Mr B .no I didn't to be honest. I got it hot and it really was doing nothing and not even turning into a black slurry at all. I was doing a test clean of the floor and the altro,(which as you would expect came up mint). I was there to clean a test area and walked into that, and the test clean would have told me how long it would take to do. I said that I would speak to my suppliers and come back with some different product as I normally never have the nuclear option in my van as I am not "gung ho". They were fine, so that is one option when I return.
They use a high speed rotary on it to burnish up the floor. There is just so much down there.

[Kev Martin]

A rugby club wants this floor restored to it's original state. They have mopped it them put down a layer of polish each week for the last 8 years and the red lino floor is what is underneath. The amount of polish is huge and the red comes through when the floor gets scratched (i.e. it chips off the old polish). I put down some Selden stripper hot, agitated it with a black pad, then left it for 15 minutes and then agitated again. All I did was just put a better shine on it, which is the first picture. There is an area of  84 sqm to strip and seal. The brown floor is the dirt and polish.
Can anyone suggest something stronger to remove the polish. I don't want them to scape it off as the rugby boys want to do for there is the risk of scratching the floor doing that. I presume it is lino/vinyl?

Thanks a lot................regards Tony

Contact Tadgh O'Shea from JSK Eco Cleaning he has a cleaner that will whip that off with his flat mopping system  or his magic eraser

[Tony Stewart]

Kev.........................I detect some April sunshine in that, do I?   

[Kev Martin]

Kev.........................I detect some April sunshine in that, do I?   

Absolutely, he has a stripper that just takes it off.  I think both Chris Scott and Rob Hall have tried it and swear by it.  I have a product that will strip it but it is very harsh and it's not eco friendly.  I will try and get Tony my son to upload some pics of it in action.  We used it on 480m2 floor a few weeks ago where the sealer was nearly 1/4" thick in places.  Sometimes we have come across this stuff and it was so hard we had to grind it off!

Kev

[Tadgh O Shea]

Kev.........................I detect some April sunshine in that, do I?   

Absolutely, he has a stripper that just takes it off.  I think both Chris Scott and Rob Hall have tried it and swear by it.  I have a product that will strip it but it is very harsh and it's not eco friendly.  I will try and get Tony my son to upload some pics of it in action.  We used it on 480m2 floor a few weeks ago where the sealer was nearly 1/4" thick in places.  Sometimes we have come across this stuff and it was so hard we had to grind it off!

Kev

Kevin, you just don't get it i have never once on this forum promoted any stripper from Jsk, we don't sell floor stripper and never have done. I would be man enough to admit that microfiber or magic eraser pads wouldn't do anything to those layers of polish. Now that you have mentioned Chris Scott and Rob Hall i can tell you they both have a safe and effective solution for this problem.

[Kev Martin]

Kev.........................I detect some April sunshine in that, do I?   

Absolutely, he has a stripper that just takes it off.  I think both Chris Scott and Rob Hall have tried it and swear by it.  I have a product that will strip it but it is very harsh and it's not eco friendly.  I will try and get Tony my son to upload some pics of it in action.  We used it on 480m2 floor a few weeks ago where the sealer was nearly 1/4" thick in places.  Sometimes we have come across this stuff and it was so hard we had to grind it off!

Kev

Kevin, you just don't get it i have never once on this forum promoted any stripper from Jsk, we don't sell floor stripper and never have done. I would be man enough to admit that microfiber or magic eraser pads wouldn't do anything to those layers of polish. Now that you have mentioned Chris Scott and Rob Hall i can tell you they both have a safe and effective solution for this problem.

Sorry Tadgh must have misread one of the posts I thought it was your product!  So what is it that they use then?  Do you know because even I struggled a few weeks ago with one of these jobs and had to use two applications of my stuff to get it off!  That said it took 5 days and 5 guys to do it even then on 480M2

[Tadgh O Shea]

Kevin, you know the rules on advertising i am sure if they read this post they can email you with their solution.

[Tony Stewart]

Just as an afterthought.................I have just bought a Matrix SDV8000 industrial steam machine off EBay and it will be delivered in about a week. Would this break down the wax on the floor or would it take forever on this floor. It has a detergent tank so could stripper say be put in that or is it about dwell time?

[Tadgh O Shea]

Just as an afterthought.................I have just bought a Matrix SDV8000 industrial steam machine off EBay and it will be delivered in about a week. Would this break down the wax on the floor or would it take forever on this floor. It has a detergent tank so could stripper say be put in that or is it about dwell time?

Hi Tony, a steam cleaning machine will do SFA on those layers of polish, you would be better off talking to Chris,Rob,or Kevin.

[Jamie Pearson]

Tony,

I can send you the exact tool for removing this without stripper. It will work on your Rocky and save time, money and chemical damage to the floor.

It looks like it is linoleum under all of that.

They can be easily damaged with strippers.

[Peter Lynch]

@ Jamie

I can send you the exact tool for removing this without stripper. It will work on your Rocky and save time, money and chemical damage to the floor.

Just out of curiosity Jamie, what tool would get this done ?

Peter

[Timmy Boy]

Hi Peter
I had exactly the same on a hall floor - approx 10 years of polish on polish, exactly the same thickness. I took it on as someone started in one corner and then quit. Neat stripper and a scraper and it came off like wallpaper and took ages - I mean AGES! I said to myself if I did one like it again I would hire one of those sanding machines that were at the cleaning show (if you saw that). If not, long job, charge loads and get scraping. Remember you are not going to the bottom of the polish, you are trying to get to a softer layer of the polish so unless you attack it like a hooligan you should be fine. I scraped the top layer, then stripped, black pad, stripped again.
Good luck man!
Tim

[Jamie Pearson]

@ Jamie

I can send you the exact tool for removing this without stripper. It will work on your Rocky and save time, money and chemical damage to the floor.

Just out of curiosity Jamie, what tool would get this done ?

Peter

Here is a few pics of a start to finish the guys did last week.
No chemical stripper involved.
10 years old.
Coated at the end of every term and burnished every week.
No chemicals used to strip just the Diamabrushes.
Finished with a dye resistant PU coating.

https://www.facebook.com/absolutefloorcare/posts/938405359524056

[Tony Stewart]

I did not get the job in the end as another company quoted £30 sqm for a new floor laid, so they went with that.
These three images show 30 minutes with a black pad and 50 grit honing powder. It took off about one square metre which reinforces what Tim said. A nightmare in time and effort. Still I got the job for the toilets and reception on the altro floor - so I know my place....... will talk to them about scrapping the burnisher, because they will never learn not to polish it every week. Trick is to get the new floor for the strip and polish, or Jamie's PU Coating.

Thanks Jamie for the help...........beaten by a really cheap quote on a new floor!

[Kev Martin]

I did not get the job in the end as another company quoted £30 sqm for a new floor laid, so they went with that.
These three images show 30 minutes with a black pad and 50 grit honing powder. It took off about one square metre which reinforces what Tim said. A nightmare in time and effort. Still I got the job for the toilets and reception on the altro floor - so I know my place....... will talk to them about scrapping the burnisher, because they will never learn not to polish it every week. Trick is to get the new floor for the strip and polish, or Jamie's PU Coating.

Thanks Jamie for the help...........beaten by a really cheap quote on a new floor!

I am Not surprised you got nowhere with a black pad and honing powder it would have been the last thing i would have tried on a floor like that with all those layers on.  What made you think that would work?

[Jamie Pearson]

What made you think that would work?

I did as it was what Tony had to hand to get a sample done.

The Diamabrushes are 50 grit and would give the same finish in less time.

Anyone with this type of work who is finishing with a PU sealer we loan them the brushes to do the prep.

[Tony Stewart]

Sorry to sound really off, but I posted this to try and learn and I also to show others on the forum a problem floor that I was tackling. There are lots of people on here that look and perhaps learn from sensible and learned people. All that seems to have happened on threads is a fight between certain individuals. Thus no one then posts anything. I was hoping that there are others who have had the same problems perhaps who could share their experiences (thanks Tim and Jamie).
Before I get jumped on I have been on a stone flooring course and have booked in to a hard floor course in June with Jamie, so I'm trying to learn my craft.
This I thought was a tricky floor which I was called out as a simple strip and polish. The polish has effectively been fused on to the floor with a high speed burnisher. I just think that if someone has read this post and can learn just how hard it is to strip and the cost of that in terms of hours to strip then it may help someone to manage the situation with a customer, having the knowledge. That then makes everyone more professional in their approach.

I perfectly understand if someone thinks I am being stupid but I just want to learn...............as to the information a black pad is 50 grit and with 50 grit honing powder, which was the most abrasive powerder I had I would have thought it would have stripped the floor quicker than that. I could have used stripper in the solution tank I suppose but it would have made very little difference to the final outcome. I timed the process to see how long it would take and once it got through to the floor it was cutting, Scraping was not really an option as the blades in my opinion would gouge the floor too much and damage it, thus requiring more restoration work.
In the final analysis contract floor company came along at £30sqm and £225 for levelling and fitting the floor. The club has a new floor at a really competitive price.