[Alex]

Hi guys,

I'm looking for some help again, I've been asked to clean a village hall floor and a small wooden ball room floor.

Currently the vinyl floor looks a mess, the cleaner has been mopping polish down and then buffing, the problem looks to me and the customer that in patches it looks untidy with scratches and you can rub at the floor and remove the polish – the products they use at the moment are Evans stripper and Evans polish (pink colour). I think the floor needs stripping and then a couple of coats of polish so the customer doesn’t need to keep putting down the polish.  

Right, now to the interesting stuff! The wooden floor is solid and is the main hall for dancing and stage shows. The haven suggested to the customer yet but I reckon the floor needs sanding down and polishing, the area is round 20 by 15 square metres, however, I’ve not measured yet.

Any help here would be great, I look for the right equipment to use, the best products on the market and if the above is correct.

Cheers in advance

Alex  

[Ken Wainwright]

Hi Alex

My knowledge of vinyl floors is a lttle less than nil. However, I have often stripped and re-sealed vinyl floors without any problems, and as this is very straight forward I can't see any problems for you. However, you mention that they maintain the floor by mopping on more polish and buffing? My limited knowledge tells me that they should be using a maintainer, not the polish, light spray then buff. I believe that this applies about one 40th of a coat of polish each time. Your strip and seal would be fun!!

As for your wood floor, can't help. It may be worth raising the question: Which should you do first? Those more experienced may/may not advise doing one before the other to reduce the amount of duplicated work and time on site.

Safe and happy cleaning:)
Ken

[Dynafoam]

Alex,

Any answer I would give would be much the same as Kens' - but if you ask in the general cleaning section you are likely to be speaking to the right audience.

John.

[Len Gribble]

Alex

Never be afraid to ask for help.

I just love doing these jobs £££’s yes the vinyl flooring will need striping back (don’t forget to neutralise stripper before you apply polish) regarding scratches if they have broken the vinyl surface not a lot you can do!

Equipment slow rotary 200rpm 400rpm will do with a skirt for stripping, (take extreme care near carpets/painted surfaces) product so many on the market what is the customer willing to pay, this also coincides with there maintenance program.

Small wooden floor you need to know what was put down first, I could list 1001 question the average cost to sand down is £20 sq meter.

Len

[Alex]

Cheers for the helpful advise guys .

What kind of price should I be putting in per square metre for the stripping and sealing as I may not get the job? Should I tier the cost for a maintenance plan or price for a one off clean and then a program.

[adl]

As a regular stripper and sealer and using many of the evans range of products i mexpect that evans sealent B has been used as the sealent and either enhance or mexapol ( both from the evans range has been used as the polish.

To remove all the old sealent is simple

1. Dilute evans stripper and mop onto floor.

2. Wait about 15 minutes for stripper to activate (will turn seal and polish to milky colour)

3. Scrub with black or blue pad to loosen seal however remember to have plenty of pads to hand as they get gunked up very quickly with old seal and polish and cause the machine to grip the floor so change regular.

4 either wet and dry vac or even better scrub dry with scrubber dryer with light brushes.

5. more stripper may be needed at this stage to remove any stubbon resides and again repeat other steps.

6. mop floor with neutral floor cleaner and allow to dry.

7. apply to coats of evans sealant and wait 30 minutes between coats.

8. apply choice of polish. we normally apply 4 coats of polish waiting 1 hour inbetween coats. leave for a day to cure

9. buff floor up using red or tan pad.


REMEMBER  before applying sealent it is vital that you mop floor thouroughly with a neutral floor cleaner. It is the same as paintaing a car when their is residues of polish it can turn orange peel and not adhere.

As to price we charge as much as £12.00 per square meter. forget doing domestics they are more hassel than they are worth.

regards Dave ADL (Now married and under the thumb)  

[Len Gribble]

Alex

I charge between £5 to £15.00  sq m vinyl  with no maintenance program as I only do one offs as the customer have there own cleaner/contractor, but will advise on maintenance program, not that they take note, so bring on the £££’s

Depending on how many coats you are applying keep at lest 3 to 4 ins away from the edge until the last coat then go to the edge.

Buffing floor if they are paying for it, should be left for 24 to 48 hours to cure.

Len

[garyj]

Len, why do you leave a gap at the edges until the final coat?

[Stu]

leaving a gap at the edge on the first coat helps prevent that nasty black build up you see in some places, As no one walks along the edges of the room, the polish doesn't get walked off so one coat is sufficient to protect the floor and you don't have any build-up to remove on subsequent strips

On the subject of neutralisation, If you put a cup of vinegar in your bucket of rinse water the Acid of the vinegar counteracts the Alkaline of the stripper so you can get away with only rinsing once.
It's an old trick but it speeds up the job no end


Stu

[Alex]

excellent feedback everyone thanks for the headsups on this I'm really grateful

Alex

[Len Gribble]

Stu another old hand at this game!

I would also add use white vinegar non malt type, as very smelly, this type also very useful in the cc game.

Garyi

As stu commented but also if the customer has a maintenance program buffing the polish will be pushed to the side causing a billed up of the black stuff can be a nightmare to remove on hand and knees especially in shops round gondolas.


Len