Darranvps

Floor Cleaning NOW WITH PICTURES - Advice Needed
« on: February 16, 2012, 11:09:40 am »
Hi
I have a floor cleaning problem at a school who reckon they have tried everything.
What would you suggest?







Kev Martin

  • Posts: 6954
Re: Floor Cleaning NOW WITH PICTURES - Advice Needed
« Reply #1 on: February 16, 2012, 07:55:55 pm »
Is that porcelain on the floor?

Kev
"Natural Stone Restoration Specialists" Tel: 0121 773 9129
www.tilinglogistics.co.uk | www.marblelife.co.uk  http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Tiling-Logistics

Darranvps

Re: Floor Cleaning NOW WITH PICTURES - Advice Needed
« Reply #2 on: February 16, 2012, 08:53:39 pm »
I don't think so - they are some kind of floor tiles
The whole schools washrooms are fitted with these tiles and they are all as filthy looking.
Caretaker says they have used scrubbers with all types of detregents but to be honest I am sure If I go in with a scrubbing machine I could get them looking better.
Just cant decide what detergent to use - any ideas appreciated.

Kev Martin

  • Posts: 6954
Re: Floor Cleaning NOW WITH PICTURES - Advice Needed
« Reply #3 on: February 16, 2012, 09:16:15 pm »
They look like R11 Porcelain tiles to me!  They are designed to be as non slip as possible and in doing so they grip dirt, crap and other contaminants like a magnet. 

1.  Pre wet the floor
2.  Apply a high alkaline cleaner and scrub it in with a slow speed rotary fitted with a soft to medium nylon brush then let it dwell. (I use Aqua Seal Xtreme Clean pH14 Alkaline) but any high alkaline should do as long as you give it a dwell time.
3.   Vac a small area and check it!  If it's clean vac it up rinse and vac again.
4.   If it's not clean add some Aqua Seal Hone Powder 320 grit tro the mix that will deffo sort it.
5.   Then vac it up,  rinse it really well and vac again!  Job Done

Kev
"Natural Stone Restoration Specialists" Tel: 0121 773 9129
www.tilinglogistics.co.uk | www.marblelife.co.uk  http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Tiling-Logistics

Darranvps

Re: Floor Cleaning NOW WITH PICTURES - Advice Needed
« Reply #4 on: February 16, 2012, 09:35:01 pm »
They look like R11 Porcelain tiles to me!  They are designed to be as non slip as possible and in doing so they grip dirt, crap and other contaminants like a magnet.  

1.  Pre wet the floor
2.  Apply a high alkaline cleaner and scrub it in with a slow speed rotary fitted with a soft to medium nylon brush then let it dwell. (I use Aqua Seal Xtreme Clean pH14 Alkaline) but any high alkaline should do as long as you give it a dwell time.
3.   Vac a small area and check it!  If it's clean vac it up rinse and vac again.
4.   If it's not clean add some Aqua Seal Hone Powder 320 grit tro the mix that will deffo sort it.
5.   Then vac it up,  rinse it really well and vac again!  Job Done

Kev

Hi Kev
Thanks very much - very informative.
I will speak to the school and give it a go.
Can you let me know where I can buy the products.

Blast Away

Re: Floor Cleaning NOW WITH PICTURES - Advice Needed
« Reply #5 on: February 16, 2012, 10:26:51 pm »
They look like R11 Porcelain tiles to me!  They are designed to be as non slip as possible and in doing so they grip dirt, crap and other contaminants like a magnet. 

1.  Pre wet the floor
2.  Apply a high alkaline cleaner and scrub it in with a slow speed rotary fitted with a soft to medium nylon brush then let it dwell. (I use Aqua Seal Xtreme Clean pH14 Alkaline) but any high alkaline should do as long as you give it a dwell time.
3.   Vac a small area and check it!  If it's clean vac it up rinse and vac again.
4.   If it's not clean add some Aqua Seal Hone Powder 320 grit tro the mix that will deffo sort it.
5.   Then vac it up,  rinse it really well and vac again!  Job Done

Kev

 ;D

BDCS

  • Posts: 4777

mike roberts

Re: Floor Cleaning NOW WITH PICTURES - Advice Needed
« Reply #7 on: February 17, 2012, 09:04:00 am »
Give kev a break  ;D ;D  .. sure he luvs it  ;D ;D

Jamie Pearson

  • Posts: 3407
Re: Floor Cleaning NOW WITH PICTURES - Advice Needed
« Reply #8 on: February 17, 2012, 09:05:40 pm »
www.bonasystems.com

You need Bonapro2 for this. We do loads of poolside/wet leisure cleaning and these guys do awesome products for it.

Give them a call and they will send you a sample.

Kev Martin

  • Posts: 6954
Re: Floor Cleaning NOW WITH PICTURES - Advice Needed
« Reply #9 on: February 18, 2012, 06:46:56 am »
Jamie

As you know always interested in new products!  I can't find that one on their site!  Do you have any details and an MSDS for it?

Kev Martin
Marble Life Ltd
"Natural Stone Restoration Specialists" Tel: 0121 773 9129
www.tilinglogistics.co.uk | www.marblelife.co.uk  http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Tiling-Logistics

Jamie Pearson

  • Posts: 3407
Re: Floor Cleaning NOW WITH PICTURES - Advice Needed
« Reply #10 on: February 18, 2012, 09:40:20 am »
Its not on the site as it is in their Pro range.

It consists of:

Pro1- Anti Slip Deep Cleaner for ceramic & porcelain. We mainly use that for reception areas and retail.

Pro2 - Heavy Duty Tile Cleaner for removing Limescale, Heavy Soiling and generally the one we default to on any "wet area2

Pro3 - Dedicated Limescale Remover for when Pro2 cant break down specific salts. Particularly found where ozonated pools are used in place of traditional chlorine.

Essentially Pro2 & 3 are Nitric and Hydrchloric based with excellent surfactancy.

I have tried many acid side cleaners and high alkaline products. These just take it to the next level.

Obviously they are not intended for prolonged use only for extreme restorations.

Denise l

  • Posts: 1915
Re: Floor Cleaning NOW WITH PICTURES - Advice Needed
« Reply #11 on: February 22, 2012, 06:44:49 am »
I've used the Bona Pro products on swimming pool tiles after someone highlighted them on here and ithey are excellent, bit expesive but if it does the job, so be it.

I've also used Acid 80 to get tiles like these up and that works as well.

Denise

trevor perry

  • Posts: 2454
Re: Floor Cleaning NOW WITH PICTURES - Advice Needed
« Reply #12 on: February 26, 2012, 12:01:28 pm »

heres one we had tried everthing with scrubber driers all different chemicals etc, in the end we used a pressure washer flat surface cleaner and attached a wet vac, the tiles where very porous so we sealed them afterwards
better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove any doubt

trevor perry

  • Posts: 2454
Re: Floor Cleaning NOW WITH PICTURES - Advice Needed
« Reply #13 on: February 26, 2012, 12:08:01 pm »

here is another picture
better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove any doubt

Kev Martin

  • Posts: 6954
Re: Floor Cleaning NOW WITH PICTURES - Advice Needed
« Reply #14 on: February 26, 2012, 08:42:27 pm »

heres one we had tried everthing with scrubber driers all different chemicals etc, in the end we used a pressure washer flat surface cleaner and attached a wet vac, the tiles where very porous so we sealed them afterwards

Scrubber dryers are useless with this type of floor!  You need single speed good quality rotary scrubber and a decent wet vac coupled with All For Stone Xtreme Clean and possibly some honing powder.  A lot less water used and gets the grout immacualte as well

Kev Martin
Marble Life Ltd
"Natural Stone Restoration Specialists" Tel: 0121 773 9129
www.tilinglogistics.co.uk | www.marblelife.co.uk  http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Tiling-Logistics

trevor perry

  • Posts: 2454
Re: Floor Cleaning NOW WITH PICTURES - Advice Needed
« Reply #15 on: February 26, 2012, 09:14:50 pm »
we did try a single speed rotary but it wasnt toching it, what we found was the dirt was ingrained so no matter what chemical we used it wouldnt lift, funnily enough though you could use a sponge and it seemed to suck the dirt from the surface hence the idea of high pressure to clean it, the grout is that colour to begin with so chemicals wouldnt have made a difference to that, next time i do one similar i will try the chemicals you recomend and see if it works better as there is no harm in trying
better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove any doubt

Griffus

  • Posts: 1942
Re: Floor Cleaning NOW WITH PICTURES - Advice Needed
« Reply #16 on: February 26, 2012, 10:16:21 pm »

heres one we had tried everthing with scrubber driers all different chemicals etc, in the end we used a pressure washer flat surface cleaner and attached a wet vac, the tiles where very porous so we sealed them afterwards

Trevor, how did you deal with the dirt right in the edges, and how did you prevent water ingress to the kickboards / base units.

Kev Martin

  • Posts: 6954
Re: Floor Cleaning NOW WITH PICTURES - Advice Needed
« Reply #17 on: February 27, 2012, 12:05:03 am »
we did try a single speed rotary but it wasnt toching it, what we found was the dirt was ingrained so no matter what chemical we used it wouldnt lift, funnily enough though you could use a sponge and it seemed to suck the dirt from the surface hence the idea of high pressure to clean it, the grout is that colour to begin with so chemicals wouldnt have made a difference to that, next time i do one similar i will try the chemicals you recomend and see if it works better as there is no harm in trying

Mate with all due respect there is no way a pressure washer is more efficient or would do a better job than a high alkaline cleaner coupled with an appropriate dwell time and correct scrubbing brush and a decent wet vac on this type of flooring.  I am surprised that the water involved did not make the kick boards/plinths swell either.

Kev Martin
Marble Life Ltd
"Natural Stone Restoration Specialists" Tel: 0121 773 9129
www.tilinglogistics.co.uk | www.marblelife.co.uk  http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Tiling-Logistics

Jamie Pearson

  • Posts: 3407
Re: Floor Cleaning NOW WITH PICTURES - Advice Needed
« Reply #18 on: February 27, 2012, 07:52:19 am »
I see exactly this on a regular basis. It is usually caused by daily cleaning operatives mopping with hard surface cleaner.

The worst one I do they spray buff with mr.muscle and no matter what I do/say they keep doing it.

When you scrub with a machine it doesnt shift but you rub with your foot and it comes off.

We just use Chemspec Enzall an enzyme boosted high alkaline carpet cleaning pre-spray and it moves just with a mop.

A good scrub, vac and rinse - job done. Material cost for 100m2 is about £1.

trevor perry

  • Posts: 2454
Re: Floor Cleaning NOW WITH PICTURES - Advice Needed
« Reply #19 on: February 27, 2012, 03:34:50 pm »
they had tried 3 different firms with all manner of chemicals and believe me the floor will not scrub clean, as stated it is porous so dirt has to be abstracted, the washer we have was turned down to minimum flow so approximately 10ltr per minute and was put on a maximum heat setting believe me one person on the wet vac could keep up with the water situation, by slightly tilting the whirlaway edges could easily be cleaned, i think the results speak for themselves, there are machines now selling that use the same principle of cleaning as i have used above and getting great results
 go on to youtube type in www.tileandgrout.net and you will see how effective this method of cleaning is, only difference is there spinner has an incorporated vac port included so makes it quicker, this is something i am investing in.
better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove any doubt