[Carpet Dawg]

I do some work for a contract cleaning company and they have asked me if i am able to clean safey flooring (the one with wee metel bits in it)

How do I go about doing this with a extraction machine? what chems do i need and i presume i'll need a hardfloor wand and/or a dry vac?

I suggested they can do it themselves as they have several Numatic roterys but aparantly the wee metel bits screw up their buffer pads! (i think they only have one type of pad)

I said i'd get back to them with the type of pad to use and a suitable chemical.

Anyone got any suggestions??

many thanks

[Jim_77]

Chemistry - strong as you like on the alkaline side.  I use a stripper on really bad ones, and add an oxidiser into it sometimes as well

Agitation - plenty of it.  Black pad best if badly soiled, you'll go through them quite quick but cheaper than replacing a brush which is the other alternative.

Extraction - My personal opinion is that using a wet (not dry ) vac and then "rinsing", i.e. mopping water over the floor, is a PANTS way to clean a floor.  The only way of properly rinsing to remove all residue is to use an extraction machine - much faster than the other way too.  You will need a hard floor wand for sure - safety flooring will knacker a carpet wand in no time, and if you have a glide on the wand it'll wear it out pronto!  The little metal bits also lodge in the teflon and make it rough.

Sometimes these floors are permanently stained, the traffic lanes will be permanently grubby looking even after all the cleaning in the world.  I would do a test clean first before quoting

[Len Gribble]

Don’t promises what you can’t deliver and you will never deliver on this type of flooring 

[Jamie Pearson]

Hot Ultrapac Renovate
Dwell
Vileda Supercross Pad & Std Speed rotary. ( get pads from Bunzl in Bonnington Road Lane)
Vac & Rinse

I disagree with Jims points on wet vacs but each to their own. We can probably both achieve the same results with our preferred methods. My opinion is that a wet vac costs £250 not £2500 and usually floor cleaners create loads of foam and other gunk if stripping you don't necessarily want in a portable. Not so much an issue with a TM. Plus you dont need all that suction to lift water from a hard floor. They are a lot lighter than a portable. Okay you get rinsing but you do that with a mop then vac it off.

Safety floor does kill squeegee rubbers though, as does floor stripper. They only cost a few quid every 1000m2 or so.

The advantage of the above pads is that they are aggressive but soft enough to get in around the grains in the floor. Blacks can scratch if new and are too hard to work as effective as the above. These pads are good for about 50m2 per side on restoration but usually save the need for second scrubbing.

The carborundum flecks in the floor are only exposed under pressure from a foot. The coarse grains on the surface compress leaving the quartz/carborundum proud to grip the foot but stay in the floor when using a floor machine as the larger foot print of a floor pad doesn't have the same pressure.

If gel based cleaners such as pine gel, lemon gel and some hard surface cleaners have been used without rinsing there will be yellow oxidised staining on the traffic lanes which you should qualify before hand. Nothing moves this I have tried everything and continue every time we discover new products. These vinyls don't have a wear layer of PU applied mening they have a greater affinity for oils than normal vinyls/linoleum/rubber.

Take some cream cleanser (Cif) with you. You can add a healthy squirt to speed the cleaning although it does need a lot more rinsing.

[Jamie Pearson]

Sorry, it's Greenhams in Edinburgh not Bunzl and they moved to just off Leith Walk. You want the grey pads.

[Carpet Dawg]

Oops wet vac... thats what i ment

Thanks for the replys guys.

Do you mean these pads Jamie? http://www.greenham.com/c/pl/118534/3M-Contract-Floorpads-(Scrubbing)

What kinda cost per square foot could i ask for?

Still undecided weather to tell them the method or i'll have a crack at it.

[tomsy]

I made this hard floor glide to fit on my carpet wand.  22mm poly pipe, cut down middle with two notches for spray guards, line of holes drilled and two sections of cork shoved in the ends.  Cost? £zero - it was lying around in the workshop. Works fine on safety floors and if it does grind down too far, make another one.

[Jamie Pearson]

No. They are 3M pads.

You need the vileda ones.

Might need to call them.

I know the Dundee branch can supply them even though nobody knows what they are for.

[Bob Allen]

Patio & brick cleaner scrub then rinse ...simples!!

[Jamie Pearson]

Only is there are no carpeted areas nearby.

Be surprised if you can get that past a risk assessment/COSH evaluation for the job if its in a commercial building.