[mpajek]

hi everyone 

I was asked by the restaurant manager to strip wooden floor

The floor has a lot of polish on it and is kind of greasy, which makes it impossible to maintane in a resonable condition.  We just started cleaning the place and because of this floor the results are not really visible, so we need it done properly.

Can stripping be done without a rotary machine? The manager said that they didnt use it in other restaurants, but I wanted to hear your opinons.

Wont it be the worst job to do it without the rotary?

In this pleace there are also ceramic stairs that seem to be greasy, and after mopping they seem fine but just as you start to walk some kind of black stuff starts to appear on them. Its seems like its rolling under your shoes, really strane and annoying.


I would be extremly greatful for any comments

cheers

martin

[david_m]

hi there mpajek

if you want to strip the old polish of you will need a slow speed rotary
200rpm max  150 - 175 rpm would be the way to go
strip of with black pad if floor is very bad if its gone very black in places
the blackness may not come off and may need sanding i would advise of this before starting
amtec do a good range of polish, sealers and strippers- stripper x is a fairly good one though they are fairly exspensive but well worth it once it comes to the end result.

once you have floor resealed and polished
you will have to maitain with a high speed buffer 400 rpm
you could use a product called clean and shine to maintain floor

there is a lot more to stripping and resealing wooden floors than this
this is just for starters

list of things you need

low speed rotary  150 - 175 rpm
kentucky mop with wringer mop bucket
a wet vac
a range of floor pads  green, black
polish applacater lambs wool one is good.
i cant think of any other kit at the moment

 hope this helps
    davy

ps ring amtec   for polish sealers and strippers and advice.
it is fairly straight forward once you have done a few, it would be worth while getting some training if you have a chance of getting a few restaurants

     davy

[mpajek]

thanks davy

that was a detailed post

from what I found on the net the price for this would be 3-4 pounds a m2, please correct me if I'm wrong

cheers

martin

[david_m]

hi there


 3-4 pounds a meter sounds a bit on the low side
maybe you could charge this but you would need to be buying a
fairly cheap polish and sealer £10 a gallon stuff
you will still get a good enough result but i find it just dosent last that long.

i would be chargeing a min of £5 per meter and that is only in a situation
were i would be getting a lot of work from the same place
ie the maintence work as well as the stripping and repolishing

for one offs about  £7min - £10 per meter depending on the polish and sealer that i use and how much stripping is involved.

with maintence buffing i would be chargeing about £25 per hour
this would be done about every 2 months
with the general cleaners doing the rest in between times

you can sort out a maintence plan with them as every one will be diffrent
and will need diffrent levels of maintence

if the general cleaners dont know how to use a buffer its worth while showing them.
even better if they dont have one show them the benifits of haveing one
and then sell them one.
i normally have second hand ones for this task that i can sell them
 a bit like the iceing on the cake

this type of work is a good earner and is worth while like i said in earilier post getting some training and useing the right types of polish for diffrrent situations

if you dont already have floor machines
look on ebay
for high speed buffers tasky ranger 400 is a good one and fairly cheap
there orange in colour one of my faverite machines i find the older ones just as good as the new ones

low speed machines- vickter trojun is good almost unbreakabile and will earn its keep no problem very versatile machine can be used on stone floors as well also good for any type of safty floors, lino, linoleime, tiles and so on but hard to get second hand, about £700 new
if buying new get the long handle one

          davy

[Cleaning Resource]

  I personally would not use any type of stripper on a wooden floor, I have seen several thousands of pounds worth of damage done to wooden floors by people who have put stripper on them.

  either the floor is not to bad in which case you can just skim the top off with a dry black pad or it needs sanding in which case you can get a sanding pad for your rotary (but be careful it will take a bit of practise to get an even finish using a rotary)
probably best of using a proper floor sander, but to be honest if your not sure what your doing i`d forget about sanding too easy to cause alot of damage.

  if you just keep going over it with a black pad when your happy stick three thin coats off polish on, when its dry buff it to a high gloss finish with a beige pad.

use a kentucky mop to apply the polish(wash the mop in a washing machine before you use it to get the fluff off of it)

 I STRONGLY ADVISE AGAINST USING STRIPPER ON WOODEN FLOORS

[david_m]

hi there gleam cleaning

intresting post about not useing stripper on wooden floors

could you please exsplain how the damage is done
when useing stripper as iam at a loss to think how this
could do damage when used in the correct manner.
I personaly have never had a problem with this issue.

i would agree about skimming over the top of the floor if
not to bad for this i would use a citra clean

       davy

ps please reply as iam genuinly intrested to here more about this

[Cleaning Resource]

I have never used stripper on a wooden floor cos i`ve seen three or four floors that have had stripper used on them (apperantly) and it has soaked in to the wood resulting in the wood lifting and swelling, they just generally looked a mess,

this is why i`ve never used stripper but if you do and it works then I have to question if it was stripper that has caused the probs i`ve seen as i never actually saw the culprit ruining the floors in question.

when i strip a vinyl floor i drown it with stripper, scrub and suck up is this the same method you are using on wooden floors? if so i`ve probably sanded alot of floors that did not really need sanding ( oh well the customer paid for it)

i`d be interested to know how you strip wooden floors as it could save me alot of sanding.

[david_m]

hi there

thanks for the reply
the method that i use is fairy simple much the same as your self
when you do vinyl

only diffrence is i just mop a small amount on at a time
let it sit for a few minutes not letting it dry out

then black pad scrub

as soon as iam finish that i wet vac it all up with a twin vac machine
going over several times as to get as much  moisture out as possibile

once i have done say 10 squre meter i put 2 turbo dryers on it

keep on repeating this till i have all the floor scrub off
keeping the turbo dryers going all the time, and moving them as i go

then i start to nutralise the floor again with minamin amounts of water
turbo dryers still going the hole time
i will nutelise at least twice because i dont use to much moistoure
each time

keep turbo dryers going untill the floor is bone dry and then some

once this is done i will start to seal 2 coats min
once they have dryed out fully  3-4 coats of polish

the trick is just to keep your turbo dryers going all the time and keep moving them as you need plus do not use to much water on the floor

i follow this every time and i havent had any problems


 davy

[Cleaning Resource]

  Good idea with the dryers i must be a div i`ve never thought of using them (even to dry the polish) i`ve even searched buildings looking for desk fans when i`ve been in a hurry  got 4 dryers sitting in my lock up but they only come out for carpets

 I shall have ago on the next wooden floor i lay me hands on, if I end up having to sand it, well thats life

do you do the same on parquet flooring?

[Fox]

Be careful in what environment you use air movers/dryers to dry polish as they will make dust and other particals in the room/building air bourne which could land on your wet polish only to dry in!  De hums are a much better bet.

Fox

[Cleaning Resource]

If i`m polishing a floor in a building we clean, then there is no dust 

   Good point though

[DP]

Filtered dehums work really well, reducing drying time dramatically.