Cleaning & Janitorial Supplies

Jangro Member

Cleaning Techniques & Procedures

Cleaning Resilient Floors

Floor Types - Pure Vinyl, Thermoplastic and Linoleum
Common areas of use :- Hospitals, Schools, Offices, Retail Stores

Most new floors in this group are pure vinyl, either sheet or tiles, the main reason being that vinyl is more resistant to chemical attack, is hard wearing and quieter under foot. Vinyl Asbestos and Thermoplastic floors can still be found and can be recognised by the size of the tile 9" (Pure vinyl 12"), and their hardness under foot. Thermoplastic tiles are made from Asphalt and Asbestos, are very brittle and have poor resistance to chemical attack. Vinyl Asbestos tiles are more resistant to chemicals but are also brittle and mark more easily than Pure Vinyl. Linoleum Is made entirely from natural products i.e. cork, sawdust, and oils with a jute backing, is quiet under foot and hard wearing. As it is made from natural products it can be treated with wax polishes, providing that care is taken when stripping (see note 1), although it is preferable to use water based products.

Cleaning Technique
PREPARATION: Before starting ensure that you have adequately isolated the area to be cleaned so as to protect the safety of the public and other members of staff. You should ensure that all reasonable safety precautions have been taken, for more information contact the Health and Safety Executive.

Stripping The Floor
First remove all dirt, old seal and polish. To do this use a standard speed rotary floor machine fitted with a solution tank, drive disk and a black pad or preferably green on Linoleum .

Fill the tank with Nova Starbrite Stripper at a 1:8 dilution ratio and scrub the floor releasing solution as you go. Allow the chemical to soak for 5 minutes, then scrub again only releasing solution if necessary, (This operation may have to be repeated 2 or 3 times if there is a heavy build up of old polish).

Note: Extreme care must be taken when stripping a linoleum floor as high alkali stripping agents are harmful to linoleum, Use a dilution ratio of 1:12 and rinse thoroughly.

Next dry the floor or, if working on a large area, use a wet pick up machine fitted with a fixed squeegee or use the standard head if in a small or confined area. Inspect the floor to check that all old polish and dirt has been removed if not repeat the above procedure.

The floor must now be neutralised as most strippers are high in alkali and will have left the floor with a high pH value causing any seal or polish to dust. Fill a bucket with plain water and add a small amount of Prorinse (or vinegar if not available) and mop liberally onto the floor and allow floor to dry. If time allows, dry burnish the floor with a machine fitted with a red pad.

Sealing The Floor
Sweep or vacuum the floor to remove all dust. Put a quantity of' Novacryl water based seal into a clean bucket, first coat 1 litre = 30 sq m, second coat 1 litre = 60 sq m, fit a clean applicator sponge into a mop wringer and dip into the Novacryl, wring out sponge, apply seal to the floor taking care to give an even coverage. If dry streaks appear too little has been applied; if air bubbles appear too much has been applied. If this happens wring out sponge and smooth out the effected area.

After 30 minutes apply second coat of Novacryl at right angles to the first, allow to dry, and open windows to improve ventilation, the floor should take 15 - 20 minutes to dry in normal conditional if it dries in under 10 minutes the floor is still porous, apply another coat.

Dressing The Floor
Using a clean bucket and applicator apply two coats of Saturn Steel floor polish (1 litre = 60 sq m), following the same procedure as for Novacryl , allowing at least 30 minutes for drying before walking on the floor. The second coat of Saturn Steel should be applied leaving a 6 inch gap from the skirting. This avoids a build up of polish around the floor edge.

Maintaining The Floor
The maintenance programme can be started 24 hours after laying the seal and polish.

When deciding on a maintenance programme consideration should be given to the amount of foot traffic over the floor, also the amount and type of dirt likely to be deposited. This will vary considerably depending on the type of building, i.e. a DIY Store with bags of cement and sand stored, should be regarded as a heavy traffic area with the need to repair the finish on a regular basis. A hospital ward with minimal foot traffic and light soiling should be regarded as a light traffic area. Account should also be taken of the distance of the area to be cleaned from the outside entrance to the building, i.e. the further from the entrance the lighter the cleaning programme.

In light traffic areas a daily sweep with a dust control mop or vacuuming combined with a once a week "spray clean" will keep the floor in good condition. Spillage's should of course be damp mopped.

In medium or heavy traffic areas increase the frequency of "spray cleaning" up to once a day in very heavy conditions.

Spray cleaning not only cleans and shines the floor but also increases the ability of the polish to withstand scuffing and prolong the time between, stripping and resealing, in some cases dispensing with it altogether.

Spray cleaning should be carried out with a high speed floor machine fitted with a red pad. A spray bottle filled with a solution of Janitorial Express Floor Maintainer diluted 1-8 with water should be prepared. Remove dust and litter by sweeping or vacuuming, then working systematically over the floor, spray a very fine mist of solution over approximately 2-3 square metres at a time (if you can see it on the floor you have applied too much!). Pass the machine over the floor until dampness has disappeared and a high shine is visible.

Any stubborn marks should be given a second spray with additional machine passes until removed.

The floor should then be swept or vacuumed to remove dust and debris not taken up in the pad. Fitting a vacuum unit to the machine dispenses with this operation thereby saving considerable time.

Repairing The Finish
As the finish on the floor wears (usually in high traffic areas), it can be repaired quickly, this avoids the need for complete stripping and resealing. To do this thoroughly clean the floor. Using a High speed rotary machine fitted with a blue pad. Spray-clean the floor with a solution of Janitorial Express Multi Clean Extra, diluted 1:40 with water, then rinse with cold water. When dry, apply a thin coat of Saturn Steel to the worn area only. Should further coats be necessary these should be applied at right angles to the previous coat making sure each coat is dry before applying the next. Leave to dry for 30 minutes then dry burnish with a red pad to blend in with re-treated areas.

EQUIPMENT REQUIRED
Machines for scrubbing and stripping floors should be standard speed (around 180 / 200 rpm). Use a wet vacuum for drying the floor with a fixed squeegee for large areas or the standard tools for small areas. Spray cleaning should be carried out by using a high speed machine, up to 450 rpm. Machines which revolve at speeds in excess of 450 rpm loose their ability to clean and should be used for burnishing only.

• SCRUBBING/STRIPPING MACHINES - Standard Speed (180/200rpm)
• BUFFING/SPRAY CLEANING MACHINES - Fast (400/450rpm)
• WET VACUUMS - Preferably With Fixed Squeegee
• BRUSHES/PADS
  The use of brushes on these types of flooring is limited as pads generally give a better performance. The pads to use are as follows:-
  

  Stripping	Spray cleaning	Restore
  black	red	red
  green	blue	blue

• CHEMICALS
  

  Stripper	Sealer	Polish	Maintainer	Restorer
  Nova Starbrite	Novacryl	JX Saturn Steel	JX Floor Maintainer	JX Multiclean Extra

Large areas of these types of floors, i.e. Hospital Corridors, Retail Stores, DIY Stores etc., can be maintained (once the have been prepared), by using a scrubber dryer (fitted with soft brushes or pads and using Stride 1000 in the tank) to wash and dry the floor, followed immediately with a mains or battery burnishing machine fitted with a "Thermal" pad to restore-the shine. This method has a high initial cost but saves on labour costs which is about 80% of the annual cost of a cleaning programme.

Janitorial Express offer free next day delivery on orders over £60 in London, Northants, Milton Keynes and Bournemouth. Also a 3 day delivery to all other area, is available, please ask about delivery charges

We accept all major credit cards, and cash and carry is also available.

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