FLOOR CARE HELPFUL HINTS

• Don't wear black soled shoes when stripping floors.

• Put trash liner in mop bucket before pouring in finish or sealer; this makes clean up easier and keeps product clean.

• Use a Rayon blend, looped, fantail mop to apply floor finish; don't use a cotton mop as it will leave lint.

• Pre-soak mop heads in a light solution of neutral cleaner then wring and rinse out before using.   This is done because many mops contain natural or production oil which can react with the floor finish causing negative results.

• When applying finish along the edges, use thin coats as the finish won't wear off due to the fact that there is no traffic.   Example of finish build up:

• The first coat should be the frame coat which goes along the wall and the last coat should always go to the wall.  When applying floor finish, frame in a 10'x20' area to start with then fill in using an "S" pattern.

• Always tap mop head in wringer before leaving mop bucket to apply finish.  This will alleviate mop from dripping while walking to area to be finished.  Always keep the mop bucket as close as possible.

• Unless applying the frame coat, you should never use the wringer while applying finish, mop should just be pressed down in the wringer.  This will create less bubbles in the floor finish and if done properly the mop should drip finish at a very slow rate.

• After using a finish mop fill the mop bucket with water, submerge mop in water and then wring mop in wringer.  Do this (3) times to ensure that mop will not stiffen when dried.

• Never apply sealer over floor finish.   Sealer should only be applied to old floors, as most new floors don't need sealer.

• Flood sealing can save a lot of time when sealing a floor.  The standard way is to mop on one coat of sealer, let dry for "twenty" minutes then mop on another.  Flood sealing is done by pouring sealer onto floor area very heavily, let it sit for "five" minutes, then mop up until floor is dry.  The floor will be sealed as if two to three coats were applied.

• When fans are used to speed up dry time after applying floor finish the fan should never blow directly on the floor.  Create air circulation by facing the fan at the ceiling, out a door or window. 

• Floor pads that have a build up on the bottom can be cleaned with a stripper.  This can be done several time to increase pad life.

• If time permits, after stripping, buff and dust mop floor before applying sealer.

• These days most wax and finish strippers should not be mixed with hot water; room temperature is recommended. 

• Spray buff and restorers are very commonly over used.  They do not need to be used every time a floor is buffed; every other buffing is satisfactory. 

• When using an autoscrubber to scrub aisles; go down the left side of the aisle and up the left side of adjacent aisle then back down the right side of the first aisle.  If this process is used it will increase the time efficiency of the job.

• Always use wet floor signs