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Saving Money when it comes to Floors

The public’s perception of the overall cleanliness of a facility is still influenced by two things common to every facility.

First, the condition of the restrooms tells a story.  If restrooms are not clean, it doesn’t say much for the rest of a facility, whether it’s a restaurant, a school, a hospital, etc.  This article is not about restrooms cleanliness however, is that is the subject for future articles.

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The appearance and condition of Floors Tell a Story about a facility

The other, is the FLOORS.  People still equate those shiny floors with cleanliness and many facility managers are willing to oblige.  When it comes to vinyl floors often seen in commercial facilities, creating those pristine, shiny floors comes at a price.  Most of that cost of course is labor.  Finding ways to attack the labor part of the equation while still maintaining the level of appearance desired is critical.  Here are some time honored tips as well as some new ways to get the best looking floors while getting the most bang out of your labor dollars.

  1. Entry Ways:  Keep dirt out of the building and off of the floor.  Estimates suggest it takes $800 worth of labor to remove 1 lb of dirt from a building.  Use adequate lengths of the proper matting to remove soil from shoes before it gets on the floor.  Usually recommended is 15 feet of walk off matting.
  2. Adjust maintenance frequency so that areas around entries are cleaned more often.
  3. Strip floors properly.  If finish is left after stripping, then strip again.
  4. Use a higher solids finish.  With finishes you get what you pay for.  A higher solids finish contains proportionately less water.  This means fewer coats are necessary to achieve results.  Fewer coats not only means less finish used, but less labor needed to apply finish.
  5. Strip less often:  If you want to strip less often, do a better job at maintaining your floors on a daily basis.  Regular dust mopping and cleaning with an automatic scrubber will make floors look better and last longer without stripping.
  6. Scrub and Recoat More:  A proper scrub and recoat will make finishes last longer and allow less frequent stripping. Consider using a more aggressive pad such as a 3M SPP pad or similar.  Sometimes touted as a chemical free stripping pad, this pad takes off more coats of finish before applying additional coats of finish.

 

The Multi-Clean METHOD:  This written procedure bulletin is the floor care bible.

 

Floor Care Calculator:  Estimate the quantity of seal, finish and stripper for any project.  Simply enter square footage.  Optionally, you can enter product pricing to facilitate project cost estimating.

MAX PLUS Calculator: Calculate Project Costs and Savings Quickly through the use of the ultra high solids finish MAX Plus from Multi-Clean.

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