cleaning Vinyl composition tile

[mxbuz]

Hi All,

I'm not in the cleaning business but, would like to ask you experts a question. My wife is moving her retail store to a new location and it has VCT on the floor (3500sq ft). It looks in good shape (new 5 years ago) but I thought I should take advantage of it being a empty space and do more than mop. What would you do to it before we move in?
I would also like to ask you for a recommendation on what I could look to buy to help maintain the floor once we are moved in?

Thanks for any suggestions!
Buz

 

[Guest]

Clean it with floor stripper,
dryer it
mop it
mop wax and let it dry!

simple as that!

No need to thank me

 

[dealtimeman]

have you ever done a stip and wax? have you ever used an floor buffer?

 

[steve frasier]

do some reading in the hard floor room

 

[TimP]

Obviously he has no experience. He should be calling a pro. This is a daunting task for one who has no tools.

 

[Rex Tyus]

Bill, stimulate the economy, call a pro. By the time you rent the equipment, pay to much for the wrong products, waste time that could be spent else where you will save time and money by calling someone else. If you play your cards right you may even get a good price from someone in your area that does this from this very forum.

Good luck to you. I hope your wife's retail business is succesful.

 

[Walt]

Ditto the above. 3500 sqft doesn't look big until you start by using the wrong products or don't know how it's done. You could easily spend more on product than what it would take a pro to do it and have a terrible looking floor to show for it.

 

[mxbuz]

I'm planning to hire a pro for the first initial cleaning. I was just asking what process you guys would take so I would know if I was getting the right job done. The second part of the question was based on me maintaining the floor after it was filled with displays. Thanks for the advice!

 

[Dolly Llama]

I'm planning to hire a pro for the first initial cleaning. I was just asking what process you guys would take so I would know if I was getting the right job done.

depends on the condition of the finish now.
If in good shape, it may just need a top scrub and re-finish.
If in great shape, it just may need a burnishing

if worn and in poor shape, it will need stripped and re-finished for best results.

The short version of strip and re-finish;
The outfit you hire will lay down a finish (wax) stripping solution, mechanically scrub, then vac up the slurry.
Once the old finish is removed, several coats of new finish are applied.

The second part of the question was based on me maintaining the floor after it was filled with displays. Thanks for the advice!

mop with a neutral floor cleaner.
You can buy neutral floor cleaner at Sam's Club or any janitor supply store.

As far as maintaining the shine/finish....
we are professionals here, so I'd recommend you have a pro maintain your floors regularly if you want it done right

But i can dig it if you can't afford that or don't have the money in the budget to have pro keep an eye popping "wet look" shine to the floors.
So your next option would be buy a polisher/burnisher and maintain them yourself
The cost of a 20" 1500rpm polisher starts at appx $700-$800 new and go up from there.

You'll be able to spray buff your own floors then..
It's not "quite" an idiot proof job, but pretty close with just minimal guidance and the right pads and spray buff spray

..L.T.A.

 

[sweendogg]

Are you going to have isles, or displays scattered? If you have mostly isles and good walkroom, you could look at a small autoscrubber for maintaining the place after you have it professionally cleaned and finished. The autoscrubber would save you a lot of time mopping but you are looking at a minimum 1500-2000 for a small floor version.

Examples:

http://www.vacuumcleaners.net/vacuum_cl ... o_593.html

http://www.jondon.com/catalog/product_i ... e88f213b83