Learning curve on VCT?

[Brody Robert]

I clean for a church and they love me and asked if I could do anything for their gym. It's not in great shape.

I've done a small office of vct and it ended up looking really nice when I was done.
I used a 175 and black pads then I cleaned it real well with my truckmount. I hated getting all the stripper and old finish in my truckmount but the mop and bucket just wasn't working well and taking forever.

What do you guys use to clean up all the stripper and old finish? I have an old portable I could use.

Anyways I wouldn't normally do this but it's in such bad shape I think I could at least make it look better than it is. And it could end up being a good learning experience and maybe start offering it as a service.

Anyways, as usual any help would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[Russ T.]

You started off right with the 175 and black pad in the office.

I prefer a cheapie wet vac from cleanfreak.com to collect the slurry. Don't gunk up your expensive tm.

A floor that size will need a big squeegee and a helper.

Maybe an autoscrubber could retrieve slurry?? It might be worth renting one.

Don't be shy with the stripper and rinse WELL before applying finish.

After the floor looks really good...put 1 more coat of finish on.

A floor like that would make for a very long day for a helper and I.

 

[Small town janitorial]

Rent an autoscrubber. Doing that with a 175 and vac would be miserable. It is possible, but a huge waste of time. Rent a 26-30in autoscrubber. Put stripper down with mop and bucket in manageable areas. Let it dwell. Don't get in too much of a hurry. Give it time to work. Then scrub it once with black pads and squeegee up, not collecting. Then the second go around scrub and vacuum it with the autoscrubber. You will learn the tricks from there. Use a flat microfiber mop to apply the wax.

 

[Cleanworks]

That's exactly what I use, an old portable. I have an old ninja that I use for hard surfaces. I take a hard surface tool like a gekko wand and it works extremely well. You will need defoamer.

 

[icleancarpetz]

Using a 175 for that large of a job…How bout three Hail Marys?

That jobs worth about $2500-$3500 on the easy side.

 

[Mikey P]

You'll know you've mastered VCT when you've declared Never Again.

 

[Bruce Humphrey]

LOL , Mike is right about that , when you get half way done with that gym you'll ask your self WHY??

 

[Braden bell]

Learning curve for doing vct:
Step one-Decide to do vct
Step two-do some
Step three-Decide not to do vct
Schools out

 

[Danbo]

This wet/dry vac works great for that purpose and is fairly inexpensive. Get it with the front mounted squeegee. Go to powr-flite.com and look up the 15 gallon
15 Gallon Wet Dry Vacuum With Stainless Steel Tank and Tool Kit. Get the front mounted squeegee on it. Works great.

 

[Jimmy L]

Having done that for years working in a large school district have to say what a nightmare.
One little tip is when you start to lay down wax don't put so many coats on the outside edges. Put more in the middle of the floor where the action will be. Then if you need to strip down the road it will be easier.

We used the mop bucket and stripper and then used a large shop vac to suck up the slurry. Used a 175 and black pad.
Then used a citric acid rinse with a mop to ph balance.
1 coat of sealer and then 4 coats of wax

 

[Brody Robert]

Haha good advice everyone. It may be a bit much for me to bite off at first. I may start doing some more small offices.

Using a 175 for that large of a job…How bout three Hail Marys?

That jobs worth about $2500-$3500 on the easy side.

Hmmm... Although if I could get $3000 off it then it may make an all nighter worth it. I didn't think I could get that much.

 

[Old Coastie]

Hang in there. Soon they'll decide the secretary's cousin could use a job and be the full time janitor for what you bid. Then he'll use bleach to clean everything and you'll get calls because "the wax you used is turning yellow."

 

[Mikey P]

No sheet


Vct leads to inbreeding more than a Sutley family picnic

 

[Kenny Hayes]

This thread made me quit lurking. Vct is not that hard, but you really
want a little more experience with different size floors before you step up to gym floors, or at least I would. We pretty much use surface prep pads now. Square and round. It's not hard, but more than a little thought needs to go into it. $3,500 One more, I wouldn't suck up slurry with my truck mount!

 

[Mikey P]

Ten years of lurking, how'd it feel?


That's for coming out

 

[Brody Robert]

This thread made me quit lurking. Vct is not that hard, but you really
want a little more experience with different size floors before you step up to gym floors, or at least I would. We pretty much use surface prep pads now. Square and round. It's not hard, but more than a little thought needs to go into it. $3,500 One more, I wouldn't suck up slurry with my truck mount!

Good stuff brother man.. I may try and get a few more little ones then I'll get some advice from you.

Have you really been lurking for 10 years?

 

[Onfire_02_01]

I would go for it!
Honestly I have done small offices 20x20 all the way up to 10,000 sqf+ places. While the large jobs do take more time, they are easier to do imho. I always use an auto scrubber on the big ones and they are less taxing on the body than the 175 trying not to knock over the last 3 years of financials as your are trying to get right up to the filing cabinet.
Think of it like carpet cleaning a banquet hall. Tiring and lots of sqf to clean but you get a Rythum going and it's easy.

 

[Kenny Hayes]

OMG, I feel so much better now that I've got that off my chest!!!!


Auto scrubber is the key word there for a gym. I use spp's on my auto scrubber. I just mentioned more thought before plunging with an uncertain
person and maybe a helper

 

[handdi]

vct is easy just have to have the right stuff.
15 grand get ya set up pretty good.
the job average is high
prob 15 percent of my bus right now.
dont run a auto scrubber to pu slop either no truck mount either buy a wetvac

 

[Kenny Hayes]

I use ridged wet wet vacs too. One for dry slurry, and one for wet with a kiavac wand. BUT, I can pick up slurry with my auto scrubbers. I rinse them out however. I've gone through a lot of vacs of every kind. But who wants to use a cord in a gym?

 

[Lee Stockwell]

If you ever use a tm, use it at idle speed only.