STripping tile floor with finish

[daniel@procarpet]

I looked at a tile floor that has obviously been stripped and recoated in the past. The last person to do it did a real poor job. The floor is real spotty and flaky looking. I recommended the floor be deep stripped which means it may take two or three strippings and then seal with a solvent based sealer with enhancer. There is 812 sq ft. I was thinking 3 dollars per foot to do the job, but I am not sure how much sealer I would need and if this price is too low. This is for a friend. Also there was an office that had carpet over the floor so under was in pristine condition. A guy that works at this place put some type of polyurethane on the floor. It looks great, but I know that is not a good solution. How would you price this job?

 

[daniel@procarpet]

Edit the guy put down hard as nails floor finish. I have to say it looks great. They want it to shine and finish may be the only thing to do that.

 

[FB7777]

I'm doing 1100 sq ft of school tile over the Xmas break for $600, it's part of a larger contract but I could only dream of getting $3 a foot

They should be able to rip up, replace with new VCTand have it sealed and finished for $2436 ( 812 x $3 / ft )

You're definitely not " too low"

But your friend may ask you if you're "high"

 

[J Scott W]

You did not state what kind of tile - VCT? Cermaic? Stone?

Stripping and refinishing for VCT is typically less than $1 per sq. ft. Sometimes much less than that for larger areas.

If it takes you 3 passes to remove the finish from VCT, you need a better stripper or a different process.

You mentioned an enhancer and solvent which is usually for stone and not for VCT. Typical pricing might be $1 - $2 depending upon how many layers of the topical coating are on the stone.

Coverage for a penetrating stone sealer would be around 400 sq. ft. per gallon up to 1200 sq. ft. per gallon if it is a type of stone that is not very porous.

 

[daniel@procarpet]

How do I post pics?

 

[daniel@procarpet]

It is not vct. If it was 75 cents per sq ft would be good. It is a ceramic tile that looks like brick and has grout. It would look great with finish, but then when it gets dirty it would need to be stripped again. That is why I was thinking the sealer would work the best.

 

[daniel@procarpet]

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[dgardner]

Daniel, if you click on "Full Image" it will insert the full size pic right into the thread:

Had a bleeder today

 

[Mikey P]

The fact that you are talking about Enhancers for that floor tell me you should pass.


Go fishing instead.

 

[Shane Deubell]

Its not meant to have floor finish on it, so it would just flake and be spotty again.

Sealer would be my choice and yes $3 sqr ft sounds about right.
Hard as nails is not too strong, its betco so i would use their stripper extreme.

Might need to do some taping, can get real messy.

 

[Shane Deubell]

Grout sealer i mean, not tile.

 

[daniel@procarpet]

I guess I didn't do something right but that is the floor. As you can tell the floor has a lot of buildup and a hacked out attempt at stripping it years ago with finish applied to the top

The fact that you are talking about Enhancers for that floor tell me you should pass.


Go fishing instead.

Lol. Help a brother out.

 

[daniel@procarpet]

They want it shinny.

 

[hogjowl]

Count on some hands and knees with a wire brush .

$3 is probably too low.

 

[Shane Deubell]

They want it shinny.

They should have bought a different tile then.
Its like buying a dump truck and saying but i want it to go fast.

Like marty said test it out first anyway or you might be there for a week.
Those jobs can be tough.

 

[Mikey P]

Can't tell in the photos but the grout is shiny, right?
Any chance that is Glaze and Seal or it's equivalent on those tiles? Sure is lumpy and full of crud.

is it that slow there right now? is this your parents house? part of a much bigger job? hot home owner?
What testing have you done so far?

 

[daniel@procarpet]

Can't tell in the photos but the grout is shiny, right?
Any chance that is Glaze and Seal or it's equivalent on those tiles? Sure is lumpy and full of crud.

is it that slow there right now? is this your parents house? part of a much bigger job? hot home owner?
What testing have you done so far?

Yes but very spotty. It looks like it was stripped but poorly done years ago and then finish mopped on. In the first pic the office had carpet over it for years so it is in great shape. When they pulled the carpet up they mopped finish on it. Looks awesome with the finish on it. I haven't done any testing, but I can test clean. I am going to do a small area and see what happens. My opinion is the floor will be hard to strip. I guess that is why I need to do a test clean.

 

[Louis]

That's a job. Comes of the tile with the 175 and grit brush. The grout is a whole different story. I will no longer put coatings on tile other than vct. They just blame you later when it looks like crap and is scratched up. If they want shiny then buy shiny tile or get out your visa and buy some stone. Don't fall for it. Go fishing like mike said.

 

[BradFenstermaker]

You wont like your friend after you loose your Ass trying to fix this Cluster Fook!
Put on tennis shoes and Run.

Thats ceramic or porcelain tile. Not made for gloss shine sealer.

 

[Louis]

Run Forrest run.

 

[Cameron DeMille]

minimum $8 a foot.

 

[floorguy]

Its a brick floor....and is VERY porus. which holds the shit like crazy And will be a bitch to strip....and thats putting it nicely...

Odds are it has either LOTS of coats of finish or a urethane or both..... It will make a aweful sloppy mess, and take about 5 days to do

Looking at the pic of the hall...it appears what ever was put on top, is not bonding with the bottom coat.....

which means 1 of 2 things

Crappy strip job and rinse, like you said
or
different products used for sealer.....and not bonding....

just walk

 

[Shane Deubell]

I would just grab a spray bottle, brush and go test a couple sqr's out.

Sometimes finish comes right off, usually it is a hard job but ya never know.

 

[Mikey P]

Its a brick floor....and is VERY porus. which holds the shit like crazy And will be a bitch to strip....and thats putting it nicely...

Odds are it has either LOTS of coats of finish or a urethane or both..... It will make a aweful sloppy mess, and take about 5 days to do

Looking at the pic of the hall...it appears what ever was put on top, is not bonding with the bottom coat.....

which means 1 of 2 things

Crappy strip job and rinse, like you said
or
different products used for sealer.....and not bonding....

just walk

Are you going to use all this expletives and vulgarity during your ICEE presentation?

 

[daniel@procarpet]

Doug it's not brick. I offered to do a test clean for 300 dollars in the entry way about 125 sq ft. My supplier was right on without even looking at the floor saying cost should be around 5 dollars per sq ft. I won't be doing the job though at least not anytime soon. I think the owner is going to attempt to do it himself with a mop bucket and a floor buffer. I know it will never look like the room that was covered in carpet for years unless they put a lot of man hours in the job themselves or pay a decent price to get it done.

 

[Cameron DeMille]

$5 isn't enough

The main reason is that you're on an internet forum asking how to do the job and you're not even sure what the material is.

I wouldn't even give them a price until they paid me to do a test area.

This is one of those jobs that can make you want to swallow a shotgun.

 

[floorguy]

Are you going to use all this expletives and vulgarity during your ICEE presentation?

if it comes up about a nasty ass job......yup....

aint gonna sugar coat it, aint gonna go all PC on it either......there are certain things that need to be said about certain jobs....plain and simple...same with equipment.....use your TM to suck enough stripper slurry through, and in my opinion your a dumb ass....because it WILL catch up with your equipment.....Id rather replace a $200 shop vac, vs a $4000 blower......or a $150 vac motor inside a $5000 autoscrubber...

Contrary to most people out in the wonderful WWW.....I am about as straight a shooter as your gonna get.....not to mention a bit of swiss in me as well, when it comes to arguments...because 99% of the time, i see both sides of the isle