Anyone ever used a square scub?

[juniorc82]

Giving some thought to a square scrub. I watched several videos on the thing. Look like a pretty sweet achine. never though thought much of it but I guess t can be used for dry stripping vct floors. Anyone o has spent any time sloshing around in a pool of stripper could appreciate this. Wouldn't be much help in restrooms but could work wonders in day care centers and offices. I guess its like big op machine . Tons of other hard surface applictions including stripping epoxy which I have had to turn down in the past Just looking to pick the brain of someone who owns one and can tell me a little more about it. I have a huge vct job this month and could justify the cost if s a good unit.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

The secret is not the machine.

It's the pad!

3M SPP

 

[dealtimeman]

Yes and no lee.


Yes the pad is pretty awesome. But the square machines are awesome because of how they are operated and that is easily operated. I can give a 17 year kid that has never used a floor machine of any kind and have him stripping a floor in no time. Both wet or dry.

That said I have used the pads on a rotary floor machine as well and they work well too. Just a bit of torque that needs to be dealt with and learned to control.


The pad is the secret, but the over simple user friendly design of the square machine makes them a pleasure to use.

 

[Out of Character - 0]

Pretty good deal, $650 shipped

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271335274144

 

[Goomer]

George Valium used to roll with one.

He had a lot of good things to say about it.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

Yes and no lee.


Yes the pad is pretty awesome. But the square machines are awesome because of how they are operated and that is easily operated. I can give a 17 year kid that has never used a floor machine of any kind and have him stripping a floor in no time. Both wet or dry.

That said I have used the pads on a rotary floor machine as well and they work well too. Just a bit of torque that needs to be dealt with and learned to control.


The pad is the secret, but the over simple user friendly design of the square machine makes them a pleasure to use.

I've owned Squar-buff machines, along with several OP machines currently.

For sheer productivity a 175 or 300 rpm rotary is unmatched. Yes, as you noted there is a learning curve, but I don't employ newbies so no problem.

 

[juniorc82]

I just thought it would be good for a number of reasons. I guess the dry stripping idea is pretty cool. the 3m pads for the 175 look like they still need fresh water. I have a couple medical clinics and it would be nice to strip up to the door ways without sloshing stripper onto the carpet. I also like the idea of not have the mess of stripper rolling around everywhere and drying before we suck it up.Not big enough or fast enough to use for anything more than edges at my grocery stores but it would be a king at office buildings and daycare centers. Loks like they sell a bonnet of sorts and can be used for vlm also

 

[Lee Stockwell]

Stripping with water or at most MILD detergent is not nearly as messy as stripper. I prefer not going completely dry so the pads cut longer and eliminates dust. A foam squeegee helps. I did some AT&T stores Thanksgiving day with way less than half the labor and time of the previous method.

 

[handdi]

if the floors are trashed you will have to wet strip them.
We have had one for 4 yrs now and a friend has one we can use also.
you can wet strip with them also.
they also work great on wood floors for recoats
But if ya are doin a lot of floors buy a propane stripper from aztec wow they are the trick

 

[juniorc82]

I have an eagle tracker propane stripper. Love it . My only reservation about dry stripping is that it may not chew through some floors that have tons of wax on them. looks like it would make a hell of an edge machine

 

[Out of Character - 0]

They are great edgers. Your right about removing heavy buildup though, dry wont cut it. Not so good at vlm either, hard to move around.

 

[Mardie]

Could anyone tell me if their is a trick to removing the fine scratches in VCT ?? Or if it is safe to cut into VCT to restore the surface ?

 

[Willy P]

Could anyone tell me if their is a trick to removing the fine scratches in VCT ?? Or if it is safe to cut into VCT to restore the surface ?

Fill the VS up with wax and foam it on.
Top coat and buff. If the wax isn't worthless shite that will do it.

 

[Mardie]

Fill the VS up with wax and foam it on.
Top coat and buff. If the wax isn't worthless shite that will do it.

So Willy hows your new venture into strip and recoat doing ? If I remember you started early last spring about the same as I did. I stopped into do another area where I did my first strip and recoat. It is in a medical clinic. Did all the procedure rooms and cafeteria. About 3 weeks ago I checked the job that I did last spring and could not find one scuff mark any where not even in the cafeteria with all the chair and tables. It looked like I just did it. The lady that cleans their told me that it is so easy to keep and that she does not have to clean it nearly as often as she did when the other guys were doing it.

 

[Shane Deubell]

This is the floor version of encap...

Half the guys will tell you they suck and the other half will say its a must have. Based on my limited experience borrowing a private label version from my distributor would say 50/50. Did NOT like it for messed up 1x type jobs but yes it worked pretty good for scrub recoat.

If you have mostly repeat contract type work in smaller areas then its worth it. Like any tool the type/frequency of your typical job will play a big part.
We are trying to limit our vct work to cafeteria/restroom jobs in office buildings, so we could use one but i am just flat out sick of all this equipment.

 

[juniorc82]

so on a scrub and recoat what is stood to be gained by using the scub? I have been scrubbing and recoating with my propane stripper when applicable or with a black pad with the 175. If you hit it hard enough sometimes you can get 2 or even 3 scrubs in before a full strip is needed. The extra head weight of the propane strippier will take it down to the base coat or second layer with an aggressive detergent anyway

 

[Shane Deubell]

so on a scrub and recoat what is stood to be gained by using the scub? I have been scrubbing and recoating with my propane stripper when applicable or with a black pad with the 175. If you hit it hard enough sometimes you can get 2 or even 3 scrubs in before a full strip is needed. The extra head weight of the propane strippier will take it down to the base coat or second layer with an aggressive detergent anyway

We found it beneficial in office settings with cabinets,fixtures, cubes. Sometimes water would leak under then roll back an hour later.

My goal is to eliminate floor stripper someday, very messy and we are finding it difficult to find techs. Eventually will take another look at the scrub and spend more time creating a system.

 

[Desk Jockey]

We have guys that can run a scrubber but it would be nice to just send anyone to scrub. Plus not using stripper would be a lot safer.

I really hate floors but we are constantly asked to do small jobs where they need both carpet and a small amount of floor work done.

 

[Carpet Cleaning Fool]

I use a square scrub a lot. It comes in handy for strip n wax, top scrub and re-coats and the occasional wood job.

Even got the bonnets for vlm that I haven't tried.

It will do everything the 175 will do only faster. And, it does ok on edges and corners. If the dry strip isn't cutting deep enough just keep adding weight. Or, switch to a wet chemical strip and a black pad.

It's pretty fast! It's an expensive tool too. Parts are easy to get. I've replaced the isolators twice and the bearing once.

It's a little high maintenance but makes up for it with speed.

 

[Shane Deubell]

so on a scrub and recoat what is stood to be gained by using the scub? I have been scrubbing and recoating with my propane stripper when applicable or with a black pad with the 175. If you hit it hard enough sometimes you can get 2 or even 3 scrubs in before a full strip is needed. The extra head weight of the propane strippier will take it down to the base coat or second layer with an aggressive detergent anyway

What about with a vacuum kit?
http://www.squarescrub.com/accessories

Now this looks much faster and easier, anyone ever use one?

Definitely expensive compared to a buffer/wet vac.

 

[Desk Jockey]

No one bid on it so we bought it. Ordered the SPP pads too, so we can try it out here at our shop next week. Hope it works.

 

[Shane Deubell]

No one bid on it so we bought it. Ordered the SPP pads too, so we can try it out here at our shop next week. Hope it works.

With the vacuum kit?
Cool, you might save me from one of those blunders.

Definitely like you more then jimmy now, just barely....

 

[Shane Deubell]

No one bid on it so we bought it. Ordered the SPP pads too, so we can try it out here at our shop next week. Hope it works.

Did you try it out yet?

One of my friendly competitors just told me i could buy theirs for like a $1k.
They only used it a couple times and hated it.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Yes and it is awesome! It's not for stripping, too messy, it can do it but throws stripper an wax everywhere. It does great for scrubbing with just water. They are really heavy so you can strip dry with an SPP pad but dust can be an issue.

For 1K I'd say get it. If nothing else try it out and see what you think. I've been impressed with what it can do.

 

[Shane Deubell]

Yes and it is awesome! It's not for stripping, too messy, it can do it but throws stripper an wax everywhere. It does great for scrubbing with just water. They are really heavy so you can strip dry with an SPP pad but dust can be an issue.

For 1K I'd say get it. If nothing else try it out and see what you think. I've been impressed with what it can do.

Thanks!

I will have to check if they have the one with the vacuum port, the plan was to hook up a vac system for dry scrubbing in 1 step.

 

[Desk Jockey]

If not most models sell a dust kit with a skirt to help collect the wax dust. The test spots with water or a neutral cleaner came out best with the least mess.

Oh it's LOUD too. You'll need ear plugs or an Ipod. I wonder if you can write off an Ipod as safety equipment??? I bet Lockhart has!

 

[tmdry]

Which one did you get Richard? The Koblenz or the actual square scrub?

I did a demo w/ the 3200 rpm one w/ vac port (and hepa vac attached to it, it's the one in the square scrub vids when they are doing a gym floor, has wheels). The demo was in my office wood floors, while it looked good, it was a bit slow in a 3x3 area. Maybe w/ practice I can get quicker at it, but I was just trying to justify the expense (new), since I used to get some wood floor calls, but most all just want a quick clean not full recoat at a buck a foot they choke.

I can rent one locally for 50 bucks a day, but haven't had much calls for it to use it.

 

[Desk Jockey]

The Koblenz its a 3750 RPM and has a vac port and a port for adding a water tank.

Did you use a 3-M SPP pad? It cut right though the wax wet or dry. It was just much messier dry but we don't have the vacuum kit. I prefer the water anyway and we will probably add a water tank to ours.

 

[Out of Character - 0]

Rich, if you have any of the horseshoe Cimex weights it "can" be used with the Koblenz. Actually that horse shoe will sit with reasonably stability on our cr48's, cr76, koblenz, and most of the 175 scrubber we have.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Cool we will try that out. I think we won a 8,000sq/ft floor job. We had Lockhart in here for the last couple of days training our guys on floors. We really didn't do them and were using outdated low production equipment.