Is floor stripper needed to get wax off a tile floor?

[jcooper]

Yea, have a client who's sister waxed her tile floor(once). Apparently not looking so good these days.

How would you go about getting the wax off? A floor machine(175) and floor stripper? This is a new one to me. Never worked with floor stripper, mop it down, scrub, and rinse with the tm? Do I need to clean again after I rinse the stripper(lol)..?


How time consuming will this be? If I called YOU, what would a general range $ per foot for something like this cost?

 

[Shane Deubell]

Personally would strip, shop vac up the slurry then rinse with tm.

Probably $2 ft depends on finish, some are weak and come right off.
Others= nightmare

Test for sure.

 

[Russ T.]

Is it tile/grout Jerry?

 

[Lee Stockwell]

Yes confirm the actual surface.

"Tile" means many things to a homemaker. If it were vinyl sheet goods you could easily ruin it with a process meant for another surface.

 

[Mikey P]

so true Lee.



and just because they say it's one thing over the phone, by no means take their word on it.

 

[jcooper]

Sorry fellas,

From what she(longtime client) told the wife, her sister waxed her ceramic tile floor & grout. Not sure on type of wax product, going to look at it tomorrow.

Don't know much about floor stripper.

 

[Mikey P]

Stop by Home Depot or a janitorial supply and get some vct stripper on your way over to test.

90% chance it and a scrubberdoodle pad will take it off in a few mintutes.

 

[Shane Deubell]

I assumed tile/grout but should have asked.

Really depends on finish, if its poly based prepare for a looooong day. But it may just be 1 coat of some cheap home depot stuff.
Test a couple squares/grout lines and find out.

Assume worst case with your time, can be very messy and some areas difficult to remove.

 

[dealtimeman]

I think it comes down to how many times the tile was really coated and how long it has been down.

Either way it is pretty straight forward, and you should go to job with at least two if not three different strippers. You can do a Gallon of zep from Home Depot, a gallon of shinline emulsifier by Spartan and one gallon of prostrip by diversey formally Johnson wax.

Let dwell don't let dry, don't let it run under cabinets and such and agitate well. Use a scraper or hard brush to inspect and see if you have dissolved the coating or if there is more that needs to come off. If there is more that needs to come off. Recover slurry and reapply stripper because once the solution becomes a thickend slurry it has weakened and will not continue to break up more finish.

 

[D Rice]

Don't promise complete removal. There may still be some residue in the grout lines after you strip. Grout is very porous and it can be very difficult to get all of the wax out of it. Take a grout brush and you might ask the sister what brand or type of wax she used as that could save a lot of effort trying to find the right stripper. Use a stripper by the same manufacturer if you can.

 

[hogjowl]

I personally have not experienced this, and I HAVE rinsed stripper slurry with my TM on numerous occasions, but TCS told me to stop doing it because they have seen gunked up blowers as a result of this.

 

[Jim Pemberton]

Your friends at TCS are right Marty.

Liquified floor finish can cause an incredible amount of damage to the vacuums and (depending on the type of machine) heat exchangers on truck mounts.

We have damaged components to show during the tile and grout cleaning classes that I teach, as well as for use during truck mount service training.

 

[WillS]

Had this problem with a customer who put down Terrazine. Get a descaler from your local cleaning store, dilute it less than what it says. We usually let it sit for about 5 minutes without fully drying, agitate it and you can just see the wax pulling up. We spray down water mixed with some BoostAl,l wet vac that crap off the floor, clean it and usually do some sort of polish. We learned the hard way, it is really difficult to get it out of porous grout in some places. You will have to hand scrub, even then it doesn't fully remove as mentioned above. 500sq ft. could take around 2 hours w/2 techs depending on how thick it is on there.

 

[jcooper]

I personally have not experienced this, and I HAVE rinsed stripper slurry with my TM on numerous occasions, but TCS told me to stop doing it because they have seen gunked up blowers as a result of this.

Your friends at TCS are right Marty.

Well heck, NO TM...? That sucks! So that's why everyone uses a shop vac.

On a good note... Thanks for the advice this morning, Mike. Stopped by HD spent 10$ and whammo, totally worked, misted on some stripper about 2-3 minutes later it came right off. I only tried a couple tiles and used the little metal brushes on the grout. Don't think there was a lot(of wax), sure fooked up her floor.

You guys think a 175 and a red pad would help with the grout lines? Or is this job one for the grout brush and boat loads of time?

 

[BradFenstermaker]

Whatever you decide add a couple of hours to the labor. Early thks yr I did Masterbath, eat in kitcnen and hall bath.

pervious owner of house put down mystery wax over trashed grout and porcelain. 3 trips and about 12 hours in the job. Finally had to let homeowner now I had reached my labor limit on the price qouted.

Removed 95% of it. That 5% really stood out.

175 with black pad stripper from jan supply. Mop and let dwell, scrub rinse. Grab scotch brite pads for edging.

Good luck it sucks

 

[hogjowl]

Brad's not Mr. Happy.

 

[Shane Deubell]

 

[Lee Stockwell]

I pick up floor slurry with the TM with no problem. Run the machine at idle speed only.

I use SPP pads and minimal butyl if at all for most stripping. Usually only run the machine for ten minutes at a time and chase with clear rinse.

 

[Mikey P]

On a good note... Thanks for the advice this morning, Mike. Stopped by HD spent 10$ and whammo, totally worked, misted on some stripper about 2-3 minutes later it came right off. I only tried a couple tiles and used the little metal brushes on the grout. Don't think there was a lot(of wax), sure fooked up her floor.

I may be arrogant, but I'm usually right.

 

[jcooper]

I may be arrogant, but I'm usually right.

jus' sayin.


Lol, yea I just needed a nudge in the right direction, thanks everyone...
Strippers aren't sooo scary.

 

[dealtimeman]

For a small job like this you TM will be fine picking up the slurry with your machine.

The whole don't pick up slurry with your TM becomes a real issue when it is a large job or you are doing it regularly.

If you pick up the slury while rinsing at the same time adding 2-3 gallons per minute to your vacuum line will be sufficient protection of your equipment for this small job is (under 200 sqft).

Real issue is if you extract the slury with just vac only, anyone who does floor know once the water dries in a he slurry all the muck resolidifies. I thee issue is the small solids that have solidified and hardened making it past your blower filter and into you blower and l the potential to melt on your lobes!

Keep it wet and water flowing and you should be just fine on a tiny job like this. Don't get lazy and get a wet vac for the larger jobs. Even on the larger jobs once you have done round one of stripping and removed most of the old finish and muck, I would have no issue using the TM to recovery and turbo the remaining stripper.

 

[jcooper]

For a small job like this you TM will be fine picking up the slurry with your machine.
The whole don't pick up slurry with your TM becomes a real issue when it is a large job or you are doing it regularly.
If you pick up the slury while rinsing at the same time adding 2-3 gallons per minute to your vacuum line will be sufficient protection of your equipment for this small job is (under 200 sqft).
Real issue is if you extract the slury with just vac only, anyone who does floor know once the water dries in a he slurry all the muck resolidifies. I thee issue is the small solids that have solidified and hardened making it past your blower filter and into you blower and l the potential to melt on your lobes!
Keep it wet and water flowing and you should be just fine on a tiny job like this. Don't get lazy and get a wet vac for the larger jobs. Even on the larger jobs once you have done round one of stripping and removed most of the old finish and muck, I would have no issue using the TM to recovery and turbo the remaining stripper.

Thanks for taking the time, Michael. The advice is very much appreciated.