VCT is not brain surgery, it's quite easy really. if you are doing 4,200 sq ft. (30% of 14,000) you'll need that number to determine how much stripper and wax to purchase. Read the label on the bottle which has a guide as to how many square feet the container will clean or based on a gallon of RTU solution.
You'll need a lot of tools to do the job too. You'll need a broom and dust pan to sweep the floor of all dust bunnies, bit of paper, celophane, sand, etc.. 3 separate mops for the 3 different steps of the process; Mop #1 for applying the stripper, #2 Rinse Mop, #3 Wax mop. Your stripper mop can be any piece of crap but the others will be better quality, especially the wax mop. You'll need a 175 and scrub pads - black, green whatever depending on how dirty, how much wax build up, if you are doing a scrub and recoat or a strip and wax, different strippers and different pads depending on what your doing. You'll need a doodle bug, that's a little handled pole that holds a small abbrasive pad about 3x5 inches to go along all the edges of the walls and other hard to reach areas that the 175 can't reach. Maybe a floor scraper too, that helps scrape up really hard to remove stuff;wax, gum, candy, whatever. You'll need a heavy duty mop bucket for the stripper and another bucket with a ringer for the clean water rinse. Some people use a buckets and such for the wax but I don't. Plus you'll need some good quality plastic bags to store your mops in after you've cleaned them.
The job is simple: slop down your stripper heavily on the floor, let it sit for about 5-10 minutes. you can check by rubbing the tile with your foot to see if the wax is being to emulsified. if the toe of your foot slips it's not ready, if it sticks it's ready to hit it with the 175. After your taken off the wax (or scrubbed) to the tile, suck up all the liquid with a wet vac.. behind the wet vac you want a guy rinse mopping the floor with clean water. Allow the floor to dry. Then apply the wax. Depending on how many coats they want I would say a minimum of 3 for a recoat but up to 5 or 6 for a strip/wax job. Make sure you wait about an hour after application of your first coat of wax before applying the remaining coats to make sure it's cured well. Remaining coats, you will probably only have to wait 30 minutes or so. If you use a fan, make sure you point it up and not across the floor because you may get ripples in the wax, and don't wax right up to the wall on your first couple of coats. Leave about 4-5 inches gap. Then on your last 2 coats, go right up to the edges.
The hardest part about VCT is it takes 3-4 guys and the waxing takes for ever.. the good part is you could do it all in one day if you have enough help. One team for VCT and one for carpets. While the wax is drying.. they can help clean carpets between coats.. etc.
If they have you come in and spray buff the tile once a week to keep it nice and shiney like glass you may never have to strip and wax for a long long time, years even. Of course you get paid to spray buff too
But it's realitively quick, easy, and a one man job.
Didn't mean to sound like a know-it-all. Just wanted you to know the basics so you can be prepared when the time comes to do the job and do it well.
Good luck!
