Mikey P
Administrator
I'll make this a factual detailing of a near financial disaster I helped divert this past week.
Scenario- 1st floor completely tiled with 18" Porcelain tiles w/ 1/4 sanded grout, granite inlays at thresholds and decorative mosaic inlays.
700 sq ft give or take
At least three coats of water based topical applied by previous home owner
Home was fully furnished with three large wool rugs, pool table, sectional sofa, entertainment wall unit etc.
MDF base boards all the way around.
Cleaned one other time by same cleaner with no issues
Neither the customer or the cleaner were aware of the existence of the water based coating.
Just open areas were asked to be cleaned.
For this visit the cleaner used Oxy Blaster which is a high pH peroxide based cleaner/booster, a great grout and honed stone cleaner but powerful enough to act as a weak stripper...
After applying the Oxy Blaster, setting up hoses and spinner tool and proceeding to "turbo" the floor, the cleaner noticed trails of emulsified coating coming off the turbo head.
Upon closer inspection it became apparent that the coating was there and being removed randomly. A few rings where the tool sat for too long and quite a few "Rorschach" looking splots..
At this point the cleaner went to home depot to grab some Zep stripper.
He only had a lightweight CRB tool to agitate
The attempt to strip the coating was unsuccessful. Not enough agitation and dwell time. Streaks and more splots were created.
Some lifting and flaking of the coating happened around the edges of areas were it was completely removed.
(Even uglier, the non skid mesh material under the wool rugs was completely adhered to the floor)
He knew the risk of working around MDF so he planed on staying an inch or so away, which would have led to a coating picture frame around the room
Having no experience in stripping floors, what the cleaner did not realize was just how much product had to be laid down and left to dwell.
To do the job properly all furnishing would need to be removed, the MDF baseboard removed and all walls and cabinets masked off.
A huge undertaking for a one man show with no stripping experience. Easily a week plus long project for the cleaner, moving crew and handy man/contractor to deal with the baseboards and painting.
Once the home owner was made aware of the ugly reality of it all (cost, time and effort put into a floor that they were not to wild about in the first place) both parties agreed that the best fix would be to dry scrub (with 175 and black pad) the floor to remove the flaked pieces of coating and then to apply another coat of topical.
The first coat turned out to not be sufficient so the cleaner returned the next day to apply two more on just the effected tiles.
It's a difficult, if not impossible task to try and bring up the low spots to the level of the areas with three or more coats as you'll never catch up and continue to build up the coated area that much higher as well.
In the end the cleaner spent over 13 hours on a $300 job that he wont be charging for
Incidents like this often make many cleaners turn in their spinners and stick to carpet cleaning. This gentleman was very fortunate he was dealing with a reasonable home owner as many get bit by the not so rational who make the cleaner pay for a complete fix*
I'm sure this cleaner will be a bit gun shy on his next tile job I'm sure, but after the shock of this indecent wears off he will jump back in but with a whole new outlook and awareness.
As well as being a better consultant to homeowners who are in similar situations. I start most of my tile projects with photos being sent to me via cell phone so I can tell them what they have. Many don't know what their floor tile actually is, other than hard, square or shiny. I've been able to spot topical sealers in good photos in many cases.
I too have been bit by topicals that were hiding under a soil load that I should have done a test clean on to potentially reveal..
*(Easily a week plus long project for the cleaner, moving crew and handy many/contractor to deal with the baseboards and painting $10k or more..)
Lessons learned...
Scenario- 1st floor completely tiled with 18" Porcelain tiles w/ 1/4 sanded grout, granite inlays at thresholds and decorative mosaic inlays.
700 sq ft give or take
At least three coats of water based topical applied by previous home owner
Home was fully furnished with three large wool rugs, pool table, sectional sofa, entertainment wall unit etc.
MDF base boards all the way around.
Cleaned one other time by same cleaner with no issues
Neither the customer or the cleaner were aware of the existence of the water based coating.
Just open areas were asked to be cleaned.
For this visit the cleaner used Oxy Blaster which is a high pH peroxide based cleaner/booster, a great grout and honed stone cleaner but powerful enough to act as a weak stripper...
After applying the Oxy Blaster, setting up hoses and spinner tool and proceeding to "turbo" the floor, the cleaner noticed trails of emulsified coating coming off the turbo head.
Upon closer inspection it became apparent that the coating was there and being removed randomly. A few rings where the tool sat for too long and quite a few "Rorschach" looking splots..
At this point the cleaner went to home depot to grab some Zep stripper.
He only had a lightweight CRB tool to agitate
The attempt to strip the coating was unsuccessful. Not enough agitation and dwell time. Streaks and more splots were created.
Some lifting and flaking of the coating happened around the edges of areas were it was completely removed.
(Even uglier, the non skid mesh material under the wool rugs was completely adhered to the floor)
He knew the risk of working around MDF so he planed on staying an inch or so away, which would have led to a coating picture frame around the room
Having no experience in stripping floors, what the cleaner did not realize was just how much product had to be laid down and left to dwell.
To do the job properly all furnishing would need to be removed, the MDF baseboard removed and all walls and cabinets masked off.
A huge undertaking for a one man show with no stripping experience. Easily a week plus long project for the cleaner, moving crew and handy man/contractor to deal with the baseboards and painting.
Once the home owner was made aware of the ugly reality of it all (cost, time and effort put into a floor that they were not to wild about in the first place) both parties agreed that the best fix would be to dry scrub (with 175 and black pad) the floor to remove the flaked pieces of coating and then to apply another coat of topical.
The first coat turned out to not be sufficient so the cleaner returned the next day to apply two more on just the effected tiles.
It's a difficult, if not impossible task to try and bring up the low spots to the level of the areas with three or more coats as you'll never catch up and continue to build up the coated area that much higher as well.
In the end the cleaner spent over 13 hours on a $300 job that he wont be charging for
Incidents like this often make many cleaners turn in their spinners and stick to carpet cleaning. This gentleman was very fortunate he was dealing with a reasonable home owner as many get bit by the not so rational who make the cleaner pay for a complete fix*
I'm sure this cleaner will be a bit gun shy on his next tile job I'm sure, but after the shock of this indecent wears off he will jump back in but with a whole new outlook and awareness.
As well as being a better consultant to homeowners who are in similar situations. I start most of my tile projects with photos being sent to me via cell phone so I can tell them what they have. Many don't know what their floor tile actually is, other than hard, square or shiny. I've been able to spot topical sealers in good photos in many cases.
I too have been bit by topicals that were hiding under a soil load that I should have done a test clean on to potentially reveal..
*(Easily a week plus long project for the cleaner, moving crew and handy many/contractor to deal with the baseboards and painting $10k or more..)
Lessons learned...
- ALWAYS do a through pre-inspection of ALL tile floors.
- Grout is never shiny.
- Grout is never shiny.
- Take a razor blade to all shiny floors that you can not positively identify and test for existing coatings. Test under rugs, in a corner/under furniture and with the home owner's approval.
- Topical coatings can be hiding under a soil load. Test an area or two if you can't find a clean area to inspect for a shine.
- Explain to them what you are doing and by no means take their word that there was nothing applied.
- Home owners have no idea what their house keeping staff is applying to their floors.
- or what previous owners have done....
- Always carry stripper on your truck for testing and emergency situations. (and boosting weak cleaning agents in a pinch)
- Good thing he did not have a 175 to scrub as it would have flung stripper onto the rugs, furniture and baseboard. Always carry a sling ring and be prepared with lots of towels and hopefully a helper to clean splashes as you go..
- Do a ride along to watch a VCT guy strip a floor if you need motivation to stay out of trouble.
- Learn to identify MDF baseboards. Almost always there will be signs of some swelling from previous moppings or spills
- ALWAYS clean coated floors with cold/tepid water, low pressure and neutral cleaning agents. Be prepared to apply another top coat to even out appearance.
Last edited:
