Washington DC, Commercial Flooring Contractors
There are several practical advantages to installing commercial hard surface flooring, one of which is the low upkeep required. Of course, the longevity of any flooring material depends on regular maintenance and cleaning. There is no need for a complex maintenance process. It just takes some standard operating procedures and the proper tools and supplies to get started. Let’s go through some broad principles for caring for freshly laid floors, creating a schedule for regular maintenance, and carrying out corrective cleaning on an ongoing basis.
Inspect the furniture’s coasters and glides before beginning work on the flooring. Make sure the weight is distributed equally by installing, replacing, or fixing them as needed to avoid scrapes. Ample walk-off mats should be placed at entrances; these should be as broad as the doorways themselves, 10 to 14 feet in length (depending on the amount of foot traffic and the kind of soil outside), and have stain-resistant backing. When you have proper entryways, you can lessen the amount of soil that gets tracked about your building.
Make sure you have adequate signage up before proceeding. For the sake of everyone’s safety, it is imperative that people be forewarned of any prospective work sites. Inspect the flooring thoroughly for any lingering adhesive residue after installation, and wipe it up with mineral spirits and a clean rag if you find any. Finally, rinse with water and a pH-neutral cleanser. To give adhesives ample time to attach and cure, it is recommended to wait at least five days before using a wet mop or any kind of scouring gear. If there will be tradespeople operating on top of freshly laid flooring, protect it with a ram board or something similar. This will prevent the brand-new floor from being scratched or gouged.
To begin, dry mop the floor to get rid of the dust and grime. Use a microfiber dust mop, like a Rubbermaid Hygen, to remove harder soil. Take care to change out the dust mops’ heads if they get too soiled.
Water-based cleaning methods are up next. It is essential that the product be properly mixed with 1 oz. gallon dilution or less, however, there are various neutral cleaners that have proven successful (Procter & Gamble #32, 3M-3H, Rochester Midland Perfecto 7, National Chemical Laboratories Earth Sense pH Neutral All Purpose Cleaner, EnvirOx). Use an alkaline cleanser with a pH between 8 and 10 on oily or greasy surfaces, and an acidic cleaner with a pH between 4.5 and 6.5 on surfaces with hard water or a high mineral concentration. It’s dangerous to use high-pH or neutral cleansers with an acidic one.
For less intensive setups or shallow soil, Spray a neutral cleaner solution onto a mop and use it to clean the floor. The Rubbermaid Hygen Microfiber Damp Mop and the Rubbermaid Microfiber String Mop are two excellent cleaning tools for use on any type of hard flooring. Keep fresh water in the bucket and wring out the mop on a regular basis.
Medium-sized set-ups, robust dirt loads, and post-installation cleaning Apply water or cleaning solution and then scrub in a north-south or east-west motion using a single disc/square orbital machine. Next, use a wet/dry vacuum or mop.
If you need to clean a wide area or one that is particularly dirty, Choose to use a car scrubber with water or a cleaner that has been suitably diluted. The use of an astroturf or microfiber pad is recommended for areas that require more thorough cleaning or for spot correction.
After each cleaning, the floor must be inspected to see if a second cleaning is necessary, as well as how the cleaning materials and tools should be adjusted. It’s not enough to just use the correct cleaning solution; you also need to make sure that your equipment is set up correctly in terms of pressure and pad to ensure that the cleaning solutions are distributed evenly and that the flooring is not damaged.