Commercial Floor Wax?

[Mustang_Cougar]

My business floors need buffing and, after receiving a quote of $700 to do the job, I thought I would give it a try myself. Sort of hoping to channel my old army "skillset." Anyway, the 20" buffer is only $70 rental for the weekend, but I'm not sure about what sort of wax to use. The flooring is your typical commercial grade synthetic tile...like you might find in a hospital or Wallyworld. Because it gets beat up so much (my employees have to bleach it daily for sanitary issues), I'm not too worried about getting a museum-floor quality shine (especially for less than $100 rental and supplies).

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

M_C

 

[tomcat27]

A buffer?!? You're spoiled! at mcdonalds they had us strip the floor with amonia, then apply some wax with a lambswool bonnet. it was pretty shiny. I have no idea what the wax was - it was probably labelled "McD Floor wax"

 

[nthach]

I'd use a liquid sealer/polish. Home Depot has a decent one.

 

[doitmyself]

When I did this, I bought a stripper, neutralizer, and floor finish from a local commercial janitorial supply. They had an expert on hand to recommend the product best suited to my needs. He also was DIY friendly.

I figured that the companies doing hospitals, schools, etc. want a high quality/high solids product that goes on easy and withstands lots of abuse.

After stripping the old stuff off, I applied the new stuff with a mop. Different sheens are available. Buffing was not required.

 

[andyd]

What DIMS is suggesting is what I used to do in HS when I worked for a commercial floor cleaner. You get a floor finish and a stripper that work with each other. The stuff we used was applied with a clean mop and never was buffed.

 

[Mustang_Cougar]

Thanks to everybody for the suggestions...I suppose I don't really need to buff the floors after all.

It's too bad though: I was just getting ready to slide a fresh brown t-shirt over my head and jump into some starched BDU bottoms. Since I'm gonna be using a mop now, I guess I'd better get a Navy uniform (Pajamas? Sweats? A velvetee smoking jacket and Burmuda shorts?).

 

[tom slick]

Originally Posted By: Mustang_Cougar
Thanks to everybody for the suggestions...I suppose I don't really need to buff the floors after all.

It's too bad though: I was just getting ready to slide a fresh brown t-shirt over my head and jump into some starched BDU bottoms. Since I'm gonna be using a mop now, I guess I'd better get a Navy uniform (Pajamas? Sweats? A velvetee smoking jacket and Burmuda shorts?).


Whenever I think of buffing floors, brown t-shrts and starched BDUs are part of it! lol

The buffer will make it look better and will make stripping easier if there is a lot of wax to remove.

 

[Crashbox]

It's been a very long time since I was a custodian but we used to use Johnson's Complete wax for the floors, I can't recall which sealer we used underneath the wax- one thing I distinctly remember is making sure the wax build-up and dirt were totally removed, especially around the edges/mop boards. It makes a big difference in the finished product. I found it helped a lot to let the stripper solution set for a few minutes longer on the edges before scrubbing/stripping the floor. Also, we used to put the wax up to about four inches away from the edges/mop boards except for the final coat which went all the way; this helped minimize the build-up there.

Yeah, a good ammoniated stripper solution is what we used- cleans your nostrils out, too. We used vinegar to neutralize the stripper, it was cheap and effective though it did perhaps make the linoleum or tiles more porous- they seemed to need more sealer than sans vinegar.

On rare occasions if I had time I would buff the wax between coats to help the durability and shine but that is probably unnecessary with the formulations today.

HAVE FUN!!!

 

[StevieC]

Originally Posted By: Mustang_Cougar
My business floors need buffing and, after receiving a quote of $700 to do the job, I thought I would give it a try myself. Sort of hoping to channel my old army "skillset." Anyway, the 20" buffer is only $70 rental for the weekend, but I'm not sure about what sort of wax to use. The flooring is your typical commercial grade synthetic tile...like you might find in a hospital or Wallyworld. Because it gets beat up so much (my employees have to bleach it daily for sanitary issues), I'm not too worried about getting a museum-floor quality shine (especially for less than $100 rental and supplies).

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

M_C


In our restaurants we have this in various areas of the backroom and it's a PITA to keep clean so I have learned helping Franchise owners so I'm quite experienced with it.

I have found that using a commercial grade floor stripper that doesn't require the addition of water (poured on floor straight from jug) works best at loosening the dirt on the floor. The water diluted ones generally aren't as good.

You can buy big 20 litre (5 Gal) containers and that's good to do about 400 SQFT the way I do it.

I pour on this stripper in generous amounts all over the floor, swish it around a bit with a hard bristle deck brush (Broom with very stiff hard plastic brissles). I also loosen the dirt in the areas where the floor machine can't reach (Like the corners).

Then we use a floor machine with the green-round scrubbing pad (Don't use anything but a green pad on this floor as it is too aggressive and will damage the flooring) - Don't ask me how I found this out...

Once all the floors are stripped clean, we follow up with a mop and hot water to remove all the stripper from the floor. Takes quite a couple of passes.

Then we wash the floor using a standard floor cleaner/hot water to make sure that absolutely no debris or stripper is left.

Let it dry naturally or with the use of a high speed fan.

Then we pour on the floor polish generously using a new clean, synthetic fiber mop (not cotton or you will get fibers in the floor's polished coat and it will look terrible) to apply it.

Let it dry clear (starts out foggy).

Then using a buffing pad and the floor machine buff to a glassy shine. Should take 2 coats... Let it dry, buff, then reapply a second coat, then buff again.

The more you put on the better the shine and the longer it lasts.

The stripper, polish and two pads to do about 800 SQFT is about $200 CDN.

Also when you wash this new wax coating, wash with a PH neutral floor cleaner or general dish detergent and room temperature to cold water so that it doesn't melt the polished wax coating and get dirt stuck in the flooring.

Hope that helps... If you need more help, feel free to PM me.