General Cleaning & Maintenance Guide
Floors usually take the most abuse of any surface in the building. Floor maintenance is a process which is dependent upon the flooring system itself, the traffic conditions, and the type of dirt and debris to which it is exposed. Our floor coatings are easily maintained because of their physical and chemical tough finishes.
In recognition of the need for regular floor maintenance, the following recommendations will help keep your floors looking like new. The recommended cleaning products and maintenance program is based on the type of floor you have.
—Guidelines adapted from General Polymers–
Recommended Cleaning Chemicals
| Area | Recommended Cleaner | |
|---|---|---|
| Foot Traffic | public areas, health care, dining room/cafeteria, lab, institutional, retail, foot traffic | Neutral slip resistant floor cleaner |
| Light to Moderate Service Areas Moderate to Heavy Services Areas | animal care, automotive service center, commercial kitchen/food prep area, patio, bottling plant, factory floor, loading dock, manufacturing/industrial, vehicular traffic area, stadium | Cleaner/Degreaser Heavy Duty Cleaner/Degreaser |
| ESD/Conductive Floors | clean room, computer room, electronics production and assembly, labs, surgery | Neutral Floor Cleaner |
| Food and Beverage Plants | dairy plant, meat and poultry plant, food processing plant, brewery, winery and beverage plants | Cleaner/Degreaser |
Cleaning Process
The best method to clean your new floor is a five-step process, using the recommended cleaning product. The process varies between small and large floors and between smooth and textured floors.
The five steps are:
- Sweeping – Always sweep the floor thoroughly before cleaning.
- Application – The means to put the cleaning product on the floor surface.
- Agitation – Movement of the cleaning product, with a piece of equipment, on the floor surface, to aid in the release of foreign material.
- Dwell Time – Letting the cleaning product stand on the surface to allow time for emulsifying foreign material.
- Removal – Removing the cleaning product from the surface of the floor.
| Smooth Flooring Surfaces | Textured Flooring Surfaces | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small Area | Large Area | Small Area | Large Area | |
| Sweeping | broom or dust mop | floor sweeper | broom | floor sweeper |
| Application | synthetic mop or deck brush | automatic floor scrubber | deck brush or foamer/sprayer | automatic floor scrubber or foamer/sprayer |
| Agitation | mop or deck brush | automatic floor scrubber | deck brush or rotary floor machine | automatic floor scrubber or rotary floor machine |
| Dwell Time | 5-10 minutes | 5-10 minutes | 5-10 minutes | 5-10 minutes |
| Removal | mop or wet vac | automatic floor scrubber | squeegee or wet vac | automatic floor scrubber |
NOTES
- Never use a mop to clean a floor that is greasy or oily.
- When using a deck brush, choose a medium/stiff bristle.
- When using a rotary floor machine, use a white, tan or red 3M pad or similar pad.
- When removing solution with a squeegee, use a soft, neoprene squeegee.
- Do Not use a water spray to remove cleaning solution from the floor. It will over-dilute the solution, causing greases and oils to fall back onto the floor surface.
- Through proper training and education, unnecessary wear of the floor, such as forklift spin and skid marks, can be avoided.
- Spills should be cleaned up immediately as a safety precaution as well as to prevent staining of the floor.
- Surfaces should be adequately protected when moving heavy equipment across the floor
Maintenance and Damage Prevention
Columbus Commercial Floor Coating floors are installed with several basic types of finish coats including epoxy, polyurethane and acrylic.
Acrylic and polyurethane floors have exceptional mar and scratch resistance while epoxy finishes are harder and therefore, will scratch when subjected to abrasive dirt. Therefore we recommend Chesterton 820 KPC green cleaner. Click here to be directed to their website.