Do you have a mountain of floor care maintenance and are not sure where to start? We’ll help you with strategies and techniques to address your floor care goals while making the most of your budget.
Strategy 1: The first step to a cost-effective floor care program, believe it or not, is increasing the frequency of basic maintenance routines. Well maintained floors require less-frequent stripping and recoating. Our experts suggest daily dust mopping, daily damp mopping or autoscrubbing with a neutral cleaner, and burnishing per manufacturer’s instructions. And don’t forget… maintenance starts at the door, so be sure to provide and maintain entrance matting.
Suggested Spartan Daily Maintenance Products:
- Simplifill® Xcelente® (191922) – Damp mop & autoscrubber
- Dust Mop/Dust Cloth Treatment (3013) – dust mop
Strategy 2: Apply more coats of finish. Skimping on finish coats is, as the saying goes, penny wise and pound foolish. Here’s why. Floor finishes or polishes provide a temporary sacrificial layer on top of the floor. One coat of finish is equal to about one-tenth the thickness of a human hair. So, we need to put multiple coats down to protect our floors and reduce the interval at which we need to apply more finish. When coating a bare floor, the rule of thumb is to hit 100% solids. If you are using a 25% solids floor finish, then you need four coats to hit 100%. Our experts say, “if 100% is good, 150% is even better.” Bottomline, extra coats of floor finish will help you save money in the long run. Your floors will be more resistant to stains, scuffs, and black heel marks saving you maintenance dollars and, most important, reducing the cost associated with removing and replacing the floor finish.
Recommended Spartan Floor Finish:
- iShine® (545504) – 25% solids dry bright finish
- The Fixx® (544604) – 25% solids burnishable finish
- Trendsetter Pro™ (501004) – 20% solids hybrid finish
Strategy 3: You’ve implemented your maintenance program. You beefed up the number of floor finish coats. So, now you are ready to reap the rewards and really start saving money! Top-scrubbing and recoating pays off in multiple labor reductions. The time it takes to completely strip a finish from a floor is about two to three hours per 1,000 square foot. The time it takes to top-scrub a few layers of finish from a floor is about one hour per square foot. Plus, you will be recoating with fewer coats of finish compared to a full strip and recoat, so you get bonus labor and product cost savings.
Suggested Spartan Top Scrub Product:
- Simplifill® Top Scrub Pro® (208022)
Learn more at spartanchemical.com
