Hardwood flooring is becoming increasingly popular within commercial premises, especially those with areas open to the public. Wooden floors are not only energy saving and great to look at, but they also last an incredibly long time if they are well looked after. The key to maintaining and cleaning wooden floors is to follow the correct procedure and make use of the correct equipment to do so, so let’s take a look at the steps you should follow to keep your hardwood floor in tip-top condition.
Vacuum Your Floor
To achieve a pristine finish to your floor it is recommended that you follow these instructions on a daily basis. First of all, industrial vacuum cleaners should be used before anything else in order to remove any dust or debris from the surface of your hardwood floor. Without this crucial first step the remaining processes can cause damage to your floor, with small pieces of grit or sand acting like sandpaper to scratch at your floor’s finish.
Scrub, Wash and Dry
If you have purchased or hired a combination vacuum and scrubber dryer then you’ve just saved yourself a lot of time, as both steps one and two are combined into one easy process. If not, then your vacuuming should be followed by the use of cleaning agents via a scrubber or scrubber dryer to give the floor thorough clean. If you are using a scrubber without a dryer you should ensure that your surface has been dried thoroughly once you have finished.
Inspect Your Floor’s Finish
How often your floor needs a full re-coat depends on the amount of foot traffic it sees. If you have inspected the finish of your floor and decided that it needs a new coat, you would use an industrial floor polisher to begin with.
Utilising either a black or brown stripper pad, these harsher more abrasive discs lift the original coating from the wood, allowing you to then vacuum and re-apply the sealant of your choice. For a one off job like this you may wish to investigate the costs of industrial floor polisher hire, but more often than not your surface will require buffering rather than a full re-coat.
Buffing Your Floor
A single-disc floor buffer with a red buffering pad is the most common combination used in most daily hardwood floor maintenance routines. If your floor simply needs a light polish the Red Buffer Pad 5100 scrubs using a low-abrasion and low-speed process to lift light soiling, scuff marks and black heel marks from your flooring.
Other pads with differing levels of abrasiveness can be used to achieve a deeper clean, or to buff the surface at a more superficial level in order to produce a better gloss finish.
The light-pink Topline Speed Burnish Pad 3200 offers the best gloss finish, whereas the Sky Blue Hi-Performance Burnish Pad offers a softer end product – with both pads used at a much higher speed than the red buffer pad.
By following these simple steps and gradually understanding what your hardwood floor requires at particular times of the year, you will ensure that your hardwood flooring looks as good as the day it was installed…if not even better!
