Floor Stripping and Finishing Guide.

[billygene32]

Mar 23, 2006 14:53:37 GMT -5 @colin said:

Dan...Your post explains better then the manual I had great job CHEERS!

[billygene32]

Whatg about terrazo floors?

[logan5127]

There is not much terrazzo in the area I live. I have done a little. We used the same process as vinyl tile. I have found that some terrazzo has vinyl chips in it instead of the hard chips. That makes it a little bit more touchy when scrapping as the scrapper blade can actually cut into the vinyl chips. Thanks for the comments. Perhaps others can post more info on this subject as I have not much experience with terrazzo. There is much to learn on stripping and finishing. It is best, I believe to research all that you can. Try different things and process and find what works best for you. Still Learning, Dan

[jkbowling]

I need some help. We have been finishing floors for about a year and from time to time there ends up being an area or spot or two where the wax is pasty and dull looking. I cannot pin it down to anything as our procedure is pretty well set that we follow. I use Spartan cleaners when we scrub and then apply 2 coats of their White Sun wax and follow it with two coats of their Ishine. This always gives us a very glassy finish that is easy to buff monthly. The only problem is those dull areas. We have looked at everything we are doing but have not pinned anything down yet. Anybody got any ideas?
Ken Bowling

[logan5127]

Jan 22, 2009 15:49:16 GMT -5 jkbowling said:

I need some help. We have been finishing floors for about a year and from time to time there ends up being an area or spot or two where the wax is pasty and dull looking. I cannot pin it down to anything as our procedure is pretty well set that we follow. I use Spartan cleaners when we scrub and then apply 2 coats of their White Sun wax and follow it with two coats of their Ishine. This always gives us a very glassy finish that is easy to buff monthly. The only problem is those dull areas. We have looked at everything we are doing but have not pinned anything down yet. Anybody got any ideas?
Ken Bowling

A couple of questions.
What type of finish is on floor before you apply anything?
Why are you using two types of finish? Do you use both every time you top scrub?
How long are you letting dry between coats?
Are you using blowers?
Is the cleaner you are using leaving a residue on floor?
Is it a neutral cleaner?
Are you applying heavy coats or thin?
How is the humidity in the rooms you are finishing?
Is this tile glued to concrete or wood?
IS it vct tile or special type of tile?

I have only used the ishine once. I did not like it as well as the betco hybird. That is only my opinion though. It left slight streaks and a darker (yellowish tint) finish when dried then what I use. I will not be using it again.

[jkbowling]

Thanks for the quick reply. There is Spartan wax on the floors we are working on. The cleaner is a neutral cleaner which we use a light mix and mop with clean water twice. I don't think we get redisue because this never shows on the first coat of wax.
We put a thin coat and use regular fans, not the big blowers and usually let set for 5 minutes before turning them on if they blow directly on the floor surface. If they are just setting in the room moving air they run all the time. We use to different waxes because the White Sun is a bright, low maintenance wax but not near as hard as the Ishine. The Ishine is harder and buffs up really nice on a monthly basis. The floor is VCT and I think they are always glued to concrete floors. It has been cold lately but this has happened during warm weather. This has not happened to my knowledge when we strip the floors, but we don
't do that often. Usually we scrub good and lay wax on the floor.
Thanks again.
Ken

[logan5127]

If it were me I would not use the first finish but instead just use the I shine. I would rinse the last rinse a little wetter and squeegee it off. You will be surprised at what you see in the water you squeegee off. Then you do not have to wait but immediately put on first coat after you squeegee the rinse off. We use the soft double roll foam squeegees. They work much better than the old style rubber squeegees.
If you leave a small streak of water there is no need to wait on that to dry. But try to get as much off rinse off the floor as possible. Do not put any fans directly on the finish even after 5 minutes. Instead angle them up slightly so that it creates air movement in the room. Wait around 30 to 45 minutes and then apply second coat. If it is a square room then put alternate the directions in which you apply the finish on each coat.
Example the first coat you may be applying north to south. then on second coat go west to east. On third coat go back to north to south.
Keep coats thin and even. If finish is getting tacky on edges of a strip of finish that you laid , do not overlap onto that edge. Instead just butt up to it and overlap that line on next coat. Turn off fans while applying each coat.
Also when we top scrub and finish we normally only put two coats of finish on. Hope that helps some.

[Grizzly]

???Are you sure its not mild powdering? If you are using fans to move the air and don't get me wrong I use fans too, these may be higher areas that are drying before the reactive layering agents and plasticizers are evaporating. This will leave a mild clouldy look in the finish to a severe white or black cloudy looking area. If it is an uneven floor, this may be an area where the pad did not scrub off the top one or two coats of dirty finish and you have applied finish over it that enhances the dirty look. Another reason my be that even with your fans moving air in the room, sometimes the air deflects down on the floor. I have had this dry and area too early and the are looks a bit blotched and dull. Hope this helps

Bill

[jkbowling]

Thanks for the reply guys. My gut feel has been after pondering it over the weekend that we are not getting it clean good. The spots don't seem to be related to the fans because it dosen't usually happen right in front of the fan, but we will adjust what we are doing to avoid that possibility just to be on the save side. I will try the squeegee and see how that works as well as going directly to the Ishine with two coats and dropping the White Sun.
KB

[allpoint2009]

Dan
I wanted to take time to thank you for this guide. I have done a few of them now but I was very nervous on the first one and this guide that you took the time to place on here helped me out alot. It also gave me more confidence in what I was doing. I started t his business back in February and it was slow going at first but jobs on coming in now and this site and the members have been a great with the support and guidance.

Kevin

All Point Cleaning Service

[logan5127]

Aug 19, 2009 0:35:21 GMT -5 allpoint2009 said:

Dan
I wanted to take time to thank you for this guide. I have done a few of them now but I was very nervous on the first one and this guide that you took the time to place on here helped me out alot. It also gave me more confidence in what I was doing. I started t his business back in February and it was slow going at first but jobs on coming in now and this site and the members have been a great with the support and guidance.

Kevin

All Point Cleaning Service

Your Welcome. Glad you was able to use it.

[harley]

Hello:

I need some help on stripping and waxing a floor with vinyl tile. It is 2500 square feet. This area consists of a community room and a laundry room in a retirement community club house. What do you recommend to strip off the old wax? The caretakers indicated that there are about 3 coats of wax but think we only have to strip off the top two coats. I don't know if that makes sense. It sounds like a difficult thing to do and could likely leave the floor blotchy - am I wrong? I have never done a job like this. What does the entire process consist of from start to finish? How much time do I bid on 2500 sq ft and what rate should I charge?

Thanks for any help

[Grizzly]

I am from Canada so the products I use are different. I have seen good reviews from Dan on the stripper offerred by Clean freak and they are a sponsor of this site. Dan has also listed a comprehensive guide on how to strip and refinish a floor that is in the archives of this site. Just do a search. If there are only 3 coats of finish , do a full strip and get back to the base tile. It will make your finish job that much easier and the result will be better. I have done light strips which leave some finish on the floor but this needs to be neutralized very well after and CAN leave the floor splotchy. Generally use a diluted solution of stripper more like 1:20 rather than my normal 1:10 .

Bill

[harley]

thanks all for the info on stripping floors.

harley

[avdo21]

Anybody ever used Aztec Sidewinder to strip the floor? Is is worth investing money?