The commercial flooring of your business is the backbone of your company’s production cycle. If the floor goes down, your company will often have to cease production.
Keeping your floors clean of buildup and potential damage is important, but equally important is not further damaging your floors in an attempt to clean them yourself. Industrial-grade cleaning techniques and equipment can often damage your commercial flooring if team members don’t know what they’re doing, cleaning facilities are improperly managed, or the process is carried out incorrectly.
What Could Happen If I Clean My Floors Incorrectly?
This is why there are flooring companies that specialize in the cleaning of commercial-grade flooring options like epoxy. This doesn’t mean you can’t clean or scrub your flooring yourself; it just takes the right knowledge to avoid common mistakes. Here are some of the most common pitfalls businesses often run into when they attempt to scrub their commercial flooring themselves.
- Streaking on the Floor – The most basic issue you’ll run into with improper use of an industrial speed scrub rider is that your floors will not be cleaned when you are done. This can be caused by improper maintenance of the squeegee blades or the cleaning solution tank. The blades of a speed scrub rider gather the solution from the tank into the vacuum hose. There are many ways that the squeegees can be damaged including, uneven flooring, improper cleaning chemicals, and also natural wear and tear. You should always check your squeegee blades before use. If you see no noticeable damage. it can still be smart to flip the squeegee blade over or replace it entirely after several uses.
- Damage the Finish – After your industrial floor speed scrub rider is working, it is important that you use the correct cleaner. Improper cleaning solutions can leave your floor with a hazy look to it or even do damage to the actual finish of the flooring. On average, a small amount of floor cleaner is all that’s needed. If you’re unsure about the amount of cleaning solution you should be using, reach out to the manufacturer for their recommendation.
- Scratch the Floor – Another common mistake is not clearing all of the debris off of the floor. The area you’re working with needs to be cleaned completely and mopped of all dust before you begin scrubbing. If a small piece of debris like a pebble or dirt is caught up in the squeegee, this can cause damage to large areas of your flooring. It is even possible to cause scratches in the finish if not caught in time.
- Damage the Scrubber – It’s important to check your machinery before every cleaning. Rinse your tank and ensure that there is no other cleaner left behind, as each different job may require a different cleaning solution. It is also important to check your pad drivers, and replace them if possible. If you do not intend to replace your pads between cleanings, wash them as well as you can and examine the pads to make sure there is no residue or debris left on them, as this can damage your industrial scrubber.
- Damage the Floor’s Coating – Lastly, during the actual cleaning it is important that you apply the correct pressure to the floor while cleaning it. If you’re putting too much pressure on the pad drivers, this can damage your floor to the point of compromising the coating’s integrity. It is important that you do not apply too little pressure either though, as this could leave behind water that can soak into any cracks and cause long-term damage to your flooring. If you are not sure of how much pressure to apply, this is again a good time to reach out to the manufacturer for their best practices.
Hire Industrial Floor Cleaners for Your Commercial Flooring, or Be Careful
Keeping your company floors clean of buildup and free from debris is always going to be an important challenge for any business. It can be tempting to clean and scrub your flooring yourself to save on both time and money. The last thing you want though is to make mistakes and have to hire that professional floor cleaning company to replace your floors completely.
By avoiding the steps above that though, you and your team should be well equipped to keep a regular floor cleaning schedule going. Don’t hesitate to hire professional cleaners when there is an exceptionally large mess though, or when your floors have gone without professional cleaning for it a significant amount of time.
