VCT Floor Cleaning For Offices
This is a quick blog and video on VCT floor cleaning and finishes or waxed vinyl floors for the Buffalo, NY metro area covering all of erie county. What we cover today is the difference between hard tile surfaces like ceramic, porcelain, quarry tile and softer surfaces like vinyl or VCT tile that has a floor finish or commonly called waxed floor.
How should we clean a finished vct floor in a commercial building?
The key is using cold or warm water at most and a neutral floor cleaner or neutral disinfectant. In commercial restrooms, food areas like cafeterias, break rooms, managers want a disinfectant to be used to eliminate bacteria, viruses and mostly odors.
This is a huge difference from hard surfaces you might be familiar with like ceramic tile or from cleaning a non-waxed floor in your home. A lot of us like to use really hot water when cleaning floors in our home. This is perfectly fine with non-waxed surfaces.
Sometimes people will use hot water, this will melt and damage the floor finish. After paying thousands of dollars to have a floor refinished, nothing will drive a manager or business owner more crazy than having that finish burned off in a couple months from daily cleaning.
Avoid using too much detergent to clean with
This is also a common habit we all do at home, the glug, glug method. We just dump a ton of floor cleaner in a bucket thinking more is better. With a waxed floor the opposite effect can happen though, if the detergent is not rinsed thoroughly enough the residue does its job and attracts even more soil and dirt.
Wet mopping may be done as often as several times a day for very heavy traffic or only once or twice a week for light traffic.
For most floors, select a neutral cleaner with no solvents. Unless there are heavy deposits of oil and grease such as a busy restaurant, the neutral cleaner will be sufficient and will not harm the finish
Try to avoid using bleach or other harsh detergents also, they can damage the floor finish or make it look cloudy.
