Anyone who has ever stripped floor finish off of a floor will tell you that it is both time and resource intensive, and possibly hazardous if you are not careful. As the floor stripper breaks down the finish it gets extremely slippery, with an extremely strong odor. Stripping chemical will also discolor just about any article of clothing that it comes into contact with. Not to mention the prep work and clean up that can add hours to the process. The worst part is, depending on the amount and quality of the finish that is down on the floor you may have to repeat the process several times before the floor is ready to be refinished. Fortunately, I can show you how to create a floor maintenance program that will allow you to never have to strip your floors again!

The most important component is to give yourself a strong enough finish base to maintain. A good rule of thumb is to put down at least five coats of finish. This strong base allows you to maintain the finish with regular burnishing to maintain a high glossy appearance. When the finish no longer responds to burnishing it is time for a top scrub and recoat. This process involves aggressively scrubbing the finish with a blue or green pad and a general purpose cleaner such as Platoon GP. What you are doing is removing the top two to three coats of the finish that have been worn down with scratches, imbedded soil and scuffs. After thoroughly rinsing the floor, apply two to three coats of finish, and you floor will now have that high gloss appearance and enough base to continue the maintenance program. It is important to do this step before the scratches and soil reach the bottom two coats of floor finish. If you wait until the traffic wears down to the actual floor you will have to strip the floor completely and perform a complete application of finish.

By following this maintenance program your floors can be protected while having a great shine and appearance. Top scrubbing avoids the costly stripping process and keeps your floors looking like new. You are not only saving resources on the full strip procedure, but also saving on the cost of a complete finish application. Keep your floors looking beautiful and avoid intensive labor and building downtime.