Category: Tile, Grout, Vinyl & Natural Stone

Chance are that when you walk into a commercial building these days you will be walking on a vinyl composition tile. VCT is a very popular flooring choice because of its durability and ease of maintenance .  In order to keep its durability and be reasonably scratch resistant, VCT needs to be cleaned regularly and maintained properly.

VCT also needs to be protected and an acrylic floor finish creates a “renewable, repairable, restorable” wear layer that can be used to maintain the beauty and clean, shiny appearance that people want to see in a floor.

The primary goal for maintenance is keeping the VCT floors clean and looking their best, which will help extend the life of the floor.  Choosing the right cleaners can deliver better floor appearance, less labor and potentially lower costs.

The following are a few tips on maintaining appearance while minimizing labor and costs.

• Stick to regular maintenance schedule dust mop dirt off surface regularly. Dirt will act as an abrasive and wear down the floor finish. Wore down finish can cause damage to VCT tiles.  Damp mop or auto scrub with a neutral cleaner and cold water followed by rinsing with clear water.
• Proper Matting and use of walk off mats at all entryways will help keep floors clean and dry longer. Make sure you clean the mats regularly.
• Periodically recoating with a floor finish is a good practice to follow.  First, deep scrubbing with the proper scrubbing pad to remove soil buildup that simply damp mopping doesn’t remove is needed. Failing to ensure that there are three to five coats of protective finish means risking potential damage to the tiles.
• It is important to routinely strip off the wax that has built up from repeated maintenance in order to apply a fresh finish.  Depending on the quality and brand of the finish that was applied this may need to be done once every twelve months or as long as up to eighteen months.
• It is important to use the proper scrubbing pads for VCT maintenance. Use red pads for light scrubbing , blue or green pads for deep scrubbing and brown or black pads for stripping off the floor finish. Using the wrong color pad will give you unsatisfactory results.

Flooring and floor care maintenance are major investments for any business, so it is important to adhere to a regular floor cleaning schedule and use highly effective products that will help increase labor efficiency and lower total overall costs.

Jamie Strohmeyer/ Owner Operator

Green Bay Floor Restore

I have worked very hard and did my homework so I am able to offer services to a wide variety of both residential and commercial customers and the many different types of hard surface floors these customers have. Before you can clean or maintain a floor, you need to know what type of surface it is. Here are a few that I have experience with and a little information about those surfaces.

Ceramic tile is a mixture of clays having been shaped and fired at high temperatures resulting in a hard body. This body may then be left untreated or it may receive a glazed wear layer.

Grout, this is the part of the floor that usually gets very very dirty and grimy and triggers my customers and potential customers to call me. Grout can be sanded or non sanded. Both varieties are absorbent and acid sensitive. I strongly recommend that grout be sealed after deep cleaning. Whether the customer does it or they hire me to do it, the decision is the customer’s.

Epoxy grout is impervious to liquids and does not need sealing. It will not allow bacteria to grow and it minimizes cracking. Epoxy grout is generally found with ceramic, quarry or porcelain tile.

Porcelain tile is a ceramic mosaic or paver tile. A composition made by the dust pressed method which produces a dense impervious, fine -grained tile with a smooth face. Usually found on bathroom walls in a commercial setting.

Marble is a crystalline rock composed predominately of one or more of the following materials: calcite, dolomite, or serpentine, and capable of taking a polish. Be careful when cleaning that you don’t take the shine off.

Slate (pictured)  is a fine grained metamorphic rock derived from clay and shale, which possesses a cleavage that permits it to be cut or milled readily into thin smooth sheets. Slate is one of my favorites with an Enhancing Sealer applied.

Terrazzo is a type of concrete in which chips or pieces of stone, usually marble, are mixed with cement and are ground to a flat surface, exposing the chips which take a high polish. Looks wet when waxed and polished….one of my favorites to work on!

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed primarily of calcite or dolomite. The varieties of Limestone used as dimensional stone are usually well consolidated and exhibit a minimum of graining or bedding direction. Often contains remains of fossil sea creatures.

Granite is a crystalline, igneous rock that is very hard. Contains granular, flecks or minerals spread consistently throughout the stone to form a visibly crystalline structure.

There are a few more Green Bay Floor Restore has experience cleaning, sealing and polishing. The whole point is, making sure the floor care provider you hire knows the difference. It could be a costly mistake!

Jamie Strohmeyer / Green Bay Floor Restore IICRC Certified / Clean Trust Certified.