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Spring 2006 - Article 2

From The Lab
The Importance of Recoating

In the last issue of Essentially Speaking, we explained how burnishing works. The premise of the article was that
burnishing is an abrasion process that removes black marks, scuffs and soil by taking off a minute amount of finish with each pass. Now, if you add in normal foot wear and other abuses a floor finish withstands such as shopping cart wheels, it only makes sense that daily cleaning and periodic recoating is vital to a good floor care program.

Daily cleaning should include dust mopping and wet mopping or autoscrubbbing with cool water, the approriate cleaner diluted properly and red floor pads if using a scrubber. In addition to keeping the film thickness to a desirable level, recoating serves to rejuvenate the finish through the deep-scrubbing process. This process pulls out imbedded soil and “cleans up” the floor prior to finish application. Without deep scrubbing, you end up with what’s known as “shiny-dirty floors.”

How often should this process take place? The answer varies based on traffic. Very high traffic areas such as entranceways in schools or supermarkets may need monthly recoating. Interior hallways or lightly used classrooms may need recoating semi-annually. One good indicator of infrequent or improper recoating is in areas that need stripping often. Floors generally fail when too few coats are applied and recoating is ignored, causing the tile or other flooring to lose its finish and therefore require stripping to build up protection an gloss.

What product works best for deep scrubbing? Citrus Scrub ’N Shine (#525) is hands-down the best product on the market for this application. Used at 1:16 (8 ounces per gallon), it removes embedded dirt, scratches and other blemishes.