Floor stripping is something that we never look forward to. It is a rather tedious and laborious job, but it is something that simply must be done at least once or twice a year. When you take on the job of floor stripping, where do you begin? Here are some steps that may help you out with your Floor cleaning project.
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1. Remove all of the dirt and dust from the vinyl floor. Vinyl floors require just warm water for cleaning. Most other detergents, instead of rinsing clean, will leave a sticky residue behind. That residue becomes just like a magnet in that it attracts dirt from the bottom of your shoes. It is best to use Ivory Liquid dish soap for Floor cleaning. Fill the sink with suds, mop, and then rinse, and then dry with a clean towel. Other detergents can be too harsh on vinyl floors. Some vinyl floors have very deep grooves. Get a nylon bristle brush, usually a tooth brush is good; squirt some Ivory soap on the brush and scrub. Rinse with a clean towel.
2. The nest step in vinyl floor stripping is to apply the stripper with something that you may already have -- a sponge mop. You can purchase the stripper from any hardware store. Ask an employee to help you pick out the appropriate stripper. Make sure that enough is purchased to treat the whole floor. Follow the directions on the can of the stripper when you apply it. Allow it to set for 5-10 minutes. After you have put the floor stripping solution on your vinyl floor, use a floor stripping machine to scrub it. The machine, which is round at the bottom and has a pad and circular disk that will spin around, will make Floor cleaning easy. Usually floor strippers have long handles with an off and on switch. After the floor has been scrubbed thoroughly, it is time for the next step.
3. Remove all of the water that accumulated on the floor after using the stripping machine with a water vacuum or a wet and dry vac. Keep in mind that you will also be sucking up the old wax as well, so don't be too alarmed if you hear small chunks going up the hose of the vacuum.
4. Make sure that all stains and marks are remove completely as one of your steps in floor stripping. If you have some really stubborn marks and stains that will not come off, you can try to use some stronger stuff. It is best to test these methods on a part of the vinyl floor that is hidden from view. Use only white rags.
* Isopropyl alcohol -- Even though this is a disinfectant, it is also a mild solvent. It is best used on stubborn heel marks. You can also use mineral spirits or lighter fluid. Just remember that these things are flammable.
* Bleach -- This will often take away stain left by liquids Floor cleaning companies like tomato sauce, fruit juices and wine. Mix 1 part of bleach with 4 parts of water, soak a rag in the mixture and put the rag over the stain. You may have to leave it there for approximately an hour.
* Oxalic acid -- This is used on stubborn rust stains. You may have heard of this as "wood bleach". Many hardware and paint stores are starting to carry oxalic acid.
5. Apply a commercial quality wax solution to the vinyl floor -- If you really want to shine your vinyl floor the S.C. Johnson Wax has some excellent products. If you find that regular products that you get in the grocery store are just not cutting the mustard, then it would be a good idea to get in contact with a janitorial supply house. Many of these houses are open to non-professional cleaners. Before visiting the store, make sure to call them first to tell them what you are looking for. You want to apply at least six coats of wax to ensure a lasting finish.
When bidding a cleaning account, labor is always the biggest expense. In order to determine your labor expense for a cleaning account you'll need to figure out how many hours it will take to get the job done.
In order to determine the number of hours it will take, you'll need to break the job down into production rates by task. Using a cleaning rates production chart will be helpful in figuring this out. A cleaning production rate is not foolproof, but it will give you an average time per task under normal circumstances.
No situation is ever really "normal", so it's helpful to understand different circumstances that could affect a "normal" cleaning production rate.
Square Footage. Perhaps the account you're bidding on has 2500 square feet of vinyl flooring that needs to be mopped. The standard production rate for mopping is 5000 square feet per hour, so that 2500 square feet of floor should take 1/2 hour to mop. However, you need to ask yourself some questions. Is the vinyl flooring all in one large area? Or is it broken up into two floors, with 4 restrooms, a breakroom, copy room, computer room, and utility room? Do you think it will still take 1/2 hour when the floors are scattered throughout the building? This may not be a "normal circumstance" so you need to take that into consideration.
Task Frequency. How often are tasks being performed -- once a day, once a week, once a month? Keep in mind that by lowering the frequency of a task, you're not necessarily reducing time and expense for the customer. Emptying trash 2 days a week versus 5 days a week doesn't really save much time and will affect your production rate. If your bid calls for emptying trash in a busy office twice a week, you may find overflowing trash cans, which will slow your workers down.
Number of Occupants. If you're bidding on a small office building with a few employees and very little public traffic, your production rates will probably soar. However if that same sized building has lots of employees crammed into numerous cubicles, and they get a lot of public traffic, then production rates will go down due to more people occupying the building.
Equipment. If you give your employees the wrong equipment, or give them equipment that has frequent breakdowns, then your production rates will be affected. If your building has wide hallways and open areas, they'll get more accomplished with a wide area vacuum, or a backpack vacuum versus a 12" upright vacuum.
Area of the Country. Buildings located in climates that have snowfall or lots of rain will have more maintenance required due to snow, salt, sand and dirt getting tracked into the building. Climates with high humidity can also affect production rates for hard floor care and carpet cleaning, as drying times are much slower.
Customer Standards. One of the most intangible variables in regards to cleaning production rates has to do with customer standards. Is your prospective customer primarily interested in price? Then perhaps the "normal" production rates will be accurate. However, if your customer is dissatisfied with the current cleaning contractor because the quality of service is not there, then your production rates could be affected because you'll want to make sure your employees are spending enough time on each task.
Keeping these circumstances in mind when walking through a building and bidding on a new cleaning account will help you "massage" the numbers the way they should be for this particular bid.
Copyright 2006 The Janitorial Store
