One of our customers asked for details on how to strip a floor. So here's a step by step set of instructions...


1) Dust Mop the floor.

2) Mix a good rinse free stripper according to directions on the container.

3) Apply plenty of stripping solution to the floor with mop 1. Only apply stripping solution to an area that you can comfortably service without allowing the liquid to dry on the floor.

4) Put the Lightning strip pads onto the Cimex and fill the Cimex with plain water.

5) Run the Cimex slowly. Make extra passes. Take your time. Dispense a little extra water as you scrub the floor. DON'T LET THE STRIPPER DRY on the floor before you get a chance to scrub it.

6) Use a pole scraper or doodle bug to detail the edges.

7) Wet-vac the floor with a wet-vac that has a front mounted squeegee.

8) Rinse the floor with a mop bucket of fresh water using mop 2.

9) Allow the floor to dry.

10) Apply 4-7 medium smooth coats of a high quality floor finish. We drill a hole in the finish jug cap and squirt the finish directly onto the floor. Then use a rayon/blend synthetic finish mop to spread the finish. A new finish mop should be rinsed out thoroughly and wrung out very tightly before using it the first time.

11) Speed the drying of the coats by using a fan or blower. Do not point the air-flow directly at the wet finish or it will ripple

Note) The shine will continue to increase with subsequent floor buffings with a high speed buffer.




Rick Gelinas
encapman

That's some funny stuff, Rick; carpet guys stripping floors, almost as funny as us floor guys cleaning carpet. It's the correct process but autoscrubbers sure do save time.

George Barnett
Owner: G & G Services
HydroTech Representative
www.webnow.com/HydroTech

Hey, Hey, Hey George. I've been doing both for years. Don't knock it. Autoscrubbers are good depending on the size of job and pad pressure. Most times I use mine for rinsing and a propane stripper for scrubbing. Cimex on small jobs only. Too slow. In fact, tonight we're stripping floors and cleaning carpets using the propane stripper for the floors and cimex for carpets.

Training is the key to both systems floor and carpet care.

I would not strip floors with out an auto scrubber or a very large wet vac with a squeegie attachment.

just a couple of suggestions. Pre-test your tile for color bleed. Most of the new vct is fairly stable but occationally the right no-rinse & hot water could move color, also there is still a lot of the 8" asbestos tile in old buildings that are almost guarenteed to bleed causing permanent staining to any other surface you might walk it off on.Test to see that your stripper will remove their wax especially edges where there are multiple unworn coats. When using air movers be sure to check ceiling registers, window cils and other places dust could build-up which might come lose during drying process. If these are county or city controlled building make sure the a/c will be on late at night or during weekend as many are controlled by computer in another city or state.Most floor finish has a solids percent on lable. The floor needs a minimum 100% or more of floor finish so if the solids are 20% you would at least 5 coats for example.Didn't mean to be so long winded but it's costs less to learn from other peoples mistakes than your own.