One of the commercial accounts I clean for is a motor home dealer with a huge (2000+) showroom with a floor of exposed agregate. I noticed there was black marks on the floor from the tires and general traffic. I was thinking of scrubbing with the cimex and extracting with a spinner. From what I understand, the floor has been waxed in the past, and the owner is all about shiny when it comes to floors. My question is: How would I go about cleaning this without screwing it up? Will the wax clump up or will it stay bonded to the floor? Thanks for the responses in advance. Tom

Keep in mind that this post is from someone who has had ONE experience with this type of floor but has no idea if the way I did it was "correct." So you may want to wait for better advice. However, I did a trucking terminal with agg floors one time. Like yours, the floors had wax on them. So I just used a stripper and, I think, a blue pad (may have been red -- don't remember, but it was definitely one of the two.) Anyway, I just stripped it like I would VCT except in NOT using a black pad. Then I laid a coat of sealer and three coats of wax. The folks there LOVED it. Keep in mind also, though, that at the time I was working for a ServiceMaster franchise so They were liable, NOT ME! They just said "go do this" but weren't sure exactly what "this" was and didn't have any instructions to share. I was new to it all then, tried what I hoped would work best and it fortunately worked out. Not long afterward I left the company, moved here. But I understand from one of the employees there that the terminal has kept them coming back regularly and they're doing the same thing. For whatever it's worth...

In this crazy world we have to give the customer what they want. What will the market bare? Example: Customer 1 has a high end office space and wants their lobby's marble to look like glass and they don't mind dropping a couple grand to maintain their prestigious image. Customer 2 has a marble floor in a less classy installation and they just want it clean and shiny and they certainly won't pay top dollar for floor care. Each customer is right. They have to fit their expectations and their budget to what's available. And it's up to us to accommodate them. The bottom line - I agree with David's approach. Give 'em what they want. And an auto dealer is not typically going to pay the big bucks. So go for what fits best. Give them option 1 and then option 2. Explain the positives and negatives and then go with whichever they choose. Stripping and applying finish may be all they're willing to go for.





Rick Gelinas
encapman