Hardwood floor cleaning?

[CleanItGreen]

Howdy to the crew! month 8 in the business and i'm still here!

I've had many people that I speak to that say they have hardwood floor, then ask me if I clean them. I've spent my time focusing on carpet, but figure it would be a no brainer to add hardwood floor cleaning. But my question is, is there some special technique? I did a quick search the other day when I had a moment and it seems that companies that offer it are simply mopping the floor with a nice mop (ex microfilter) and something like murphy's oil soap or something similar. Is that all folks are looking for? Help would be appreciated.

[encapman]

Cleaning the floor with Murphy's soap would be a bare minimum service. The homeowner could do that. To provide professional wood floor servicing, there's a bit of a learning curve - and an investment in equipment. I have sanded wood floors in a home of my own (once). You will need a drum sander (and some experience sanding wood floors). Your first floor or three using a drum sander will not likely turn out perfect. You'll also need a belt sander for edges. And you'll need good vacuums to collect all the dust. You'll also need to become proficient at applying finish. To become skilled at wood floor care requires a fair investment for equipment and a pretty substantial learning curve to develop the skill set needed. Don't mean to rain your idea, but you may want to take a long hard look at all that's involved before you go forward.

[CleanImage]

Rick is right, if you want to offer sanding and refinishing.

However, there are other methods out there now that I think are a great add on for carpet cleaners. I'm looking into this myself.

Basic Coatings is supposed to be a good sandless system. You do a deep top scrub with a floor machine, then apply a top coat of finish from what I understand. I'm sure there's more to it than that, but it's not as involved as a total sand and refinish. Granted, this isn't for every circumstance either.

http://www.basiccoatings.com/

[CleanItGreen]

You guys are echoing what a flooring guy was telling me, that cleaning involves some stripping and refinishing. Talking to people who asked me, it seems like all they were talking about was essentially a good mop job. I will do some more consumer side research and report back.

[David-Hebert]

We do a lot of wood floors over 50 % of revenue in 2011 2012 came from wood floors,
how much you want to get involved is up to you. My company now offers the full scale of services from simple cleaning and refreshing to full sanding, to custom staining intricate patterns.

If people are just asking for a simple clean and refresh there is no way i would not do i as long as you pre qualify what you can and cannot do for the client.

WE been doing clean and recoats for the past 12 years before it was really popular, leaned a lot along the way Basic Coatings System is as close to what we developed as you can get, that we now use most of their chemicals.

Take a look at the videos on Basic's site and figure out for your self if it is for you. Doing screening and full sanding is another deal all together, this is where training and experience is indeed needed.

David

[CleanItGreen]

Describe "basic clean and refresh."

[David-Hebert]

You use Specialized chemicals to clean the wood floor, then you put one or two coats of poly down, or you use a wood floor refresher after cleaning.

You can also buff out a wood floor with the rite product after it is cleaned.

[Rob D]

I trained with the National Hardwood floor assoc... 10 years or so ago... Excellent program they rented convention center in Hartford , Ct.. We actually made 12x12 platforms then installed raw hardwood cut outs for medallions in center the sanded and applied finishes..then resanded stained and reapplied finish it was outstanding hands-on training for 1 solid week. Came home bought Clarke equipment including expandable drum sander, disc edger and rectangular orbital. The first job I did only cost me about 10.00 to do. Lol I made the error of not checking for wax finish on the floor I was to excited with my first job..needless to say I used up a ton of expensive sandpaper and stuck to my estimate.... Was a highlight in training that I forgot and would never forget again.. I did approx 12 jobs and every customer raved and referrals poured in but it just wasn't for me... Sold my sanders and moved on. I will say I have recommended this wood floor business to many people but no one bites... Lots of work available out there for refinishing. I think if you offer hardwood cleaning and recoating you would probably have to offer sand and refinish. Most newer homes around me have hardwood in them which means great opportunity but it's just not for me...