1. Hard Floors Aren’t Hard To Maintain
Hard Floor Care
Hard Floors Aren’t Hard
To Maintain

2. What Are Hard Floors? Marble and Other Natural Stone Ceramic Tile
Paver Brick
Quarry Tile
Terrazzo
Concrete

3. Hard Floor Care Basics Hard floors or their grout lines are porous
They act like a sponge and absorb liquids, oils, and grease; and stain easily.
Once spills are absorbed, they can be almost impossible to remove.

4. Hard Floor Care Basics
Hard floors are made of natural stone or a concrete (cementatious) product
Grout joints are cementatious (Portland cement)
All are highly alkaline
Sodas, coffee, foods, oils & greases etc. are acidic and are attracted and electrochemically bonded to the material at the atomic level

5. Hard Floor Care Basics Clean the floor Seal the Floor
Strip or scrub
Use wet-vac to pick up solution
Or an autoscrubber if no stripper is involved
Neutralize- except: DO NOT use Nutra-Rinse® on: marble, travertine, limestone etc.
Rinse with clear water
Let dry
Seal the Floor
Apply a Wear Coat (Finish)
Maintain The Finish
Dust Mop
Damp Mop or Auto Scrub
Apply a Restorer
Burnish

6. Concrete (Sealing) Outdoor Indoor Use Repel™ penetrating seal
Sealed concrete resists staining from:
Spilled food / drinks
Tires
Gum
Indoor
Use a VOC compliant penetrating or gloss seal coat
Add a wear coat (finish)

7. Concrete (Sealing) Indoor or outdoor Outdoor Apply with: A mop
A roller
A “T”-bar
Other applicators
Outdoor
May be applied with a sprayer
Wear a NIOSH approved respirator
The sealant can “seal” lung tissue too

8. Concrete (Maintenance)
Outdoors (with or without seal)
Sweep
Hose off (agitate with brush)
Power wash
Auto-scrub with a brush and a squeegee made for rough surfaces

9. Concrete (Maintenance)
Indoors
Dust mop (treated)
Damp mop or auto-scrub (white pad)
Finish maintenance
Remove marks, gum, etc.
Restore
Burnish

10. Concrete with Epoxy Coatings
Clean the floor (scrub)
Acid-etch for bonding
Dilute to 5% (e.g. 1 qt. Of 20% acid to 1 gal. water)
Hose on or mop on light film of water
Apply dilute acid solution evenly & carefully
Let stand for minutes - or less
Pick up
Flood rinse

11. Concrete With Epoxy Coatings
Allow to dry thoroughly – overnight if possible
Apply wear coat or coats
Maintain wear coat or coats

12. Paver Brick & Quarry Tile
Non-glazed Paver Brick & Quarry Tile
Scrub new floors before coating with 16 oz./gal.; or Strip-All 1:4 (32 oz./gal.); or 4 oz./gal.
For older floors with a heavy buildup of polish coats, use Assault® or Devastator® mixed at 1:1 or 1:2; or Arsenal Stripper
Work in 10’ X 15’ sections
Use an abrasive scrub brush to get down into the grout lines and low spots

13. Paver Brick & Quarry Tile
Non-glazed (cont.)
Pick up soiled solution immediately with a wet-vac or auto-scrubber. (Clean auto-scrubber thoroughly when picking up stripper)
Flood rinse with 4 oz./gal
Pick up with wet - vac or auto - scrubber
Finish with two clear water damp mop rinses.

14. Paver Brick & Quarry Tile
Non-glazed (cont.)
Once the floor has dried, inspect it
Wipe your hand across the floor. If it comes up clean, the floor is clean. If it brings up a residue, continue rinsing until clean.
Coat with two to three coats of Seal 341®. Very porous floors, e.g. Saltillo tile, should be coated with one to two coats of Terrazzine® followed by two to three top coats of Seal 341®

15. Paver Brick & Quarry Tile
Non-glazed (cont.)
Daily maintenance
Dust mop with a treated dust mop
Damp mop with Assurance®, Super Shine-All® or Top Clean® diluted per label recommendations

16. Paver Brick & Quarry Tile
Glazed floors
Scrub using Renovator®, Citrus Scrub® (or Extra Strength CSP for showers or restrooms) and a deck brush or a 175 rpm floor machine with a scrub brush
Do not coat glazed surfaces
Daily maintain by dust mopping with a treated dust mop and damp mopping with Super Shine-All®
Damp mop restrooms and shower rooms with a properly diluted solution of disinfectant cleaner

17. Terrazzo Floors New floors
Scrub with a buffer and Super 3 oz./gal. Or Citrus 4 oz./gal. and a red pad
Pick up the solution with a wet vac, flood rinse with 4 oz./gal. and pick up the flood rinse with a wet vac. Finish with two clear water damp mop rinses
Coat with one or two coats of Terrazzine® or Seal 341®

18. Terrazzo Floors Top coat with your finish of choice
Dust mop and damp mop with a neutral cleaner following label instructions to maintain the finish
Use a restorer and burnish as desired.

19. Terrazzo Floors Old terrazzo with heavy polish build-up
Strip using 1:1 dilution of Assault®, Devastator® or Arsenal Stripper
Black stripping pad
Pick up with a wet-vac
Do not let the stripper dry on the floor
Flood rinse with 4 oz./gal.
Pick up with wet-vac or auto-scrubber
Two clear water rinses
Allow to dry thoroughly

20. Terrazzo Floors Old terrazzo cont. After floor is dry…
Apply one or two coats of Seal 341®
Extremely porous floors should be sealed first with one or two coats of Terrazzine®
Top coat with Seal 341®
Floors coated with Seal 341® can be top coated with your favorite finish
Maintain the finish by dust mopping, damp mopping, restoring, and burnishing

21. Terrazzo Floors
In restrooms use care not to damage the floor by allowing bowl cleaners or other strong acid cleaners to drip or puddle on the floor.
The strong acids may etch the marble chips in the terrazzo, and erode the cementatious matrix – causing the floor to “crumble” and erode away.

22. Marble & Natural Stone Polished
Scrub(10’ x 15’) with a buffer and a red pad
Citrus 16 oz./Gal.
Pick up solution with a wet - vac
Flood rinse - DO NOT use Nutra-Rinse®
Pick up with a wet - vac
Damp mop rinse with 1 oz./gal. Super Shine-All®

23. Marble & Natural Stone Polished (cont.)
When dry (30 min.) Apply one or two coats of Lok-Gard®
Top coat with your favorite polish
Dust mop daily
Damp mop or auto scrub using Super Shine-All® or Top Clean®
Apply restorer and burnish as necessary

24. Marble & Natural Stone Unpolished
Scrub(10’ x 15’) with a buffer and a red pad (for recessed grout joints, use Bassine or Pro-Lite® scrub brushes
16 oz./gal.
Pick up solution with a wet - vac
Flood rinse - DO NOT use Nutra-Rinse®
Pick up with a wet - vac
Give two additional, clear water, damp mop rinses
Allow to dry thoroughly

25. Marble & Natural Stone Unpolished (cont.)
When floor is dry, apply one or two coats of Seal 341®
Seal extremely porous floors with one or two coats of Terrazzine® first, and then top coat with Seal 341®
Maintain gloss by dust mopping and damp mopping daily
Restore and burnish as desired

26. Gloss Restoration Mop-on restorers – high speed 1000+r.p.m. Dust mop
Damp mop or auto scrub
Apply Restorer diluted 1:4 (32 oz/gal) with a damp mop to the area to be restored
When dry, burnish with a beige polythermal pad
Dust mop the floor

27. Gloss Restoration Using Restorer (a cleaner / restorer):
Auto-burnish application:
Dust mop
Dilute 4oz/gal. in cool water in the solution tank of the auto-scrubber
Auto-scrub assigned flooring using overlapping passes

28. Gloss Restoration
If spray buffing remember to clean the floor first. Restorers will make the floor shiny, but…
A shiny dirty floor is still a dirty floor!

29. Glazed Ceramic Tile Two schools of thought : Use no coating
Use a coating

30. Glazed Ceramic Tile No coating Showers (slippery…)
Damp mop daily with disinfectant cleaner
Scrub periodically with acid cleaner
To remove hard water deposits and soap scum
Rinse thoroughly

31. Glazed Ceramic Tile
Most coatings have trouble bonding to a glazed surface
Urine, etc. will penetrate most coatings and soak into the grout.
Mopping cleans only the coating surface.
Germs and odors grow unmolested.
Grout sealers may be useful if they are impervious to urine, etc.

32. Glazed Ceramic Tile
Uncoated restroom floors are less time consuming to maintain and have fewer problems with odors (all things being equal)
Sweep
Damp mop daily with disinfectant cleaner
Scrub periodically (with a brush)
With acid cleaner if hard water deposits are present – rinse thoroughly
With disinfectant cleaner if no hard water deposits are present

33. Glazed Ceramic Tile Some facilities want to use a coating
For appearance in restrooms
Strong Guard® will prevent urine from penetrating, but is not a wear coat
1:1 to strip Strong Guard® so it doesn’t come up every time you strip
Use Seal 341® as a wear coat
If you decide to use a coating once, you are committed
If grout lines are dirty, they will always look dirty
The floor must be pristine before applying, or coatings may flake off

34. Glazed Ceramic Tile
Facilities that want finished restroom floors will break the finish on a grout line about 3 feet in front of urinals to allow for thorough floor cleaning
Urine can’t hide under finishes

35. Are there any Questions?
Hard Floor Care
Are there any
Questions?

36. Quiz Basic hard floor care consists of:
_______________
(T/F) Stains can be difficult to remove from hard floors because the surface is often porous and spills soak in quickly and penetrate deeply.
(T/F) Use acid cleaners to clean terrazzo.
Paver brick may be sealed with:
Strong guard®
Seal 341®
Terrazzine®
All of the above

37. Quiz
(T/F) Exterior concrete is sealed to make cleaning faster and easier.
(T/F) Glazed quarry tile in a “food court” should be sealed to prevent spills from becoming stains.
(T/F) Use a 15% acid solution to prepare concrete for epoxy coatings.
(T/F) Flood rinsing using 4 oz./gal. is recommended after stripping polished marble floors.

38. Quiz Which of the following products should not be used on terrazzo?
Terrazine®
Nutra-rinse®
Extra strength CSP
Seal 341®
(T/F) No matter the type of interior hard floor, the basic maintenance procedures are the same.
(T/F) Use Seal 341® on an exterior concrete patio to prevent spills from staining.
(T/F) Lok-Gard® will prevent urine from penetrating into grout in ceramic tiled restrooms.

39. Answers Basic hard floor care consists of:
Stripping or Scrubbing to clean the floor
Sealing and Finishing the floor to protect it
Dust mopping and Damp mopping daily to protect the finish
Gloss Restoration or Restoring and Burnishing to bring back the shine
(T) Stains can be difficult to remove from hard floors because the surface is often porous and spills soak in quickly and penetrate deeply.
(F) Use acid cleaners to clean terrazzo.
(Paver brick may be sealed with:
Strong guard®
Seal 341®
Terrazzine®
All of the above

40. Answers
(T & F) Exterior concrete is sealed to make cleaning faster and easier. (Trick question – Of course sealing concrete makes cleaning easier, but the primary reason is to prevent staining)
(T/F) Glazed quarry tile in a “food court” should be sealed to prevent spills from becoming stains. (Trick question – it is recommended that glazed tile not be sealed, but the grout lines in a food court would resist staining if they were sealed)
(F) Use a 15% acid solution to prepare concrete for epoxy coatings. (5%)
(F) Flood rinsing using 4 oz./gal. is recommended after stripping polished marble floors. (DO NOT use Nutra-Rinse on polished marble)

41. Answers
Which of the following products should not be used on terrazzo?
Terrazine®
Nutra-Rinse®
Extra strength CSP
Seal 341®
(T) No matter the type of interior hard floor, the basic maintenance procedures are the same.
(F) Use Seal 341® on an exterior concrete patio to prevent spills from staining.
(F) Lok-Gard® will prevent urine from penetrating into grout in ceramic tiled restrooms. (Strong Guard®)

42. Thank you for your participation
Hard Floor Care
Thank you for your participation