Heavy foot traffic, movement and chemical run-off can leave your VCT floors lacking their former luster and shine, requiring regular stripping of it. When we talk about stripping a floor it means to completely remove the old wax, dirt and debris on the floor, followed by applying fresh coats of wax. It is very labor intensive and time consuming with many steps involved. It’s important to hire a company that knows what they’re doing to avoid mistakes being made.

Floor Wax Problems to Avoid

A test should be done to determine how much sealer and/or finish is on the floor before starting. Mist some diluted stripper on the floor with a spray bottle and use just enough to make the finish soft, but not enough to totally suspend it. Allow it to dwell for a few minutes and use a tool to scrape the floor to show how much of the sealer/finish is left and will need to be removed.
1. Make sure the company you hire has experience and isn’t practicing on your floor! Stripping a floor is a skill that is learned and professionals learn to do it at a technical school or a distributor’s work area.
2. Different floors need different care and the equipment and chemicals used on a VCT floor will be different than those used on other floors.
3. Clean water must always be used and dirty mops and buckets should never be used. Separate buckets need to used for the stripping agent, neutralizer and wax solution.
4. All the tools and equipment necessary need to be on hand before the process begins If not, the job will take longer with unnecessary delays.
5. Safety cones need to be set up around the area being worked on.
6. The proper safety clothing, non-slip shoes, gloves and goggles need to be worn.
7. It’s important to work in sections instead of an area that is too large.
8. The stripper needs to be diluted correctly. Most times the stripper needs to be diluted with cold water.
9. Allow enough dwell time for it to set correctly.
10. Defoamer needs to be used along with a wet/dry vacuum to vacuum up the slurry from the floor. Foam may build up during the process, so using the defoamer will allow the machine to be more effective.

Apply Wax to VCT Floors Correctly

Allow enough time to pass before the floors are walked on after the final coat of wax has been applied. The number of coats needed will depend on traffic but 4-6 seems to be standard. Factors that go into the cost are time and materials used, equipment expenses to complete the process, cost of disposable materials, equipment consumables and supplies and the cost of transportation with workers and equipment used to get to and from the job.

VCT Flooring Maintenance in Boulder, Longmont & Brighton Colorado

If your floors look dull, stained or soiled, contact Baker Sandoval Cleaning to strip, wax, seal and buff your VCT floors. When the job is done the right way, your VCT floors will shine brightly, look better than before and prolong the life of your investment. Call us today!