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Hardwood Floor Maintenance

July 14, 2009 By
This could damage your floor

Protect Your Hardwood Floor

When you first glimpse at a new solid hardwood floor, you sense richness, warmth and natural beauty, so why not protect it with a maintenance programme that is tailor made to suit the environment that the floor is laid in.

Do Solid Wood Floors really get abuse?

In low traffic areas such as offices Solid hardwood floors are among the easiest to keep clean and protected as they get less abuse from dirt, grit and sand.

On the other hand, a solid wood floor in a very busy Pub will be subjected to the worst type of abuse with not only dirt, grit and sand attacking its protective layer, but broken glass, high heels, spilt alcohol and water, scuffs from shoes, scratches from moving furniture etc, this floor will need a lot more maintenance and protection than the office floor.

What will your Customers think?

Let’s face it, we’ve all gone into a place whether it’s an office, Pub or Nightclub and formed an opinion based on the cleanliness of the place. A dirty non-maintained floor makes a place look drab and dirty, some managers have even told me that this is the look that they wanted, “the well used” and “gives it character” look, I know for a fact that some of them were telling the truth but most of them weren’t, because I could see traces of the old Polish on the floor.

This could damage your floor

This could damage your floor

Most of these managers changed their mind and opted to protect and maintain their floors after learning that it doesn’t cost the earth.

In our survey questionnaire after Striping and Polishing floors we have learned that Customers seem to have a better perception of the place and staff morale is also boosted.

What condition is your floor in?

Follow these steps to evaluate the condition of your hardwood floor and its finish.

Finish Condition: Has the finish been worn off or is it just dirty? See if the finish is dull, chipped, scraped or gouged. To test if the finish has worn off, begin in a high-traffic area and pour one to two tablespoons of water onto the floor. If the water soaks in immediately and leaves a darkened spot, the finish is worn and water can damage the wood. If the water soaks in after a few minutes and darkens the wood only slightly, the finish is partially worn. If the water beads on top, the surface is properly sealed. Repeat this test in low- and medium-traffic areas.

Wood Condition: It the finish is worn, the wood may have been damaged. Are there stains, burns, cuts, gouges, holes, cracks or warped boards? If the wood is damaged, repair or replacement may be required before you deep clean your floor or apply a maintenance coat.

What type of finish does your floor have?

The same care and maintenance techniques are used for all finishes in good condition, but when it comes to removing stains or restoring the finish, methods differ. If you don’t know what kind of finish your floor has, please phone us and we can carry out a few tests.

Learn more about protecting your hardwood floors in the next article or ring me Ron 07944 446 312 now for more information and let us professionally check your floor and recommend the right approach to maintain and clean your floor.

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Replace Or Protect Wooden Floors

July 14, 2009 By

How much will cost to replace a Solid wood Floor?

As a rough guide if you were to replace a solid wood floor of approximately 100 square meters  it would cost you about £80 per square meter, this includes the initial lifting of your old floor and the refitting of your new floor, so that’s a total of £8,000.

This price doesn’t take into account any loss of business as your business may have to close for a few days.

How much will cost to Protect and Maintain my Floor?

As you can imagine this will depend on the type of abuse your floor is subjected to, but as an example let’s take the above floor:

The Office floor may need a strip and Polish twice a year @ approximately £180 each time, that’s a total of £360. If required the Office may also want the floor buffed with maintainer once per month, this would cost approximately £20 per month.

The very busy Pub floor may need a Strip and Polish at least 4 times per year @ approximately £180 each time, that’s a total of £720. To maintain this floor you will need to buff it with maintainer at least once per week; this would cost approximately £20 per week.

All things considered you have to admit that there is a significant saving to be made by protecting and maintaining your floor.

It’s important to know how to prevent damage to your solid hardwood floors.

Prevent damage to your hardwood floors by proper cleaning

DIRT and GRIT: Dirt, grit and sand are your hardwood floors worst enemies.

They act like sandpaper on the finish, causing scratches, dents and dulling. Place floor mats at entrances to trap dirt and prevent damage.

WATER AND OTHER SPILLS: Standing water can warp a poorly finished hardwood floor and can damage the finish. Simply wipe up all spills as they happen.

HARD CLEANERS: Avoid oil soaps. They can build up and create problems when it’s time to put a maintenance coat on the floor. Instead, neutral pH cleaners made specifically for wood floors are recommended.

FURNITURE: Lift the furniture to move it – avoid dragging. Felt contacts under the legs will help prevent scratches.

DENTS: Vacuum with a brush attachment – don’t use vacuums with beater bars.

SUN: Direct sun can discolour your hardwood floor. Close curtains and blinds or add sheer drapes to protect from the sun’s intense UV rays.

Regular cleaning Care

SWEEP: Use a soft fine bristled brush.

VACUUM: Tub vacuums with floor attachments are the surest way to get rid of all the dirt and dust.

Damp Mopping

Some professionals recommend that you damp mop your hardwood floor and others cringe at the suggestion. Just remember, if your floor’s finish is in good shape and mopping is done correctly, the water won’t penetrate even the oil and wax finishes. You’re cleaning the finish, not the wood, so don’t use water if the finish is in poor shape.

Damp Mopping: This is the fastest and best way to deep-clean solid hardwood floors. Depending on how much use your floor gets, you may have change the water a few times if the floor is very dirty. Use a neutral pH wood cleaner and water.

Heavy-Duty Mopping: If floors are properly sealed, the little extra water and cleaner required will not injure your hardwood floor, but use common sense.

Vinegar: Often prescribed to clean hardwood floors — does nothing for removing grease and soil.

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Floor and Carpet Maintenance

July 14, 2009 By
clean and polished floors earn customers respect

We all know the term “First Impressions Count” and that applies to your office or other workplace as well, doesn’t it?

Well let’s face it whether you have a huge office block, a retail shop or a busy pub the floor of your premises is something that everyone sees and helps formulate their impression of your business.

clean and polished floors earn customers respect

clean and polished floors earn customers respect

That floor may be a solid hardwood floor (or even a veneered wood surface), carpeted floor, vinyl or a stone floor such as marble or slate.  Each has its own advantages and disadvantages as a floor covering but they also present us with different issues when drawing up a professional cleaning program that will not just clean your floor surface but ensure long term protection of your expensive floor covering.

Floors or floor coverings are expensive to replace. That’s why we at Coatbridge Office Cleaning are so interested in not just cleaning your floor but ensuring it looks maintains it high quality appearance.

For example many of our cleaning company competitors will tell you they will vacuum the carpet on a daily basis but did you know that the type of vacuum cleaner being used will make a difference to the deep down levels of dirt and grime removed. Some vacuum cleaners will do a great job of removing top dust and dirt but leave behind the grit which will continue damaging your carpet every time someone walks over it. For more information on cleaning carpets go to our carpet care pages.

We recommend a two pronged approach to virtually every cleaning job.

We want to give you high quality cleaning on a day to day appearance but also to help you save money in the longer run by protecting your floors.

Cleaning Wooden Floors

With wood floors too much cleaning using a damp mop can lead to internal wood damage and mean early replacement. If the top surface is okay and the wood is properly protected this will not be a problem for you but if your cleaning company is using a cleaning chemical that is not specifically “ph neutral” then the protection will get worn away faster and the water will start to damage the floor.

It may look okay at first glance but we will always test the floor in both high traffic regions and low wear areas before we can safely recommend a suitable cleaning programme for you. See our section on maintaining and cleaning wooden floors.

Cleaning Stone Floors

Stone Floors can be very hard wearing but when damaged will be difficult and expensive to replace. I recently saw a stone floor in a pub following a major refurbishment where the building contractors had damaged the top layer of the stone by trying an “acid wash”. That floor was almost certainly permanently damaged unless a lot of money and time was going to be spent on grinding the top layer off and putting a seal on to protect it long term. But we will deal with the problems of maintaining and cleaning stone floors in the appropriate section.

Cleaning Vinyl Floors

Vinyl (or more accurately polyvinyl chloride PVC) can be laid in sheets or tiles.  When these first came out the backing layer was made up of asbestos but over more recent years this has been substituted by inorganic clay. Obviously if you still have the older version of PVC floors special care needs to be taken and we would recommend you allow us to carry out a small test if you are unsure of the age of your PVC floor.  Most cleaning companies will neglect to check this and can lead to your staff being exposed to dangerous asbestos dust in the workplace.

Again we will often suggest that a specialist strip and seal be carried out to protect the top layer of the floor especially if you are dealing with high traffic areas such as corridors, busy reception areas and areas beside lift entrances and photocopier machines.

Whatever type of floor you have in your workplace we can advise on the most appropriate ways of both day to day cleaning and long term care and protection. These two different issues can often be integrated into one cleaning schedule to give the most appropriate cleaning for your office or other workplace.

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