Stripping Floors Only Once Is A Huge Timesaver

This article was originally published in Contracting Profits. 

One of the most satisfying moments in a janitor’s work experience comes when looking back at a freshly stripped and refinished floor. Done properly, the floor is crystal clear and the gloss appears to be a foot deep.

But time marches on. Brown spots may appear here and there, or the entire coating may become discolored. You have top scrubbed, recoated, used restorers and burnished until the coating is hard as a rock. The time has come for the floor finish to be removed.

Now imagine you learn that your customer’s floor must be stripped by tomorrow night. You are already on a tight schedule and cannot afford to waste time going back over the floor in the event the first stripping procedure fails to remove all of the old coating. You must have the floor stripped clean the first time.

Keep in mind guesswork leads to more work. Just because you always dilute the stripper one to four with water and scrub in five minutes is not a good reason to continue to do so. If that dilution and dwell time works and you are successful in removing the old coating the first time, how do you know if a weaker dilution would not have worked just as well?

The key is to find balance. Our goal is to mix the stripper using a dilution ratio that ensures total penetration of the old coating so that we use up nearly all of the chemical energy in the solution. Excess chemical left on the floor wastes product, wastes money and forces the use of a neutralizer or requires excessive rinsing.

If you want to guarantee only having to perform the stripping procedures once, instead of two or possibly even three times, try this simple test conducted prior to the actual stripping operation. In fact, if you are considering purchasing strippers, this 10-step test will verify that you are getting your money’s worth and that the stripper will perform.

1. Put on proper protective equipment.

2. Pump one pump of stripper into each cup.

3. Pump water into each cup according to the number on the cup (four pumps into cup marked four and three pumps into the cup marked three, etc.).

4. Select area that you suspect will be difficult to strip and that will be large enough to accommodate the tests.

5. As you pour the stripper onto the area to be tested, note time.

6. Pour test strippers far enough apart to prevent them from running together.

7. After 10 minutes, agitate lightly with center of pad.

8. Wipe the areas with a damp cloth and allow to dry.

9. Inspect. Use the weakest solution that stripped the floor all the way to the tile.

10. You now know the strength, and the dwell time.

Since every floor coating is different, this simple test can establish the proper dilution and dwell time. If you can determine the exact stripper concentration and the exact dwell time to strip the floor in the first pass that will save time, energy, water and chemicals, and minimize safety risks.

How To Spot Green Floor Maintenance Equipment

This article was originally published in Contracting Profits. 

How do you know if a machine is considered green when there are no green certifications for floor maintenance equipment?

Our very own Scott Keller, Education/Commercial Buildings Vertical Market Manager for Nilfisk–Advance, Inc. gives his take:

"For scrubbers you should analyze specifications related to water flow, chemical dilution ratios and sound levels. Also scrubbers that afford you the possibility of an onboard chemical dilution system are much more green than pre-mixing water and chemical in the solution tank. While it’s nice to reduce water and chemical usage if you are unable to actually remove dirt from the cleaning surface you are not really achieving a “green” facility."

Read the full article to see additional responses from industry experts.

Setting K-12 School Cleaning Standards

This article was originally published by Contracting Profits. 

Elementary and high school facilities across the United States pose health risks to students and staff due to the lack of a standardized approach to assessing the effectiveness of their cleaning regimen. A vast majority of facilities judge cleaning by sight, smell and even touch. But this approach is woefully inadequate in this age of MRSA, norovirus and other infectious agents that cannot be detected by the senses alone.

Realizing this serious deficiency, ISSA and the Cleaning Industry Research Institute (CIRI) entered into a joint venture, commissioning an independent body of scientists led by Dr. Richard Shaughnessy, University of Oklahoma – Tulsa, and Dr. Gene Cole, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, to perform research intended to provide three deliverables.

The first goal was to identify an objective, quantitative method of measuring cleanliness. After thoroughly reviewing various devices, the researchers concluded that ATP (adenosine triphosphate) meters are a valid, relatively simple, rapid and affordable measure of the level of cleanliness of critical interior surfaces in schools. Just as important, these devices were found to be reliable and consistent in their measurements across geographic and climatic zones.

Secondly, ISSA and CIRI tasked the researchers with producing reasonable range values for measuring levels of cleanliness in schools across three different ATP meters, representing a standardized and quantitative approach to measuring clean. With this step, “cleanliness” was defined based on ATP-RLU (relative light units) values.

Now, ISSA and CIRI will use this information to establish a practical standard and protocol that will empower schools to validate their cleaning regimen, as well as help them more efficiently allocate their limited resources for cleaning and maintenance. This protocol — the Clean Standard: K-12 — is currently under development, but is expected to be finalized by June 2013.

Read the full article here to learn more about the purpose of school cleaning standards. 

Sensitive Occupants: Best Cleaning Practices

This article was originally published in Contracting Profits

By: John Garrett

Whether cleaning around hospital patients, children, allergy or asthma sufferers, effective cleaning procedures are increasingly important within healthcare facilities, K–12 schools and commercial offices alike.

Consider the following: It is estimated that 180,000 cleaning professionals are injured by the commercial cleaning products they use; respiratory system irritation and burns to eyes and skin make up the majority of these on-the-job injuries; building occupants and visitors commonly complain about odors and respiratory problems associated with cleaning products and processes; some occupants have asthma and other breathing disorders that are sensitive to particles in the air, volatile organic compounds and vapors produced by the cleaning process is being used around them; volatile organic compounds (VOCs) evaporate from cleaning products before, during and after their use, contributing to poor indoor air quality; and millions of dollars are spent annually for medical expenses and lost time wages due to these cleaning product chemical injuries.

With an increase in facility occupant sensitivities, and workplace accidents and injuries, building service contractors (BSCs) and industry professionals have and will continue to trend towards the implementation of green cleaning programs, with the results including lower risks for occupants and cleaner facilities. However, is greener really cleaner?

Oddly enough, traditional cleaning products are often more dangerous than the germs they are designed to kill. Indoor air pollution is as much as 2 to 5 times higher than outdoor pollution, on average, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The World Health Organization estimates that 30 percent of all buildings have problems with indoor air pollution, and further that 80 percent of cancers are related to environmental factors like toxins. At least one-third of cleaning products contain chemicals that are known to cause significant damage to occupants and the environment.

Studies demonstrate that chlorine bleach, ammonia and other cleaners release greenhouse gases and toxic vapors, many of which are suspected carcinogens. Hazardous chemicals have been known to remain on surfaces and/or airborne for hours, causing mild to serious symptoms including headaches, fatigue and asthma.

Green cleaning procedures are often quite similar to traditional methods. The differences are more a matter of focus and technique, and often rely upon understanding occupant needs and vulnerabilities, while incorporating the right products to mitigate exposure and unnecessary risk to those occupants.

Read the full article to learn about the best cleaning practices for cleaning sensitive facility occupants.