Floor care and matting

Floor care and matting

What we stock

Entrance matting

Scraper, scraper-wiper and wiper mats, plus rubber and anti-fatigue mats. A working entrance system runs outside mat → vestibule mat → inside mat; the rule of thumb is around 15 feet of matting to dry an average pair of boots.

Finishes and strippers

Floor finish, sealer and stripper for VCT and other resilient floors.

Pads

Darker is more aggressive.

Mops and floor tools

Wet and dust mops, microfibre flat mops, buckets and wringers.

Floor machines

Buffers, auto scrubbers and carpet extractors.

Matching chemistry to your floor

The most expensive floor care mistakes come from using the right product on the wrong surface. The basics:

• VCT (vinyl composition tile) is the floor most commercial floor care is designed around. It takes finish, strips and recoats well, and tolerates a wide pH range.
• Polished concrete should not be treated like VCT. It does not want a film finish, and aggressive alkaline cleaners can damage the surface over time. Neutral cleaners, and densifier or guard products made for concrete.
• Terrazzo and natural stone are sensitive to acids. An acidic washroom cleaner used on a terrazzo floor will etch it, and the damage is permanent.
• LVT (luxury vinyl tile) often ships with a factory wear layer that does not need finish, and applying finish to it can create more problems than it solves. Check the manufacturer’s guidance before treating it.

If you are not certain what your floor is, that is a reasonable thing to be unsure about and worth settling before anyone puts product on it. We can usually tell from a photo and a description of how it behaves when wet.

Scrubbing, buffing, burnishing

Three different operations that get used interchangeably in conversation and are not the same thing.

• Scrubbing removes soil. It uses water and cleaner with an aggressive pad to lift dirt out of the surface. This is the one that actually cleans.
• Buffing is a lower-speed operation with a soft pad that smooths out light scratches and restores some gloss to a finished floor.
• Burnishing runs at high speed with a soft pad and melts the surface of the floor finish slightly, producing a high gloss. It only works on finishes formulated for it, and burnishing a finish not made for it will damage the coating.

A sensible maintenance cycle is daily dust mopping, regular damp mopping or scrubbing depending on traffic, periodic buffing or burnishing to maintain appearance, and a full strip and refinish once or twice a year. The frequency depends entirely on traffic, which is why a rule of thumb is less useful than a look at the floor.

Ice melt and what it does to floors

Ice melt is a floor care product as much as a safety product, because what gets spread outside ends up on the floor inside.

• The common types behave differently. Rock salt (sodium chloride) is cheapest and stops working as temperatures drop well below freezing — which in Manitoba is a meaningful part of the winter. Calcium chloride works at much lower temperatures and acts faster, at higher cost. Magnesium chloride sits between them and is generally gentler on concrete and vegetation. Blends are common and usually a reasonable compromise.
• The residue is the problem indoors. Ice melt tracked onto a floor leaves a white film, and left in place it dulls finish and can damage the surface. A neutralising cleaner formulated for salt residue removes it; ordinary neutral cleaner often will not, which is why floors look hazy all winter in buildings using the wrong product.
• Over-application is the norm. Most sites spread considerably more than needed, which costs money twice — once on the product and again on the floor damage and extra cleaning. A spreader rather than a scoop pays for itself in a season.

The real fix is matting. Ice melt that never reaches the door cannot damage the floor. See entrance matting for Manitoba winters.