The Problem

The owner of this daycare always stayed on top of his facility, prioritizing its cleanliness and appearance. What the staff doesn’t do (as in deep cleaning of surfaces themselves) an outside cleaning team takes care of. However, they don’t have anyone with professional floor experience heading a proper VCT, or vinyl composite tile floor maintenance program. And it showed.

VCT is ideally suited for a daycare because it’s quite serviceable. This one had a vibrant main hall with bright yellow tiles peppered with red, blue, and green tiles in a checkerboard fashion. Centered in it is an insignia that says “Wee Kids Early Learning Center.” This floor screamed fun, but not in this condition.

Unhappy, the owner sought help. The floors had some shine, but lacked brilliance. The main area appeared “off.” It looked wavy and uneven. The yellow checkerboard floor was dull. It didn’t convey that “come and play” vibe. Instead, it screamed “help me!” Our client found us online, reached out, and called. (See side bar note- this owner is a residential client of ours, and even more delighted when learning this.)

The Missing Piece

Routine maintenance crews are often not skilled floor care people. Unlike professionals equipped with the technical prowess and equipment, his folks were cleaners only. (And what they got paid was suitable for what they delivered. Although they mopped the floor and applied wax “willy-nilly” they did not follow any plan.)

The Challenge

As is customary going into any job a bit “blind” we suspected the following:

• We anticipated the floor would need multiple ‘strippings’. And upon inquiry, the owner could not recall when, if at all, the floors had last been stripped.
• It was our hunch we’d have a problem getting years of wax build-up off. But how much trouble remained the question. Stripping it one time is normal for a professionally maintained floor. But this was far from normal. Instead, there may be 2, 3, or 4 (as easy as a-b-c) ‘strippings’ needed.
• Extra stripper, some scrapers, and more help may be needed to get this floor under control.

The Solution

We came with extra man power and material. We planned to strip the floor then evaluate if we sufficiently got under the wax build up. If so, we’d begin rinsing. If not we’d repeat the stripping.

Once the wax was off we would “steam extract rinse” the floor. Using our truck mount with volumes of near boiling water would work to dissolve, melt, and break down and rinse the floor cleaner.

Re-apply the wax with 3 protection layers of 25% solids to the floor.

Propose a periodic plan to the owner. Our suggestion was to high-speed buff the floor monthly to maintain the shine. (This professional plan would assure an even appearance moving forward.)

Our Experience and Results

A crystal ball would have been helpful here. Chris (my husband, with over 40 yrs experience) and the team dove in. With his leadership and all encompassing team experience (topping 200 years), not many times does a floor gets the best of him, or them.

The floor held some secrets. It was slower going than anticipated. All rooms required more than 1 strip. In fact, each successive room needed 2 or 3 strips. The worst was the “follow the yellow brick road floor”, (the foyer). Stripping over 4 times, it wasn’t working fast enough.

But some quick thinking helped! Everyone was directed to drop and scrape. Forming a chain-gang, each with a 4″ scraper, on hands and knees, each was working side by side. It reminded Chris of a convoy of snowplow trucks working the line in succession.

Success at last! Once the stripping, or “wet work” was done most of the team was cut loose. Only ones left, Chris and our son, they stayed behind to apply the wax coats.

Throughout the day Dave, the owner had popped in and out. He saw how deeply we tore into the floor, and saw how mismanaged their attempts resulted in the mess we encountered. Seeing the wax applied properly, making the floors brilliant again, Dave piped up “now that’s exactly what I hoped for and wanted!”

Immediately he signed our on-going floor plan on the spot. This would now maintain the shine and appearance professionally going ‘floorward!’

Closing thoughts

At completion Chris recommended that a pH neutral cleaner be used daily. He was pleased the client signed on for a regular high speed buffing, periodic top coat program (monthly).

In the end, this floor will shine consistently moving forward with ‘Team Sparkle’.

VCT stripping and refinishing is a lost art, but if you have VCT floors we can help! Free estimates and periodic maintenance plans offered.  Call 609.953.0472. Or Contact Us online and we’ll reach out!