HOW TO SCRUB A FLOOR USING A FLOOR MACHINE

The purpose of scrubbing a floor is to clean the floor and remove and debris and dirt.  Scrubbing will not polish your floor and could even make your floor more dull.  We recommend burnishing or polishing your floor after scrubbing to achieve the desired results.  Utilizing a floor machine that runs at 175-300 rpm's will make scrubbing your floors an easy task.  The following steps are required to scrub your floors.

• Apply the floor cleaner and agitate.

• Remove the floor cleaning solution from the floor

• Rinse the floor.

Procedure:

• Make sure that your floor has been prepared for scrubbing.  After the floor has been prepared vacuum or dust mop the floor to remove any dust.  We recommend that you spray your dust mop with dust mop treatment to remove as much dust as possible.  Make sure to remove anything stuck to the floor because this will gum up or rip the floor pad.

• Make sure that the floor are you are scrubbing does not and will not have traffic moving through it.  Use warning signs to make sure the area where you are scrubbing is marked out so that everyone is aware of it.

• Scrubbing a floor requires a mop bucket and cotton or blended mop.  Fill the mop bucket 3/4 full of your cleaning solution.  Check with the manufacturer of your floor finish for the type of cleaner that is suited to the finish.  Dip the mop into the cleaning solution and wring lightly. Mop the floor in a figure eight motion overlapping an inch on each swipe.  It is best to divide your floor into 9' by 9' segments so that the cleaner does not dry on the floor.  Using a blue or green scrubbing pad and a floor machine scrub the 9' by 9' wet area moving the floor machine back and forth. 

• The purpose of scrubbing the floor with a floor machine is to loosen any debris, dirt or scuff marks you will worry about getting the loosened dirt from the floor once you have scrub your whole area.

• After you have scrubbed your area go over it with a cotton or blended mop and fresh water.  If you have access to a wet dry vacuum with front mount squeegee, mop the floor wet and pickup water with vacuum.  If you do not have a wet dry vacuum mop in a figure eight rising and wringing your mop regularly.

• After you have completed mopping your floor check for dirt residue using a white towel.  If the towel is dirty on a swipe mop the floor once more using fresh cold water and a mop.

• Once your floor is scrubbed and you want to achieve a higher gloss shine burnish the floor as laid out in out burnishing a floor article.  Before burnishing check with the floor finish manufacturer to see if the finish is burnishable.

• A quick alternative to scrubbing this way is to purchase an auto scrubber.  Auto scrubbers lay down the water, scrub the floor, and pick up the water as you push it along.  Auto scrubbers come in all sizes and styles and start in the $2000 range for a base model. ( National Super Service makes a wide range of auto scrubbers at low prices.)

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