Floors, be it a corporate office, hospital, hotel or manufacturing unit, are the most used and most contaminated and most dirty when not cleaned and maintained rightly. Here below are the dos and don’ts of floorcare suggested by Klinox Marketing.
| Cause | Solution | |
| Poor Leveling, spreading or wetting of floor finish | Floor finish applied over factory finish, on new tile |
Strip thoroughly, rinse and re-apply, finish. |
| Floor not adequately cleaned | Stop. Do not apply floor finish until you have followed the proper cleaning procedures. | |
| Floor not properly rinsed | No floor finish will properly bond or spread over a floor which has an alkaline residue. Floor rinse if necessary. But apply the finish only after you have a clean, dry floor. | |
| Poor Leveling, spreading or wetting of floor finish | Floor finish applied over factory finish on new tile | Stop. Do not apply floor finish until you have followed the proper cleaning procedures. |
| Floor not adequately cleaned | Stop. Do not apply floor finish until you have followed the proper cleaning procedures. | |
| Floor not properly rinsed | No floor finish will properly bond or spread over a floor which has an alkaline residue. Floor rinse if necessary. But apply finish only after you have a clean, dry floor. | |
| Poor after gloss | Floor dirty | Clean floor and rinse thoroughly, use a restorer and burnish to bring gloss back. |
| Wrong pads or brushes used (usually too aggressive) | Use red pad for routine scrubbing, blue or green pad for deep scrubbing: tan, coral or white pads for buffing. On uneven floors, an appropriate brush is recommended/ to restore gloss, use a mop-on restorer and burnish or recoat with a thin coat of finish. | |
| Excessive amount of sand and grit on the floor | Use mats, dust mop frequently, and remove grit outside doors. To restore gloss, use a mop on restorer and burnish or scrub and recoat. | |
| Using an alkaline floor cleaner | Use of an alkaline all purpose cleaner or degreaser will cause finish to dull and may even leave a hazy film on the floor surfaces. Spray buffing or use of a mop-on restorer will bring back the gloss. Use a neutral cleaner for routine cleaning | |
| Sticking of chairs and other objects to freshly coated floors | Too long a drying time, especially under high humidity conditions | Normal dry time for most finishes is between 30-45 minutes. If floor is not dry to touch in 30 minutes, fan may be applied to provide air movement. |
| Finish applied too heavy | Strip the floor and start again with thin coats, allow adequate drying time between coats. | |
| Washed out appearance | Too frequent cleaning without sufficient use if restorer/spray buff | Check your cleaning agent. Use dilution – use of a neutral floor cleaner or reduce cleaning frequently. Reply more on dust mop treatments and review recommended cleaning schedules. |
| Harsh cleaners | Use neutral detergents that will not attack the finish film. | |
| Abrasive materials | Clean entrance mats. Dust mop frequently with water-based treated dust mo. Use less abrasive cleaning pads. | |
| Color bleeding | Solvent cleaners or solvent finishs | Use neutral cleaners and water emulsion finishes. (Never use solvent products on resilient floors.) |
| Harsh alkaline cleaners | Bleeding is the transfer of color from the flooring to the clearing solution represents an attack of the flooring. Do not use harsh cleaners. Rinse floor well. | |
| Color fading | Direct sunlight | Curtains, screens or tinted glass will reduce the effect of sunlight in resilient floors. |
| Strong cleaners | Use neutral detergents. | |
| Excessive black marking | Inadequate amount of floor finish | Build up enough coats for a protective coating. Buff regularly to maintain high gloss. |
| Powdering | Poor film formation upon drying of the finish due to an alkaline residue on the floor | Re-strip the floor and rinse thoroughly. Give the floor a final rinse of 3oz. Mild Acid Detergent per gallon of water. |
| Poor film formation due to cold temperature | Minimum temperature for application is 50°F | |
| Factory finish not stripped from new tile before finishing | MThoroughly strip, rinse and re-apply finish. | |
| Applying coats too thinly | Apply in medium coats, approximately 2,500 to 3,000 sq. ft. per gallon of finish. (Avoid wrung-out mops.) | |
| Wrong buffing pads or brushes used | Use less aggressive pads or brushes. | |
| Loss of gloss | Use of hot water, solvents or harsh cleaners | Use neutral cleaners in cold water. Avoid highly alkaline cleaners or solvents on resilient flooring. |
| Using dust mops treated with oil base agents | Strip top layers of finish. Apply floor finish and subsequently use only water-based dust mop treatment. | |
| Insufficient finish on mop during application | Scrub and re-coat; avoid using wring out mops. Apply finish at a rate of 2,500 – 3,000 sq. ft. per gallon. | |
| Conspicuous formation of traffic lanes | Too little touch up of traffic lanes with new coats of finish | Use touch-up techniques of feathering new coats into old coat of finish at the edge of traffic lanes. Re-coats as required by traffic wear. |
| Over-polishing of non-traffic areas | Do not finish around furniture or near baseboards except when stripping the entire floor and refinishing. | |
| Yellowed film | Infrequent stripping | Apply less finish or strip more often. Preventative maintenance schedules should be followed. |
| Re-coating the entire floor every time floor is cleaned | Don’t finish the non-traffic areas as often as the rest of the floor. | |
| Buffing, spray buffing, or burnishing without proper cleaning. | Anytime a floor machine used on a finish film the floor must be totally cleaned first, otherwise dirt and soil will be driven into the finish film giving it a yellow appearance. | |
| Mastic bleed | Mastic bleed is caused by the glue used to put the tile down bleeding up through the cracks. Strip the affected area, use solvent to clean the excess glue, wash with detergent, rinse and re-apply floor finish. | |
| Water spotting | Applying finish over an improperly rinsed floor | Select a finish made to resist water spillage, particularly in areas subject to spillage. All finished will turn white if water is allowed to set for one half hour or more. |
| Scuffing of the finish | Excessive scuffing under normal conditions for the floor | A harder floor finish is recommended. |
| Wrong scrubbing or buffing pads/brushes used | Use the proper pad or brush for the floor finish. |