Use Double Buckets for Floor Care

The care and condition of the floor of a coin -laundry is so important to it’s success that it can not be over emphasized. Customers will for give and over look a bit of lint or paper, and other customer created messes on an otherwise bright and shining floor. but they will be unable to overlook a dirty floor itself. So care and conditioning of your laundry floor should be one of your first priorities.

Many laundry operators own almost as much floor care equipment as a janitorial service. They have floor buffers, professional mops and buckets as well as miscellaneous rags, scrappers, etc. They have a floor maintenance schedule they follow religiously. Some others hire it all done, also on a scheduled -basis. Too many, however, mostly ignore their floors except for sweeping and mopping as they see a need.

Following are some suggestions which will keep your floors looking good enough to satisfy your most fastidious customer.

If your laundry’s floor has been neglected, start from the beginning. It has to be stripped to remove any existing wax, and then completely redone.

After the floor is clear of the old wax, it is time to apply the new. We strongly suggest that you select a non skid or slip resistant type of wax. Read and then re-read the instructions on the container to be sure that you get the best, longest lasting job possible.

Once the first coat of wax is spread and dry, its time to spread the second coat if your product’s -instructions call for it. Now come the hard work, the floor buffer that you either borrow, rent or buy needs to be applied. Tough on the shoulders, and directed by tilting the buffer, left to go left, right to go right, etc. Instinctively, inexperienced operators fight the buffer, and work too hard doing a simple job.

Continue to buff the wax until there is a definite shine on the floor. Move the buffer from area to area and in an hour or two, the floor tile gleam as though they were new again.

How does one keep that gleam on the floor of the laundry? Well that’s the simple part. A waxed and buffed tile floor will last for many months provided it is cared for properly.

Use a clean, quality made floor mop. It should be a “string mop” dipped in warm soapy water, Note we say warm not hot. The reason for that is that hot -water could melt the wax and cause the gleaming -finish to begin to become blurred.

Dip the mop in your bucket of hot soapy water, wring it out excess water and begin mopping. Wring out the dirty water in another separate bucket and then go back to the first bucket to dampen the mop again. Note that you should have two water pails for this method. One that holds the dirty water and one that remains clean and soapy. Otherwise you are just spreading the soil and dirt.

Try not to slop the water against the wall or the machines as you mop. If you do get some water on the wall or equipment, wipe it off right away with a clean dry rag.

Using the two pail system for mopping floors is very important, because it avoids redistribution of the dirty water from the mop back onto the floor. Wring the dirty water into pail two before dipping the mop back into pail one again to add warm soapy water to the mop.

In your pocket, carry a flat putty knife and rag along with you as you mop. Use the knife to remove gum and thick, sticky soils from surfaces. Wrap the tip of the knife in a cloth to reach into the corners to dry, otherwise the corners will begin to show a soil build up where the mop swirls into the corners. That action may not be important the first few times you mop newly waxed floor tiles, but it will become more and more vital to the appearance of the laundry as time goes by.

Having the best looking floors in the neighborhood is an art that can be easily learned by almost anyone. Surely you, a knowledgeable and successful coin laundry owner can learn to do it too.

All it takes is a stripped and waxed floor to start. Then you need good mop heads, double bucket system, discerning eye, putty knife and rags An hour a week with the self discipline to do the job consistently is needed too .

 

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