SHEET VINYL

FLOOR CARE PROTECTION PROCEDURE

Description 

Sheet vinyl is usually laid in strips 3 metres wide and heat welded curving upwards at the skirting to create a waterproof membrane. These surfaces are softer than vinyl tiles to create a quieter surface.

Characteristics 

High PVC content gives better untreated gloss. Lower porosity gives greater stain resistance than vinyl tiles. However due to softness more scuffing problems occur.

Evaluation of New Surface 

Remove factory finish if new by stripping with a blue or black pad.

Improper floor preparation can result in poor adhesion of finish coats and dramatically reduce gloss & wear resistance.

Existing Coated Floor Surface 

Light soil / Dull Floor

If the surface has yellowed or soil penetration has occurred, scrubbing and buffing or coating and recoating may be necessary.

Heavy Soil

If surface is dull or deeply scuffed as well as badly soiled or black heel marked the sealer finish may have worn away. Test the floor finish depth with a coin. Stripping will be necessary if low finish level is indicated.

How to Bring Floors to Life

Light Cutback

Use Neutraclean or Supastar diluted 1 part to 25 parts water using. Wet apply to stop the floor drying while scrubbing. Autoscrub or machine scrub using a red or green scrubbing pad. Damp mop rinse with cold water to remove soil slurry. Allow floor to dry thoroughly prior to dust mopping and dry burnishing with a red or tan pad or bassine brush.

UHS machinery will require a Jackaroo or Jackaroo light pad.

Heavy Cutback / Re-coat

Use Crusader germicidal cleaner or Crossfire cleaner degreaser applying 1 part to 25 parts water. Use a blue or green pad and scrub the floor in a left to right ark. Wet mop rinse with cold water to remove scrubber residue using clean water in the bucket every 20m2. Allow the floor to dry thoroughly and dust mop prior to dry burnishing (approx 15 min) and prior to recoating as described above.

Dry Stripping - Small Areas

To cut time in small awkward areas like Supermarket check- outs, tearooms, high density funnel areas of traffic. Dry Stripping using Sledgehammer 1 to 10 parts cold water and brown pad. Just spray lightly, wait 5 minutes then dry pad off. Dust mop prior coating.

Total Stripping - No Scrub Method - Larger Areas

Flood mop apply stripper with a cotton or fringe mop using Sledgehammer, 1 part to 4 parts cold water. Allow up to 15 minutes for activation / penetration. Reapply if drying too fast. Wring out stripping mop, mop off sealer build up into stripper solution bucket. Push the mop ferrule heavily onto the floor to dislodge the existing finish. Particularly required for edges

(an alternative is a doodlebug & black pad). Dust mop then dry burnish the floor as described above. When fully dry - recoat as above.

                        N.B                  Both Sledgehammer and Steamroller are near neutral

                                                pH. products with new technology penetrating agents

                                                This technology provides a “No scrub” water “Rinse

                                                free” application - a huge time and labour saver.

New Floors - Remove Factory Coating

Flood mop with Sledgehammer, 1 part to 4 parts water. Allow to penetrate the factory protective coating. After 10 minutes mop off stripper residue with a well rung out stripping mop, there is no need to rinse or use hot water. Machine burnish when dry with new Tan red pad (400RPM). (Use Jackaroo pad or Jackaroo light pad if machine is 1500RPM+), or use a new or clean brush, this helps gloss the floor and removes any adhering or seal “bits” of dirt prior to recoating.

Applying Sealer Finish

Because of sheet vinyl’s lack of porosity and superior surface smoothness there is no need to precoat with Bedrock sealer. Because this surface is used soft & flexible, a harder sealer finish is necessary to reduce scuffing and help the surface resist damage. 2 or more coats of sealer finish is recommended using either Spartacus or Glazer.

Applying 1st Coat

The polyester cotton mop should be loaded but not dripping. Apply the 1st coat evenly in a figure eight pattern ensuring a wet edge is kept to adjoining areas. Allow a minimum 20 minutes between coats and test for dryness prior to recoating. Depending on gloss and wear resistance 2 to 5 coats will be required. Use a drier mop on subsequent coats.

Maintenance

Using either mop / bucket or an autoscrubber a simple maintenance clean will keep the floor looking like new. The best method for heavy traffic - Food court areas - Supermarkets etc is the bucket wet mop & rinse system using Supastar or Neutraclean 1 - 50 or 1 - 80 (check label). Wet mop 50m2 then using clean cold water in a 2nd bucket, damp mop rinse applying medium pressure to the mop.