MAINTENANCE

Polished Concrete Recommended Maintenance

Polished concrete floors are one of the most durable, aesthetically pleasing and maintenance friendly floors available to the market today. However, over the years polished concrete has sometimes been sold as a “maintenance free” floor, which is completely untrue. We at Polished Concrete & Design want to be sure your investment is protected and offers you the expected advantages you invested in.  With the proper daily maintenance, building owners can expect to keep their floors looking good at a comparatively lower cost than traditional flooring options. But even with the best cleaning schedule, polished concrete requires more than just traditional daily/periodical maintenance. It requires an organized maintenance plan of regular, mechanical and chemical maintenance.

Typical daily/periodical maintenance includes but is not limited to:

Walk-off mats with regular cleaning and/or changing located at the entry points of the facility.

Promptly cleaning spills to prevent staining and etching.

Dry mopping or auto scrubbing the floor daily.

General cleaning of the surface or spot treatment of more trafficked areas with plain water and when necessary cleaning agents that are non-reactive.

The above standards for daily/periodical maintenance are a good start, but polished concrete requires more than just keeping it clean. Polished concrete demands application-specific tools and good chemistry to maintain the durability and quality of shine to keep the finish looking the same as it did at initial installation. If a building owner neglects the suggested basic maintenance and the application specific tools and chemicals, then the quality of the shine is going to degrade rapidly over time.

Mechanical maintenance

Diamond impregnated pads are the application-specific tools that will mechanically maintain the floor’s polish. These pads are made of synthetic or natural hair fibers and are sprayed with diamond powders, secondary abrasives and epoxy binders. These pads come in a variety of shapes and sizes to fit all models of floor buffers, burnishers and auto scrubbers. Depending on the manufacturer they can also be used wet or dry. These pads are available from Polished Concrete & Design.

Chemical maintenance

Good chemistry is vital to prolonging the durability of polished concrete by hardening the polished surface. Polished Concrete & Design offers products that specialize in polished concrete maintenance, distributing manufactured cleaners and conditioners that contain minerals that when introduced to the surface goes to work hardening the floor. These conditioners contain mineral compounds such as silicates, calcium and potassium that work together with elements already present in the concrete that help give added protection against abrasion. We sell these conditioners in concentrated form and they can easily be diluted in water tanks of floor scrubbers or buffers. Depending on the dilution or concentration of the mix, the application usage can range from weekly use to monthly or quarterly use.

Owner advantage

Good housekeeping is crucial in maintaining a polished concrete surface, but as given above it is only part of the equation. For a floor that easily meets or surpasses its warranty period, building owners realize the advantages of following the maintenance recommendations and using the products to support the unique polished concrete surface.

Polished Concrete & Design will work closely to help owners in surveying the needs of their facility to determine what maintenance pads and chemicals best fit their needs. For example, a facility that only sees 50 people throughout the day isn’t going to require the same maintenance or at the level of frequency as a facility that sees 5,000 on a daily basis. Being able to provide a specialized maintenance plan along with the latest chemicals and tooling will allow Polished Concrete & Design to position owners to expertly maintain their polished concrete while reducing the costs of maintaining this unique flooring system.

Polished Concrete Cleaning Agents

DAILY:

Using a micro fiber mop for daily cleaning is most effective for light surface cleaning of your polished concrete floor. 

A sweeping compound of sawdust with natural oils & emollients that will not only clean superbly, but will also bring a luster to polished concrete floors, with a minimal cost and man hours. Use in conjunction with a micro fiber mop for maximum dry cleaning of your floor. This is not necessary everyday, but can be used depending on the type and load of traffic on your floor. For foot traffic such as in a restaurant or retail environment, 3 times a week should be sufficient for maintaining your polished concrete floor.

WEEKLY:

Use neutral pH balance soaps such as Dawn™ with clean water. A mix of 1-2 oz per gallon of warm/hot water is effective in maximizing the soils to be removed from the concrete surfaces. This should require no rinse and will help to maintain gloss on polished concrete surfaces.

MONTHLY:

A dual solvent system that contains natural citrus solvent and a special glycol ether system to solubilize stains of petroleum, vegetable or animal based fats, oils, greases and many other agents is recommended for monthly use in-between your daily and weekly cleaning routines.  Shark Cleaner (available at Lowe’s) is a good example of this type of cleaner.

On a monthly basis the use of a burnishing machine with a polish pad is an excellent choice for removing any dirt or dust that has been packed into the micro profiles of your floor.

EPOXY FLOOR MAINTENANCE:

Maintenance and usage tips for your professionally installed epoxy coatings applied to your concrete surfaces are as recommended.

1. For minor spills or vehicle drippings, simply wipe them up with a paper towel or other soft cloth. 

2. Routine maintenance cleaning is best achieved with either a soft bristle broom or a blue commercial dust mop (available at any home improvement store).  Larger surfaces can be maintained with an auto scrubber/sweeper in the “sweep mode” daily.

3. For heavy cleaning of a soiled epoxy floor, sweep away any loose debris and then mop floor with a hard foam mop, hot water and clear ammonia. Four to five ounces of ammonia per gallon of water is all that is needed to adequately remove soiling. A regular daily program of operating an auto scrubber/sweeper with the manufacturers recommended cleaning solutions is a best practice. 

4. Some winter road “pre-treatment” compounds leave a hazy film on the floor coatings after cleaning. This can normally be removed with hot water and a deck brush (found at most hardware stores). Continuous rinsing may be required to keep the compounds from drying onto new areas of the floor.

5. Some stains (including rust) may require light scrubbing with a scrubbing pad. If you’re unable to remove with just hot water, we recommend using Soft Scrub. Do not use Comet or other abrasive cleaning chemicals on the coatings.

6. If desired, the floor can be hosed out and using a squeegee to dry.  Auto scrubber/sweepers in scrub mode will suffice for this.

7. Do not use any cleaner that contains acids (citrus cleaners or vinegar) or soap-based cleaners. Soap based cleaners leave a residue on the floor that not only detracts from the shine, but also become increasingly slippery should the floor get wet. 

8. Use a walk-off mat (welcome mat) inside any entry door to assist removal of snow and water from the bottoms of shoes when entering the garage. Longer mats may be required during winter weather. 

9. Place a computer mouse pad under a motorcycle kickstand to prevent damage to the coatings surface.

10. Ensure all areas are clean before lifting heavy loads with rolling jacks.

11. Place pieces of half-inch plywood under jack stands when bearing heavy loads.

12. Use a welding mat when welding above the coatings.

If you frequently mop your floors, you may build up a soapy residue that dulls the appearance of the floor coatings. This can normally be stripped off by following the third tip above.

While professional epoxy coatings are very durable, they are not indestructible. If damage does occur, contact the installation company to get assistance with how to repair any suspected damage.

HOW TO CLEAN YOUR EPOXY FLOOR

Appearance:

Your floor will look its best when it is clean. By instituting a scheduled cleaning program, the floor will continue to look and perform as it did when it was first installed.

Safety:

No matter how aggressive the texture of your floor, if it is not cleaned properly it can present a slip hazard. Emulsifying, rinsing and drying your floor properly will reduce the risk of a slip and fall incident.

Service Life:

The lifetime of your floor will depend upon how well you clean it. In aggressive use areas (i.e. kitchens and machine shops) contaminants such as oil, dirt, and grease work with water and bacteria to attack your floor.

Floor Cleaning Process & Tools:

The best way to clean your epoxy floor is to use the recommended cleaning product and follow a six-step process. (Equipment needs vary between small and medium floor areas.)

PINE SOL is an example of an acceptable over the counter cleaner, used to their recommended specifications for cleaning and rinsing.

Do not use any cleaner that contains acids (citrus cleaners or vinegar) or soap-based cleaners. Soap based cleaners leave a residue on the floor that not only detracts from the shine, but also become increasingly slippery should the floor get wet.  

NOTES:

• Never use a mop to clean a floor that is greasy or oily.
• Make sure the pads or brushes on the automatic scrubber are in good shape. Pads should be red 3M
• Cleaning pads or similar. Brushes should be nylon non-abrasive Malish 8129 series or a similar medium
• Flex bristle brush.
• When using a deck brush, choose a medium/stiff bristle.
• When using a rotary floor machine, use a tan or red 3M pad or similar.
• When removing solution with a squeegee, use a soft, neoprene squeegee. Do Not use a water spray to
• Remove cleaning solution from the floor because it will over-dilute the solution and cause grease and oil
• To fall back onto the floor.
• Wax strippers should never be used on an EPOXY COATED floor.
• Spills should be cleaned up immediately to prevent staining and as a safety precaution.
• Surfaces should be adequately protected when moving heavy equipment across the floor.
• Through proper training and education, unnecessary wear of the floor (such as forklift spin and skid-marks) can be avoided.