Linoleum Floor Help!

[WashRite]

Some how my business has expanded to include light janitorial office cleaning. As I pressure washed offices and cleaned sidewalks for doctors, lawyers, etc. I was asked if I new of any good interior cleaners. Well as you may have guessed thats how I expanded into janitorial.

I have one small doctors office that has eight (8) exam rooms with Linoleum flooring. Each room is approximately 10'x12'. The Linoleum is in very good shape but has not been cleaned and/or waxed on a consistent basis.

I have never stripped, cleaned, and waxed Linoleum flooring. I do not own any flooring equipment but can rent what ever is needed, if anything. I plan to redo the floors this coming weekend.

My thoughts are:

Floor prep
Open office windows for ventilation.

Sweep floor.

Removing old wax
Spread ammonia on floor with dedicated mop head. Rinse mop head thoroughly.

Wait 1/2 hour, remove ammonia with same mop. Rinse mop head thoroughly.

Mix hot water and small amount of vinegar and mop to remove remaining ammonia. Rinse mop head thoroughly.

Clean any soiled areas. Let dry.

Apply wax
Apply wax using microfiber mop head. Let dry to touch. Recoat applying wax in different pattern for better coverage.

Apply other coats if desired.

What are your thoughts?

[MMI Enterprises]

Jud, PLEASE STOP!! That is not current methodology

Floor prep
Open office windows for ventilation. NO

Sweep floor.Using dustmop

Removing old wax
Spread ammonia on floor with dedicated mop head. Rinse mop head thoroughly.
This is old time strip methods that are way ineffective to remove current floor finishes and will knock you out pretty much whether you try and ventelate or not. Go to a janitorial supply house and obtain a modern day pottasium hydroxide/butyl based stripper and follow instructions carefully. Do not stop at warehouse stores or Smart and Final.. go directly to supply house. A johnsons brand like bravo or some such should work for ya.
Wait 1/2 hour, remove ammonia with same mop. Rinse mop head thoroughly.it would have been dry if ya waited that long with most any product with ventelation... modern day strippers it is actually best to not have ventelation so it does not dry on you. Some don't even recommend hot water for same reason. When it dries an acrylic/stripper emulsion goes back to a solid. close doors while it penetrates and then go in after 10-15 to break it up with a rented low speed swing machine using a 3m HIpro strip pad (very rough and open weaved). Scrap or scrub edges with pad donut popout, doodlebug setup,putty knife, and or Mr clean magic eraser..Don't let the stripped area dry. Only do as much space as you feel you can scrub, wet vac up, and rinse. This may be 1 room or could be all 8 depending on size.. Manual methods that you are gonna use I would guess about 800'..(which btw is about one mop bucket of mix) With experience and autoscrubbers I can do upto about 4k all at once anywhere from 1 to 2 hour. With swing machine/ wet vac methods plan on an hour per bucket for the strip and another few hour total for finishing. Often times a newbie can be looking at 6-8 hour to do 1-1.5k of retail floor with isle work. Your work may be just as bad if it is built up with many coats and you got examine tables or bad edges.

Mix hot water and small amount of vinegar and mop to remove remaining ammonia. Rinse mop head thoroughly.Rinsing with vinegar or neutral cleaner is fine on vinyl. Since it doesn't really absorb there isn't really much to neutralize. Key is to be able to wipe hand over when dry and not have any powder.

Clean any soiled areas. Let dry.Extrememly important if you want a level/perfect surface. The finish must have a dry surface for it to level properly.

Apply wax technically we don't use wax, we use finish
Apply wax using microfiber mop head. not your best choice if you never used before, can be fickle...instead use a rayon blended/end looped finish mop head.. when done with each coat store in a tied garbage bag. Can pour finish in bucket or pour straight from container to the mop. Don't pour to the floor itself or it will spash droplets that will dry premature and you'll likely get too much on floor etc,. Pour on mop and quikly drag about 10' then go back and figure eight it out. Make sure to catch the wet edge on adjacent area coating before it dries, If you do have to catch a semi dry edge only overlapp a couple inch max. Let dry to touch. Let set up 5 min or so before any fans. You can open the place up for ventelation for the finish to dry faster.Recoat applying wax in different pattern for better coverage.Figure eight usually takes care of any issues here.

Apply other coats if desired.On a strip your looking at 2 as a bare minimum and that depends on if you are to start up a program that will allow you to burnish and get more on at a later time. rule of thumb would be 3 to 5 coats if no program is planned.

What are your thoughts?

dust mop
mop and bucket
putty knife
mr clean magic eraser
3m Hi PRO black strip pads
quality stripper
small 17-20" autoscrubber or low speed 17-20" swing machine/ wet vacuum
vinigar or neutral floor condition
rayon blend mop or micro fiber
hard/durable finish...Plaza may work good but Vectra might be better for doctor office..
fan..snail shaped carpet fan prefurably


..Hope this gets you out there on the right foot....pssst.. it will be as slippery as snot if there is any decent amount of finish to strip so make sure you can skate.. be careful!!

[WashRite]

I appreciate your quick response and assistance.