Commercial Maintenance

August 5, 2005

Think you’ll hand some minimum-wage mop jockey a slop sword-and-bucket and tell them to get it done and promise a shiny new quarter at the end of the day? Perhaps in the 1800s, my friends, but this is the new millennium.
If you’re still using a mop and bucket for any commercial-maintenance contract as the main cleaning weapon, you’re also probably keen on the newest types of buggy whips. There’s a new way of transport out there known as “the horseless carriage;” perhaps you’ve heard of it?
The number one tool in your arsenal, when it comes to commercial maintenance, should be an automatic scrubber with disc style brushes. (I could go on and on about how mops just spread dirt.) An automatic scrubber pre-soaks the floor, scrubs the floor ,and vacuums up the solution and the contaminants all at once. These machines come in all sizes for all different types of applications.
Due to the porous nature of stone, though, a machine like this is indispensable but will not keep the floors clean forever. If used properly, a natural-stone floor serviced with an autoscrubber will remain clean without the need of auxiliary maintenance from restoration contractors for quite some time.
An auto scrubber, however, is only as good as the preparation of the floor before its use; the machine’s maintenance and upkeep; and the quality of the operator.
To prepare the floor properly, it must be free from grit, sand and refuse. This can be removed beforehand by a technician who knows how to use a dust mop. Now that sounds kind of condescending for me to say "a technician who knows how to use the dust mop". As easy as it looks, it takes some skill.
You can’t expect someone off the street to properly use the dust mop. Stone installations are not your average bear when it comes to dust-mopping. You have grout lines, lippage and – depending on your stone – an either textured or smooth surface.
To overcome grit hiding in grout lines and in the shadow of lippage, you need to use your dust mop like a barn push broom. If you don’t, the tiny sand and grit particles will just roll underneath the dust mop. If, however, you push it like a barn push broom, pushing 3’ or 4’ and then lifting and pushing again, you "encourage" the sand and grit to keep moving.
So what’s the harm in allowing a little sand and grit to remain on the floor? Have you ever heard of sandpaper?
When an auto scrubber comes along and the sand gets caught underneath the brushes (or pads) it becomes abrasive. This, in turn, will damage the floor at a quicker rate than if it had been dust-mopped properly.
Hey, I’m in the restoration business, so you won’t hurt my feelings by creating work for me or my peers. Property managers and business owners, however, may feel differently about the speed of the wear on their floors.
Another danger of not dust-mopping properly before using an autoscrubber involves what’s on the back of the autoscrubber: a rubber squeegee. It contacts the floor and makes a seal strong enough for suction to remove the cleaning solution and the dirt. Whatever grit that doesn’t get stuck in the pads and brushes will make its way to the back and act as ball bearings breaking the seal between the squeegee and the floor.
If the vacuum can’t do its job properly, your auto scrubber will leave dirty streaks of water behind it requiring the use of a mop – yes, a mop that will spread dirt because the streaks of water are dirty. In this scenario, an autoscrubber is not working up to its potential.
If you allow the sand and grit to wear your floor and spread dirt, the surfaces becomes harder and harder to keep clean. A honed surface is rougher with more pores and will attract dirt quicker; the greater the porosity, the harder it is to clean.
Dirty water left behind by the auto scrubber will build up soap scum (and sometimes hard-water stains), and it’ll be harder to wield the dust mop. I remember seeing 12,000 ft² of red granite in a municipal building, where the janitorial staff was actually buffing the soap fats left behind by the mops. (If only the health inspector could’ve seen this.)
A commercial vacuum would work perfectly in any stone installation. Also, if your floor is been de-lipped (ground flat so there is no lippage), a dust mop is a lot easier to use; the dirt cannot hide in the grout lines or the shadows of the higher tiles. The dust mop works more-efficiently, because a smooth surface allows the tool to glide effortlessly and it keeps grit moving.
Let's enter the operator into the equation now. How many dings and scratches are on the auto scrubber? If an auto scrubber looks like new five years after it was purchased, it has either never been used or you have yourself a Class-A operator.
These people are not easy to find; conscientious employees who care for their equipment make you money. Are they being compensated fairly? If not, you could be training your competition’s next main man.
When I was in the maintenance business and I needed someone, I found out about my competition's best employees. I always paid my staff fairly (better than the competition) and added benefits. I knew my competition wouldn't do that. And if they could after-the-fact, why didn't they when they had the opportunity?
What should you expect from a quality operator? More than just somebody who is neat, clean and punctual; you need somebody who is mechanically inclined, can figure out why a machine is not working, and get it to do the job for the night.
Machines can and will break down. The last thing you want is a phone call in the middle of the night asking why a machine isn’t working. If you do nothing, not only will you get a call from an irate customer in the morning complaining that their floors were not done properly, but you also end up with a frustrated employee who could be willing to walk.
Meanwhile, if you wake-up and go to the job site (I’m speaking from personal experience here) to find out that it was only a breaker switch, you and/or your spouse tend to get a little grumpy.
A good operator will get the job done and effectively communicate — the next morning – what needs to be fixed to keep the machine running in top condition. Along those same lines, the operator makes sure the batteries are maintained (water levels are always checked), moving parts are always greased, water lines are always free of any obstructions, and that the recovery tank is always clean so it can work to full capacity and suction strength.
So just what are those mops for anyway? Well sadly, an automatic scrubber cannot clean everywhere. It cannot go right up to the edge. It cannot go underneath obstacles. And oddly enough, an automatic scrubber cannot be worn on your head to do an imitation of a British Law Lord. (Please only use clean fresh mops right out of the bag for this procedure).
For some strange reason, mops are not as easy to work as they look. Almost everywhere I look I see people using them to spread dirt. This is plain-and-simple common sense: If you cannot see the bottom of the bucket through the dirt in the water, the water is too dirty to mop with.
This may mean that the water has to be changed more frequently, even after the mop has been wrung out the third or fourth time. If you want to get really technical, the mop water is contaminated after the mop is wrung out once.
Here is another little gem when it comes to mopping: More is not better when it comes to soap. Along with this, I can’t stress enough that you want a neutral cleaner for stone. More soap means more soap build up.
Remember the municipal building and the mops literally swabbing soap fat? In another municipal building I witnessed soap fat build up on the Absolute Black coving around the edges. It was like the stone had dandruff.
If you use the proper supplies you and your customers will look like pros.
A third point on mopping: When it comes to damp mopping, wetter is not better. Remember that it’s called damp mopping. If you’re wet mopping, you are making more work for yourself or your customer. Either way, it is not a safe practice for job security.
If you are slop-mopping (what I call wet mopping) with dirty water (a double no-no) you will actually make the edges dirtier than the centers. People walk on the center of the floor, and that is where the auto scrubber sucks up the water. If you are slop-mopping, the edges get dirtier quicker and require the services of a restoration professional. (Again, this doesn’t hurt my business, but it may affect yours.)
Anyone in the maintenance business is in the business of making people look good. If you or your employees (although well-intentioned) actually make your customers look dirtier or dingy, how are you succeeding in making your customer look good? If your company takes a low maintenance floor and turns it into a high maintenance one, how can you justify your value to the customer?
Stone is different than carpet, wood or vinyl – it’s the best-looking, lowest-maintenance floor covering available. If maintenance staff and janitorial contractors become educated on the ease of care of stone surfaces, they can make more money from their contracts.
Of course, customers will feel better about their better-looking businesses, and stone suppliers will sell more stone. And, of course, they'll be dancing in the streets and rejoicing in the boulevards because commercial stone care gets done right.
Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.
Tom McNall is founder and owner of Great Northern Stone Care, a Huron Park, Ontario-based stone-cleaning and -restoration company servicing all of southern Ontario. Tom also offers corporate and private consultation and serves as a trainer for the Marble Institute of America.