Tips for Keeping Terrazzo Floors Looking Great
Contributed by Lauren Belskie, Imperial Dade
Acknowledged for its longevity and longevity, terrazzo flooring is extremely typical in schools, universities, office properties, airports, retail shops, and other public business facilities. Irrespective of its acceptance, terrazzo flooring is frequently not cleaned and preserved effectively, top to irreversible destruction this kind of as staining, cracking, chipping and other concerns, all of which reduce the total daily life of the floor and price tag facility professionals additional dollars.
Fortunately, a single of the major gains of terrazzo is that it is lower maintenance and quick to retain (with only a couple of very simple processes) when performed appropriately. The issue is, that from time to time folks assimilate minimal routine maintenance with no servicing, and which is not the situation. Terrazzo flooring, whilst reduced servicing, does have to have a handful of issues to retain it shiny.
Cleaning Precautions
Though really durable, terrazzo flooring is susceptible to harsh cleaners and sealers. Facility cleaning professionals ought to practice team to usually use cleansing merchandise with a neutral pH.
Solutions to stay clear of on terrazzo flooring include things like:
• Ammonia-Based Detergents
• Acid-Based Detergents
• Alkaline Flooring Strippers
• All-Intent Cleaning Products
With the precautions for cleansing and terrazzo at the forefront of cleaning selections, underneath opinions how to maintain a terrazzo ground.
Upkeep Schedule
Like any other flooring form and upkeep routine, terrazzo flooring call for daily, periodic (or interim), and restorative cleaning.
Every day Terrazzo Floor Treatment Specifications — Each day floor routine maintenance, as the identify states, is designed to be done every working day. The aim of daily floor care is to continue to keep flooring seeking excellent by lowering hurt because of to reliable foot traffic and outdoor soil.
For every day treatment, terrazzo flooring should be dust mopped. Dust mopping eliminates sand, dust and other soils brought in through foot site visitors. It is a low-price course of action that requires minimum labor but can have a profound impact on extending the everyday living of terrazzo flooring. Leaving driving abrasive soils, grit, and other grime can scratch and boring flooring resulting in costly and at times even irreparable harm.
This is the most critical stage in just about any good quality flooring routine maintenance program, not just when maintaining terrazzo floors. In this article are a number of tips for facility cleaning groups looking for achievements in dust mopping:
• Find the largest dust mop to accommodate the location. For case in point, in tiny, congested spots, decide on a more compact mop this sort of as the 8-inch or 12-inch dust mop. In substantial, open up places, pick larger sized dust mops these kinds of as the 48-inch, 60-inch, or 72-inch dust mop.
• Microfiber dust mops give greater cleaning efficacy over classic dust mops by trapping and made up of far more soils and contaminants.
• Do not clear away the dust mop from the surface of the floor through the method. Lifting and shaking the mop off of the flooring can lead to filth and other particles which were eradicated from the floor to come to be airborne. It can also outcome in lessened soil removing.
Throughout everyday cleansing and routine maintenance, cleansing employees may possibly also be dealing with stains or scuff marks. To take away stubborn stains and scuff marks, terrazzo should be spot cleaned with a neutral pH cleaner diluted in warm water. Guidelines to achive:
• Always observe the manufacturer’s guidelines for suitable dilution and usage.
• Let the ground cleaner dwell for the appropriate amount of time. Allowing the cleansing answer to keep on being moist on the flooring for the specified time period of time will aid penetrate and loosen soils.
If scuff marks are nonetheless current after cleaning, a flooring device with a buffing pad (white or bubblegum colored) can be utilised to clear away the remaining scuff residue.
Relying on the flooring finish utilized to the terrazzo, it may also need everyday burnishing. In normal, flooring end is chosen based mostly on the building’s servicing capabilities. This suggests, if the methods are available for every day burnishing, a softer floor finish is preferred.
For services with much less assets, a tougher floor end is chosen. These hard finishes do not need to have to be burnished every working day and can even now keep a stage of gloss.
In addition to each day maintenance, terrazzo floors must be periodically maintained with far more aggressive cleaning strategies.
Periodic (Interim) terrazzo Floor Care Requirements — Periodic routine maintenance, also acknowledged as interim maintenance, should be done in addition to each day upkeep. This is not executed day by day but on an as-needed foundation.
Contrary to day-to-day routine maintenance, periodic treatments are meant to enable convey again the shine of hard flooring. It is also utilised to reduce the will need for extra labor and time-intense restorative care.
When it is popular to think that with everyday routine maintenance, facility supervisors and cleaning staff members can stay clear of restorative treatment, this is a untrue pretense. Even with the best everyday care, interim routine maintenance techniques are necessary to maintenance ground visual appearance and existence.
To restore the shine of terrazzo floors, carry out periodic scrubbing. To do this, use a floor machine and neutral cleaner or an autoscrubber.
The frequency in which a facility will want to scrub terrazzo flooring will rely on the foot site visitors in the facility and the visual appeal of the floor. If buildup is noticed, it is time to scrub the flooring. For some, this will be every several times or once a 7 days, when for some others, this may be after a thirty day period.
After scrubbing, terrazzo flooring can be buffed to raise glow. If scrubbing is not returning the wanted seem, it may be time to polish or restore terrazzo flooring.
Restorative Terrazzo Flooring Care Demands — Restorative flooring care is the third and ultimate element of a floor care upkeep plan. It is performed to mend harm and restore ground finish when it has recognizable have on and tear that is no more time solved with periodic scrubbing and cleaning.
Restorative ground care methods are the most time-consuming and labor intensive, nevertheless, they are only performed when or two times a yr. To restore terrazzo floors, there are two solutions: sprucing or a strip and complete.
Like normal stone, terrazzo will profit from periodic polishing.
Ahead of polishing, any complete really should be eliminated. Then polishing need to be executed employing a floor equipment and a pad made up of great diamond grits. Pads created with this revolutionary technology function micro-engineered diamonds that swiftly lower and glow the purely natural beauty of the stone. Once the flooring is polished, it really should be coated with a ground protector.
Stripping and refinishing should be done every year or semiannually based on foot targeted traffic and flooring overall look.
All through a strip and end, the aged sealer and complete are entirely stripped from the floor. Then new levels of complete are used. As outlined, the end variety is primarily based on the desire of the facility — typically based on maintenance capabilities. Abide by the manufacturer’s instructions for floor end application.
Terrazzo flooring can, and will, previous a life time with the proper items and routine maintenance methods.
Lauren Belskie is a main contributor and the main editor for the Imperial Dade Learning Heart, a system created to solution typical concerns, supply insights on developments and offer you imaginative options to assist businesses develop safer, more healthy, and cleaner amenities. She is the Internet marketing Functions Manager at Imperial Dade, generating posts, movies, trainings, and other educational written content specific to the janitorial services market place.
