10 Mistakes In Floor Stripping That’ll Wreck Your Floors

Floor stripping is a process that removes old wax, dirt, and debris found on your floors. What type of floors get waxed? Typically vinyl, linoleum and hardwood floors get waxed on a regular basis to keep them looking great. Stripping and waxing these types of floors are labor intensive and even the professionals make mistakes when stripping floors.

We can avoid many of these mistakes. Here are the top 7 mistakes that people make when stripping your floors.

1  Where you learned to strip a floor

You learned how to strip a floor at your workplace or in a technical school, but you have not stripped your customer’s floor yet. Each floor is different and poses a unique set of challenges. Make sure you scope out the floor before you start stripping to avoid mistakes. Stripping a floor is a learned skill.

2 Know what type of floor it is

Another big mistake people make is not knowing what type of floor they are going to be stripping the wax off of. The chemicals and equipment used for a VCT floor may not be the correct tools for a stone floor. Know what type of floor first!

3 Check your tools

This is a common occurrence with plumbers and contractors. They get to the job site and don’t have the right tools for the job. Make sure before you leave your shop that you have the right tools for the job. The advantage you have is you already know what type of floor it is and how to treat it because you scoped it out ahead of time.

4 Clean your equipment

Make sure you clean your equipment! The last you want to do it strip a floor with a dirty, grungy mop that you have used on 3 other jobs before this one. Get a clean mop and always use a clean equipment before starting the job.

5 Safety, Safety, Safety

Always wear the proper safety equipment when cleaning and working with chemicals. OSHA mandates this in any work environment.  Here is a link to check what you need. OSHA  Make sure you have the proper gloves, goggles, stripper (safety) slippers and non-slip shoes.

6 No Signage

This is a common problem too. When you are stripping a floor, make sure you have all of the proper signage in and around your work area to let people know that you are working on wet slippery surfaces.

7 Tackling to much

Always section off a large work area. If you have a very large floor to strip like a basketball court, divide it up into sections and tackle them one at a time.

If you don’t have the knowledge, equipment or staff to safely strip the floors in your building, give us a call at Grimebusters, Inc. We have years of experience and have worked with hundreds of customers throughout the St. Louis, Missouri and Belleville, Illinois region.