Stained Acid Edged Concrete Floor Cleaning (Interior)

A commercial client asked us to clean their restaurant tile floor.  The floor was an acid edged concrete floor. 

Acid edged concrete flooring is a very economical solution to create a unique flooring look by optimizing staining and acid washing.  Ones the concrete floor was stained and acid wash are applied to give it a unique free flowing antique but modern look.  The floor is then capped with an epoxy coating or a polyurethane coating. This coating gives it a hard and lasting cap.  But, it doesn't end there.  If the acid edging is installed properly, the contractor would have installed with the initial application three (3) or four (4) applications of flooring finish or sometimes referred to as floor wax. 

All though the floor is considered hard and resilient, it still needs some TLC.  Without manufacturers recommended maintenance, the applied floor wax will wear off in due time depending on the traffic and use of the facility.  As you can imagine, a restaurant has plenty of foot traffic, food and beverage spillage, and chemical floor mopping’s. 

Ones the floor wax has worn, the epoxy or polyurethane is unprotected and exposed to wear and tear.  Although the stained acid washed floor is protected by this finish, they are no untouchable for deterioration.  Harsh cleaning chemical cleanings (like Clorox, Pine-Sol, acids, etc.) and alcoholic beverages spills have the tendency to wear away these finishes.  As the finish is in distress, the stained aced wash finish is exposed to the elements.  Be mindful, stains applied to concrete only penetrated 1/32 of an inch into the concrete matrix.

 

To maintain this type of floor, one needs to treat it just like a vinyl composition tile (VCT) floor.  Residentially one needs to clean and reseal (wax) the floor about every three (3) months.  In commercial settings, the floor may need to be treated more frequently (i.e. every month) depending on the use of the facility.  Commercially, our public school system has initiated a pretty good maintenance program. They follow the cleaning and waxing routinely and they completely strip the floor ones and sometimes twice a year and then reseal their VCT floors with three (3) new layers floor finish (wax).

Residentail Glue Down Carpet Cleaning

Q: A question came up today during a visit to a friend about his carpet which was glued down due to the uneven concrete floors in his basement. He asked me how do we clean this carpet without damaging it or the glue hold the carpet down?

A: If you know you should try to find out what your manufacturer recommends as to a cleaning process. Some may recommend a dry cleaning process. In this case, you will need to get a professional cleaning service. Should they recommend a wet cleaning (shampoo, steam, etc.) you need to make sure the carpet is to clean it as dry as possible. If you don't have the manufacturer's recommendations available, I would suggest a wet cleaning method because the majority of the daily soil contaminants are water soluble.

If you go the wet route, please be mindful to use as little water as possible. Carpet which is directly glued to a concrete subfloor does not breathe like wood subflooring.  And, if you are on or below grade, the concrete can also emit its own moisture (water vapor emission). So when you wet clean a carpet you are adding moisture to that environment. Excess moisture can cause mold, delaminate the carpet, cause spots/stains to reappear, and can cause the glue to fail (many adhesive can be cleaned from tools and flooring with warm or soapy water).

There are two methods to wet cleaning carpet:
   (1) rotary shampoo and
   (2) steam extraction method
The steam extraction method is more comonly used these days.  The application shoots a high powered stream or jet of warm/hot water into the carpet. As one walks backwards dragging the equipment, it sucks the excess water up. This method is either done with portable equipment that you bring into your home (this is the type that is available at most grocery or drug stores) or truck mount equipment where just the hoses are brought into the home. The portable equipment suction is many times weaker and generally leaves the carpet too wet. The truck mount is what is recommend for most carpet. We don't recommend you doing this yourself,  because the stream of water is under pressure and is not as easily to control as you would think and may spread more mositure than you really need, even though the suction is greater.