How To Properly Maintain Your New Commercial Epoxy Floor

Well-maintained commercial epoxy flooring can provide your business with plenty of benefits. It looks great, is easy to clean and the high initial cost is often offset by increased floor life. A properly installed epoxy floor will last many times longer than most other types of commercial flooring.

It doesn’t matter how good your epoxy floor looks if it is dirty. Cleaning your new epoxy floor as soon as possible is critical to its appearance and long-term durability. A dirty epoxy floor will absorb more traffic and cause the coating to wear prematurely, so you want to keep up with proper cleaning right away.

Epoxy can hold a lot of dirt, even a clean-looking floor can contain grease, scraps from food service, or other contaminants that may soil an unprotected surface. These stains have penetrated deep into the concrete causing damage to the substrate underneath the film finish. This type of staining cannot be removed without removing all or part of this topmost layer. As a result, these types of stains require special care when you are cleaning your epoxy floor.

First, you need a good cleaner. Your cleaner should be acidic and contain no wax or ammonia. Cleaners containing ammonia will damage the coating on the epoxy flooring. Wax contains oils that can cause white stains, so it is best to stay away from cleaners that contain waxes or other similar ingredients.

In addition to choosing an appropriate cleaning product, there are some very important safety precautions to take when cleaning your new epoxy floor: – Avoid using a power washer for routine maintenance duties. Although a power washer can be useful for removing dirt and stains, you should never use a pressure washer for routine cleaning. – Never allow soap, oil, or any other chemicals intended to be used on automobile tires, driveways, or similar surfaces near your epoxy floor. The acids and other chemicals found in these products will damage an unprotected surface such as concrete.

• Be sure to sweep up all loose dirt and debris before applying any cleaner to the floor. Do not wet mop the floor if there is loose debris that could scratch or dull the finish when you are mopping it with water.
• Only damp mop your epoxy flooring using clean water. Using dirty water can result in unsightly film marks on the surface of your floor.
• Make sure employees and visitors are aware that they should not use the restroom or smoking areas in the immediate vicinity of your epoxy floor. Chemicals from these locations can damage an unprotected surface such as concrete. Once you have chosen a good product to clean with and taken the necessary safety precautions, you need to learn how to properly clean your new commercial epoxy flooring. First, sweep up any loose dirt from the surface before wetting it with water. A damp mop is best for cleaning a bare epoxy floor but a microfiber dust mop works well when used for this purpose also. Using a pressure washer to clean an unfinished or unsealed epoxy floor will cause etching or severe dulling of the finish.
• Rinse any residue from the floor with clean water and allow to dry before applying a coat of sealer. – Never use a pressure washer for routine cleaning, it will damage an unprotected surface such as concrete.

In addition to sweeping loose debris from the work area, make sure employees and visitors are aware that they should not use the restroom or smoking areas in the immediate vicinity of your epoxy flooring. Chemicals from these locations can damage an unprotected surface such as concrete if allowed to come into contact with them. If you keep up with proper cleaning and maintenance procedures, your epoxy floors will last 4-5 times longer than other types of commercial flooring.