Part 1: Tips for Testing New Floor Care Products to Prepare for Summer Floor Maintenance in K-12 Schools
With the school year coming to a close, it’s time to evaluate how well your current floor care system and routine are doing based on the daily wear and tear your floor withstands every day. If you’re ready to make a change, consider testing new floor care products now to ensure you have a plan in place to execute immediately when school is out of session. School breaks are the optimal time for school floor maintenance because there is limited foot traffic, enabling you to perform floor maintenance and new system testing efficiently, and with minimal disruption. It also gives you a chance to thoroughly deep clean classrooms to remove dirt, debris and other build-up that has been tracked into the facility throughout the school year. Since there is limited time for maintenance while school is in session, planning is essential to ensure floor care can be done while students are away. Below are some best practices to consider when researching, testing, and selecting new products to help your floors sparkle and shine again.
Understand Your Motivation
It’s good to think about why you want to maintain your floors and the benefits that come along with it. Maintaining your floors, especially in high traffic areas like K-12 schools, can give you a high-quality, long-lasting appearance, an increase in life of the finish and reduce the number of stripping and recoats. Protecting your investment in your flooring is an important factor during the decision-making process!
Before you begin evaluating new floor care system options, evaluate what you are looking for from a new system.
Floor Strippers, Neutralizers and Cleaners, Oh My!
There are many floor care products on the market, so it can be daunting to determine which ones are right for your school’s floors. Before implementing any new products, it’s important to do your research first. Partner with a provider that has deep category and technical expertise in floor care and can provide products that meet your needs. In addition, review all safety data sheets and product information to ensure that the products are compatible with the floors in your facility.
Consider a Comprehensive Floor Care System
To help streamline the process of incorporating new floor care products, consider an integrated floor care system. A system takes the guesswork out of mixing and matching products and equipment from multiple manufactures to help simplify the process. We recommend implementing a system that enables your facility to achieve a durable, high-gloss finish without the need for manual labor associated with conventional stripping. The floor care system you choose should simplify floor installation, maintenance and removal procedures!
Safety First
There are many factors to consider before testing unfamiliar floor products – with safety topping the list. Prior to testing, review all product instructions, safety data sheets and educate cleaning staff on how to properly use the products, tools and equipment. Products and tools have specific, unique directions that must be precisely followed to help avoid injury to the user or school staff. Furthermore, never mix floor cleaning products from different manufacturers as it may impact the efficacy of the products and could be harmful for building occupants.
Testing Floor Care Products
Communicate your plans with school staff and select a convenient time when the building has minimal occupants. In addition, ensure there is enough time for the products to cure before they will need to be utilized again, and be sure to properly block off the area with barricades and signage signaling building occupants to stay clear of the area.
Once you’ve established a convenient time and have prepared your floors for testing, we recommend following a step by step floor care process such as the plan from SC Johnson Professional here, to achieve a shiny, durable floor for your school.
Don’t Be Afraid to Try Something New
No matter your motivation for considering a new floor care system, now is the ideal time to prioritize your floor care plans. By properly researching and testing products now, you will be able to execute your plan seamlessly when the school year ends. This will ensure that your floors are shining when students and staff return. For more information about SC Johnson Professional’s full line of floor care solutions, visit here.
Ready to talk about floor care with an SC Johnson Professional representative?
