Floor finish provides a coating to your floor that protects the original floor surface from high traffic wear and tear. It provides excellent slip resistance to a floor, on top of adding a brilliant shine. Finishes are essential in promoting a safe and clean environment. These products are used by facility janitorial staff, and commercial cleaning services in places such as; hospitals, schools, grocery stores, retail stores, malls, office buildings and even manufacturing plants. When used correctly floor finish will add safety, shine and longevity to the floor making it a great investment for facility maintenance.

Floor finish is synthetic and has its advantages over traditional floor wax. Floor finishes are primarily comprised of several components including acrylic polymers, alkali- soluble resins, surfactants, plasticizers and wax emulsion. Each of these components contributes to the different qualities of floor finish from the shine and slip resistance to durability.

Like any floor, they still need to be swept and mopped to keep them clean. Beyond routine cleaning, nothing needs to be done to the floor finish for 18 months or more. The reapplication process includes a minor scrub of the floor, and then a coat of finish applied again.

How to Apply Floor Finish

Procedure:
Prior to finishing or reapplication, remove all dust and debris, either through a scrubbing or stripping procedure.

• 1. Inspect Floor- Make sure that the floor is thoroughly clean and dry.
• 2. Prepare Area- Set up “Wet Floor” signs in public areas.
• 3. Place a clean towel at your entrance/exit doorway. This helps in reducing sand & grit from tracking onto your floor during the finish process.
• 4. Place a new trash liner in your mop bucket and allow excess to drape over the side of the bucket, this will line the inside of the mop bucket. This process will save clean-up time and avoid contaminating your floor finish.
• 5. Pour appropriate floor finish into lined mop bucket.
• 6. Place a clean mop wringer onto the bucket.
• 7. Place your finish mop into bucket and GENTLY wring out excess material. This will remove all excess finish while eliminating any foam build-up in the bucket. Otherwise, you could end up with bubbles in the floor finish.
• 8. Apply a thin coat to the perimeter of the area to be finished.
• 9. Begin applying the finish in a “figure eight motion”. The figure eight motion allows for a 20-25% overlap; therefore leaving no missed spots. The first coat should be applied in a “north to south” direction and additional coats should be alternated in “east to west” and vice versa on subsequent coats. This will eliminate any “missed” spots on the floor.
• 10. Allow floor finish to dry; approximate dry times vary between 20-25 minutes between coats of finish. A general rule of thumb is, apply enough even coats so the floor looks wet when it is dry.

Source: Janico Blog, Tricks of the Trade, Applying Floor Finish