Cleaning, Maintenance & Aftercare Guidelines
Whilst installing suitable and functional flooring systems for any facility is one of the most critical activities, cleaning and maintaining them is of the same importance for any environment to ensure the floors are always delivering their intended performance and aesthetics. The traditional continuous routine sweeping and light scrubbing in addition to minor occasional spot cleaning should suffice. Duphill proudly introduces the ultimate cleaning and maintenance guidelines to guarantee your floors and walls are portraying their optimum performance and attractive appearance.
Each facility has its specific operations and activities schedules. Those schedules define the frequency and appropriate cleaning techniques.
Sweeping
Whilst people might underestimate the importance of sweeping, it is considered the most common and most efficient cleaning technique. Sweeping your floors once or more daily using a broom or soft-bristled sweeper. As daily operations in facilities generate extensive amounts of dust, debris and production remains, which act as aggressive abrasives to the floor surface under the weight of traffic of different vehicles being pallet trolleys, forklifts, VNAs (Very Narrow Aisle Systems), etc… a carefully scheduled sweeping regime ensures maintaining the floor surface at its original state and prolongs the period required for recoating the floors.
Cleaning Detergent
Choosing the most suitable cleaning detergent is directly linked to the nature of contamination on your surface. The most commonly used ones are a dilute solution of water mixed with a pH 7.0 (Neutral) or slightly alkaline, non-residual detergent. This should always be your starting point. For harsher types of contamination move on to more aggressive detergents to locally treat the contamination. Ensure you consult your Duphill technical representative about your floors chemical resistance prior to selecting detergents of a lower pH value (higher alkalinity).
Scrubbing
Commonly, the use of a mop and bucket, a soft bristled brush or scrubbing machine is sufficient for treating locally contaminated areas. You may need to allow the detergent to penetrate the floors for a few minutes or as per the detergent’s manufacturer’s instructions in areas where harsher contaminations exist. Stronger contaminations may dictate applying several scrubbing passes to ensure complete removal. It is critical to immediately rinse the floors thoroughly with fresh water after applying the cleaning detergent using wet vacuum or squeegee-to-drain after the use of any detergent. All residues should be completely swept off to eliminate slip/fall hazards and hence the floor needs to be allowed to dry before resuming normal operations. The frequency of scheduling the scrubbing regime is completely dependant on the level of traffic the floors are subjected to, however the common recommendation is to scrub the floors once a week.
High Pressure Wash
The use of high-pressure washing equipment is common in most operational facilities. For all types of floors using water at 65° C is safe for the integrity of the floor. It is critical to consult Duphill’s technical team about higher water temperatures used in high-pressure washing equipment to understand your floor’s temperature resistance and if the proposed water temperature presents any threat to the floor’s integrity.
Periodic Recoat
After your floors have been exposed to an immense amount of wear and tear, applying a layer of coating might be the solution to rejuvenate your floors and successfully add a few years into their service years. In addition to renewing the floor aesthetics, the additional coat will ensure the floors are completely sealed and hide any trace of surface damage or contamination. Consult your Duphill technical representative about the suitable floor sealers to use for your floors and the appropriate preparation method for an ironclad bond between the existing floors and the overcoat sealer.
Anti-Microbial Behaviour
It is important to confirm that the anti-microbial capability offered by Duphill’s hygienic floors are inherent into the flooring system build-up and remain unaffected by floor stains, spillages or surface scratches. Anti-microbial capabilities are of guaranteed functionality as long as the hygienic floors are intact.
| Contamination Type | Description | Recommended Treatment |
| Stains | Stains are a common occurrence in most operational facilities, they could result from dust, semi solid food spills, blood, soil or accumulated dirt of any nature. Treatment of stains vary depending on the nature and age of the stain. | 1. Wear the appropriate hand and eye protection equipment. 2. Use a flat plastic tool to attempt to remove dry foreign material off the floors, taking care not to abrade the floors to scratching. 3. Apply the dilute solution of water and mild detergent and allow it to penetrate the floors for up to five minutes or as per the manufacturer’s recommendations. 4. Attempt to remove the stains and remaining stain residues from the floors. |
| Spillages | Liquid spillages can cause a slip/fall hazard and should be treated immediately. Installing a flooring system with chemical resistance that is able to withstand your facilities common spillages is a necessity. Having stated that, it is critical to treat your chemical spillages depending on their nature, concentration and the exposure duration as they may cause potential damage to your flooring system. Concentrated acids, caustics and solvents are considered the most aggressive spillages and should be attended to immediately. | 1. Avoid spreading of the spillage. 2. Wipe the spillage using circular motion. 3. Scrub the spillage area with a dilute solution of water and mild detergent. 4. Wash the floors well with fresh water until thoroughly clean. 5. Vacuum or squeegee to drain all the water. 6. If any chemical waste exists, ensure disposal following the environmental recommendations. |
| Surface Scratches or Gouges | Dragging wooden or plastic pallets on operational floors is one of the most threatening behaviours to the integrity of the floor surface. The damage to the floor surface is directly proportional to the weight and the sharpness of the dragged item. This behaviour should be completely avoided on all kinds of floors. The rectification method is depending on the depth of the scratch or severity of the gouge. | 1. Using a soft bristled brush, scrub the floors with a dilute solution of water and mild detergent. 2. Place a little amount of furniture polish in the centre of a lint-free cloth. Rub the scratched area on the floors gently in circular motion with the cloth until you can no longer feel the scratch to the surrounding area. 3. Use a wet fine grit sanding pad to remove deeper scratches from the floors until the edges of the scratch disappear and the surface retains its smoothness. 4. Should the above steps fail to recover the scratch and depending on the spreading of the scratches on the floor, your floors might require proper mechanical repair and applying an overcoat to return to its original state. |
| Rubber and other plasticizer marks | Rubber or tire marks often occur as a result of chemicals “plasticizers” used in the manufacturing of rubber wheels. Depending on the state of the wheels and the duration of contact between the wheels and the floors, the stains left behind on the floors are either removable or permanent. | 1. Use the same cleaning regime as adopted for dry stains. 2. Should the above fails, your floors might require proper mechanical repair and applying an overcoat to return to its original state. |
| Table 1. Types of contamination and treatment methods | ||
Disclaimer:
All the statements and recommendations stated in this article are based on previous experiences that are thought to be extremely reliable. The liability of using a certain product, cleaning or rectification method is the sole responsibility of the user. The application of any of the methods being beyond the control of the Service provider or Manufacturer, neither the Service provider nor Manufacturer make any warranty, expressed or implied, as to results or hazards from its use. Please read the safety instructions of any product before use.