WHY CLEAN YOUR FLOOR?

Appearance: Your floor will look its best when it is clean. By installing a polymeric floor in your facility, you are telling people that you care about your image. By instituting a scheduled cleaning program, the floor will continue to look and perform as it did when it was first installed.

Safety: No matter how aggressive the texture of your floor, if it is not cleaned properly, it can present a slip hazard. Emulsifying, rinsing and drying your floor properly will reduce the risk of a slip and fall incident.

Service Life: The lifetime of your floor will depend upon how well you clean it. Particularly in aggressive use areas, (i.e. kitchens and machine shops) contaminants such as oil, dirt and grease work with water and bacteria to attack your floor. This will lead to damage of the floor.

FLOOR CLEANING PROCESS:

The best ways to clean our floors are to use the recommended cleaning product and follow a six-step process. (Equipment needs vary between small and medium/large floor areas.)

1. Sweeping – Always sweep the floor thoroughly before cleaning.
2. Application – Apply the cleaning product on the floor surface.
3. Dwell Time – Let the cleaning product stand on the surface to allow time to emulsify foreign material.
4. Agitation – Movement of the cleaning product with a piece of equipment on the floor surface to aid in the release of foreign material.
5. Removal – Removing the cleaning product from the surface of the floor.
6. Rinsing - Rinsing the floor with clean water and removing the rinse water from the floor.

CLEANING EQUIPMENT:

WALL CLEANING PROCESS:

1. Application – Apply a 1:64 dilution rate with hot water while using a deck brush, foamer/sprayer or power washer.
2. Scrub walls with deck brush.
3. Rinse walls with clean water.

NOTES:
Never use a mop to clean a floor that is greasy or oily. Make sure the pads or brushes on the automatic scrubber are in good shape. Pads should be red or blue 3M cleaning pads or similar. Brushes should be nylon non-abrasive Malish 8129 series or a similar medium flex bristle brush. When using a deck brush, choose a medium/stiff bristle. When using a rotary floor machine, use a tan or red 3M pad or similar. When removing solution with a squeegee, use a soft, neoprene squeegee. Do Not use a water spray to remove cleaning solution from the floor because it will over-dilute the solution and cause grease and oil to fall back onto the floor. Wax strippers should never be used on a Blendex floor. Through proper training and education, unnecessary wear of the floor, such as forklift spin and skid marks, can be avoided. Spills should be cleaned up immediately to prevent staining and as a safety precaution. Surfaces should be adequately protected when moving heavy equipment across the floor.

RECOMMENDED CLEANING PRODUCTS
Determining the correct cleaning product for your Blendex floor is based upon the amount and type of soiling the floor receives. We have divided these into three types, and recommended a cleaning product for each instance:

Blendguard HD Cleaner is a heavy-duty alkaline floor cleaner designed to remove protein or crude based soils. As it cleans, it lays down a transparent layer of molecules that increase coefficient of friction.

Blendguard 1313 HD Cleaner is a heavy duty, highly alkaline floor cleaner designed to remove machine and crude oil from concrete. Please refer to the Blendguard 1313 HD Cleaner Product Data Sheet for more details and instructions for use.

HOW TO CLEAN YOUR FLOOR

General Cleaning:
Sweep floor to remove loose debris. Dilute, mix and apply floor cleaner according to guidelines. Allow solution to dwell on floor 10-15 minutes and then scrub floor. Remove cleaning solution, rinse floor with clean water, and remove water from the floor.

Deep Cleaning
Apply cleaning solution. Agitate thoroughly and let stand for ten to fifteen minutes while keeping the area wet with cleaning solution. If necessary, agitate again. Remove solution, rinse area thoroughly with clean water and remove water from the floor. If the floor has a slippery feel after it has dried, the floor has not been cleaned properly!

Scratches/Damage
Cuts, gouges and rubber burns such as those caused by forklifts or sliding heavy equipment across the floor can damage a floor. If this occurs, it should be addressed by contacting an approved Blendguard installer to make the necessary repairs.

WHEN TO CLEAN YOUR FLOOR

Blendguard floors are designed for and used in heavy traffic areas that typically accumulate foreign matter. Because of this, the recommended maintenance schedule for most areas is once or twice daily cleaning and regular “touch-ups” for spills. Less frequent cleaning of these areas results in a buildup of foreign matter, which diminishes the Appearance, Safety and Service Life of the floor.

PITTING: As normal wear occurs, some of the aggregate is removed or fractured from the polymer network. These areas become a hiding place for bacteria that will grow and generate strong organic acid by-products that will form pits if not cleaned properly. Our MMA products develop to full cure in one hour, and full cure for most epoxy and urethane systems is about 7 days at 68°F. Avoid chemical spills and full traffic during cure period. Premature exposure may cause permanent staining or discoloration. The lower the room temperature, the longer the cure time. Do Not use abrasive cleaning methods during the first week after installation.

For further technical assistance regarding this guide, please call Blendex Industrial Corporation Technical Services at (631)225-1313.