A Lot of Labor Involved

Our recent poll asked how long it took our crew to strip the Commons and related areas last summer.  The answer, two weeks. 

Normally it takes about three people three to four days to scrub all these areas and re-coat them with wax.  The steps involved are as follows:  1) Remove all furniture from the area, 2) Sweep all areas, 3) Lay a cleaning solution on the floor (in sections since you can't do it all at once), 4) Scrub those areas with a scrubber and pads made for scrubbing, 5) Wet-vac up all the solution (also using a scraper or other pads to hand work areas that the scrubber didn't get including the use of a Doodle-Bug which is a small rectangular pad attached to a handle used to scrub corners and edges), 6) Mop the entire area with clear water, 7) Allow it all to dry thoroughly, 8) Put down three to five coats of wax waiting for each coat to dry in between.  (This process usually takes a day or more to get all coats of wax on the floor.)

When we strip a floor it takes longer.  Last summer it took our crew of six or seven people two weeks to strip and re-coat all the above mentioned areas.  The process?  Steps one and two above.  Then, instead of laying a cleaning solution, we lay a stripping solution which liquefies the old wax.  Depending on the years of buildup, we may have to strip the floor three and sometimes four times going through each step every time until we reach the surface of the floor void of wax.  During this process, the floor is EXTREMELY slippery.  Falls are not uncommon, so extreme safety and care is needed.  After the floors have been stripped down (steps four through six being done after each stripping) then we finish up with steps seven and eight.  Thus, if we had to strip a floor say three times, we would actually have gone over the same floor using different steps 20 - 25 times before we are finished.  Now you can see why stripping takes so much time and why we dislike this particular cleaning aspect so much.  Of course, when we're done it looks beautiful, but the work involved is incredible. 

So, the next time you see shiny floors whether after scrubbing or stripping, think about the amount of work involved to get it there!