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| Thursday, July 29, 2010 |
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| [Friday, July 21, 2006] |
| A facility wants us to scrub and refinish their 10,000 square foot complex. The floor is VCT. Most of the floor is in good shape but for a small area near the entrance, which may have to be stripped. What is the best way to strip a small section and blend it in to match the total job?
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| Hard & Resilient Floor Care - Richard Pittman |
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You may want to heavy scrub the entry area just to see how well it cleans up. This will better show the floor’s condition. Clearly, if the finish is totally worn off in spots and/or the floor is discolored, you know a strip is required.
You should scrub back three feet or so from the area to be stripped, to give yourself a clean surface to match, and to prevent later splashing your scrub solution onto the newly refinished surface. Scrub also along a nearby wall that is especially clean and compare the two areas. After you apply rinse water heavily to both areas, the wet appearance you view will be very close to the appearance after several coats of finish. Use matting to prevent stripper from being tracked onto the adjacent tiles as you work.
You can achieve a clean mating edge by masking the area to be stripped, positioning cardboard or plastic to prevent the stripper solution from splashing onto the adjacent tile. After stripping the smaller area, remove the masking tape and scrape or mop the edge to provide a clean, smooth surface.
The line of demarcation can be taped a second time to produce a clean edge for the fresh floor finish. You can not leave the same tape in place for both stripping and refinishing as it will always leak out stripper and damage your new finish. Carefully apply coats to the freshly stripped area until it closely matches the clean adjacent tiles. If you do use tape, remove it when the finish has dried and lightly scrape the line smooth with a razor blade angled 45 degrees and pulled toward you. When finished, scrub the remaining floor and apply however many coats you need to reach the desired appearance. Using a flat microfiber finish mop will simplify the finish application along edges and the line of demarcation.
Gary Clipperton
National Pro Clean Corp.
(719) 598-5112
www.nationalproclean.com
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| ICAN representative |
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