For a more tough, high-performance and durable floor, commercial and other business industries opt for epoxy flooring. This type of flooring can be applied in several areas — garage floors, store floors, factory and warehouse floors, hospitals, cafeterias, and many other more. It is widely utilized in various industries.
Its excellent resistance makes it a great choice for a flooring surface. When machinery and other large equipment are being continuously moved around on the floor, epoxy flooring will still maintain a clean and glossy finish.
Epoxy flooring is actually pretty easy to maintain and to be kept clean. As a matter of fact, one of the primary benefits of having this type of flooring is its ease of maintenance. You just need to use the right materials and cleaners to ensure that it will last long and not reduce the dulling. Keeping them clean only requires you to always remove the dirt and stains on the surface, to spot clean without using cleaners with soap and acids, and to protect them from heavy damage. Read on to learn more.
Keep the Floors Dirt Free
Though epoxy floors are tough and hard-wearing, if dirt and grit are embedded on the flooring surface and weren’t able to be cleaned immediately, they might cause damage and leave scratches. This is not impossible to happen especially if you are moving machinery and heavy-duty equipment around, dragging them on the floor.
To prevent these scratches and damages from happening, it is recommended to clean on a regular basis, removing all the sand and dirt off the floor as much as possible. The best way to do this is to use a broom to sweep at smaller areas, and an industrial floor sweeper for larger spaces. Sweep away any loose debris around the area. You can also use a vacuum with soft brushes so it will not cause damage if you vacuum the floors everyday.
No matter how durable your epoxy floors are, they can still be worn out if not cleaned properly. For this reason, it is very important to always ensure that the floors are dirt free.
Spot Cleaning
For some people, cleaning everyday would be time-consuming, especially if you don’t hire someone to clean your epoxy floorings for you. With this, the best option would be to spot clean the surfaces that need help. Instead of cleaning the entire area on a daily basis, it is better to focus on those parts you think need extra washing and polishing.
There would be cases that excessive dirt and tough stains in your epoxy flooring are very visible and feel very impossible to clean. What you need to do first is to remove anything that can block you from cleaning properly. Then sweep the floor by using a soft broom to remove the excess dirt, followed by using vacuum. After that, carefully remove all the dirt from the area by mopping them with warm water. Epoxy floors are water-resistant, so they are quite fast to clean.
Whenever there are visible stains, only use a soft scrubbing pad to remove them, and not scrub them too hard. In cases of rust stains, which are very common to be seen in garages and areas that contain heavy equipment, they can also be removed with scrubbing pads. However, if they cannot be taken off easily, there are rust removing agents available for a faster removal.
Removing Stains Off the Floor
Part of keeping the epoxy floors clean should always include the swift removal of stains. The stains that spilled liquid causes may risk the quality of the floor.
Before proceeding to the cleaning part, you must first know how long the stain has been on the floor. For those large stains that cannot be easily removed or have been on the floor for a while now, you must use the cleaning solution that you will make with ammonia and water. How to create this will be discussed further in this article.
As mentioned earlier, rust stains should be scrubbed softly with scrubbing pads or soft brushes and warm water. Using hard materials to scrub the rust might be harsh and can cause further damage on the floor.
Though one of the features of epoxy flooring includes its resistance to stains, liquids like gas, motor oils, and other chemicals can still damage them if retained on the surface for too long. Therefore, they must be cleaned up as soon as possible if these have spilled on your floors.
Avoid Using Cleaners With Soaps or Acids
When cleaning your epoxy flooring, you should also consider what kind of cleaner you will use to ensure that the quality of the epoxy will not be put into risk. Soaps and those cleaners containing acids should be avoided because they can damage the floors.
Using soap can leave streak marks and hazy film on the floor which kind of obstructs the shine of the surface. You can use them, but you have to rinse them with good clean water. Though still, it is better to look for an alternative. Using soap-based cleaners can also make the floor more slippery when it gets wet, which we avoid as it may cause serious accidents.
Cleaners that contain acids such as citrus cleaners or vinegar should also be avoided since they leave residues that can gradually remove the shine and the glossy finish of epoxy, ruining its quality.
For an effective cleanser that can retain the quality of the epoxy flooring, you could try to create your own cleaning solution by mixing a half cup of ammonia with warm water. The correct ratio of the solution would be 4 to 5 ounces of ammonia per gallon of water. With a scrubbing pad or a mop, you can easily clean and remove the dirt and stains that cannot be done with a simple water mop-job. Remember to not make a concentrated mixture since it can remove the epoxy coating off the floor.
Protect the Floor from Damages
For your epoxy flooring to last long, you should not just keep them cleaned regularly, but also have them protected. The best way to do this is to use mats and plywood as an extra platform on your floor. It is recommended especially when you are about to move machines or heavy equipment around, since it will not cause damage and scratches on the floor.
Welding areas with epoxy flooring must have welding mats placed to protect the floor from the heat and splatters. For those areas which motorcycles usually park, it is better to lay a small mat under the bike stand to shield the floor from scratches. It is also suggested to place a walk-off mat at entrances and exits to wipe off the dirt that came from the outside before entering.
Key Takeaway
Epoxy flooring is indeed one of the best choices in coating the floors because of its ease of maintenance. It is simple to clean because you can just wipe off the dirt with soft cleaning materials and then they are as good and as shiny as when it was newly applied. The only catch on this is to have it cleaned regularly to maintain its gloss and shiny finish for a longer period of time.
Though epoxy flooring is said to be durable, hard-wearing, and heavy-duty, you must still not take advantage of it and protect them as if they are delicate and easy to wear off. You must not neglect them even if cleaning the surface may just seem simple. Because if not maintained properly, they could only last for a short period of time.
Always remember that to keep the flooring clean, you just have to remove all the dirt and stains by using the appropriate materials and cleaning solutions, and protect them from heavy damages. In this way, you can enjoy long-lasting and hard-wearing floors, looking as good as the day it was just installed.
