The Janitors' Closet

Wood floor restoration

Happened to be talking to my next door neighbor John while watering the lawn the other evening.  He'd noticed the red oak floors in my house (a pretty much restored 1926 bungalow in downtown Phoenix); he'd just of pulled up the 1970's shag carpet in his house, and wondered what could be done about the original wood floors underneath.  He suspected they were beyond salvaging, and had about decided to re-carpet.

I put the hose into a parched flower bed (I mentioned that this is Phoenix) and ambled next door.  A quick hit, by hand, with a bit of 150 sandpaper showed that the "permanent" stains were very surface; the glue from the carpet pad looked evil, but mostly scraped up; likewise a whole lot of paint.  (The carpet went down after a fire; the painters sent in by the insurance company figured that, with carpet going down, there was no need to be tidy).  Similarly, figuring that the carpet would not be removed in their lifetime, they were quite generous with nails (big) in the carpet tack strips, and added (just to be sure) a whole lot of staples, throughout.

All solvable.  The staple holes were small enough to be unnoticeable; the nail holes could be filled with a tinted putty.  John had a wood flooring company look at the job, and they suggested sanding with a drum sander.  No need, I thought: the wood was in good shape throughout; no reason to take of a substantial amount of it, as would a drum sander (you can only fully sand an oak floor several times before you hit the tong-and-grove part, and need to replace the floor).  A large (usually about 16" x 24") commercial sander would remove surface issues while taking off little wood.  I offered to assist (more with advice than real work); he'd have a better, less destructive job, much more affordably. After the cleaning and light sanding, I like oil based urethane.  It goes down easily, looks great, and wears quite well.  My house I refinish every several years - large dogs with large claws), but my office probably every eight or ten years.

While we do the occasional wood floor professionally (our main focus is in office cleaning Phoenix) I've mostly learned at places where I can afford to make mistakes - my home, and my 1914 vintage office.  So far, no mistakes.

Finally, I mentioned to John that he needed to get up ALL the nails and staples; any left would shred the sandpaper on the sander, at a cost of a few bucks each time.  He asked (innocently) how to insure that he's gotten all the staples up.  I suggested a lot of walking around, barefoot, on the floor....

Wood floors - I prefer maintenance to replacement

Speaking of Gyms (as I was in my last article), caught an article in one of our monthly trade journals (we provide commercial janitorial services Phoenix) about care of gym floors.  Gym floors are hardwood, are generally carefully monitored to prevent anything but soft shoe contact (one tries to avoid golf cleats), and usually have ample space for many feet of treated entry matting.  But the rule of thumb seems to be full replacement every 15 to 25 years, and a sanding every 5.  It is suggested that an annual re-coat will extend the life of the floor.

As a rule, you only need to replace a hardwood floor when you've sanded enough to weaken the structure, or have begun to expose the tongues of tongue and groove flooring (or you sand through to the basement...).  You only need to sand when you've worn through the finish and into the wood, or have put down so many coats that the floor had begun to discolor (with modern, mostly non-yellowing finishes, that takes a good many coats).  So, refinishing often seems a good idea.

Still, that seems to me a heavy replacement schedule, even with the aggressive  usage of basketball games.

Fortunately, in our office cleaning Phoenix operation,  we do a lot of floors, VCT, ceramic, stone and wood. My office is in a 1914 vintage building, featuring the original oak flooring.  It was sanded some 30 years ago, likely for the first time.  In our full building restoration a few years back, we replaced a good deal of damaged flooring, sanding the new wood to level the floor.  At the same time, we did a light screening of the existing floor (nowhere near a sanding, just enough to give the new finish something to grab on to).  I believe that is the only refinishing since the sanding 30 years back.  I used an oil-based urethane with a lambs wool applicator; as memory serves, three coats.  Still looks great, with only vacuuming, microfiber damp mopping, and treated entry matting ongoing.

Here's a history of our restoration of our commercial cleaning Phoenix offices.

Protect with entry mats

You can save a lot of money by trapping dirt at your building's entry than by using my janitor to remove it from all the nooks and crannies of the place.

Here's a good summary of types, and uses, of entry mats, from our friends at Cleaning and Maintenance Management.  About the only point I'd add is the benefit of rented, not purchased, walk-off mats - the kind that your mat company picks up every week, and replaces with a freshly laundered one.  As I stress to my commercial janitorial clients, the mat service will get the old mat much cleaner than my client can by taking it to the high pressure hose at the car-wash (they have a really big washing machine), and they treat it with a goop (the technical term) that grabs the grease, motor oil, and petroleum distillates from the asphalt parking lot.  That's stuff you don't want tracked through your building.

So go rent yourself some mats.

Warehouse floors ought be sealed

From time to time, we're called upon to deal with warehouse floor issues - staining, slipperiness, damage.   Nice if we'd been called a few years ago to prevent the problem, rather than have to explain (usually) that we can't do anything much, at least at a reasonable price.

Here's a quick article, via Cleaning & Maintenance Management, on the safety, repair, appearance and maintenance issues involved in such floors, and why one wants to seal and/or finish them initially.

We can certainly handle maintenance on concrete (and stone, ceramic, cork, terrazzo and other less than common floors), both initially and periodically.  But I'd much rather "maintain" than "restore".  And I'll bet you'd prefer that too.

"Nudge"

Several years ago, I read and much enjoyed "Nudge", by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein, respectively an economist at the University of Chicago and a Law Professor at Harvard.  Essence of their argument (from my perspective) is that, by presenting information and options, and organizing decision making processes optimally, one can gently guide ("nudge") folks into decisions that will work better for them, without applying coercion.

I provide janitorial service in Phoenix AZ.  I quote a lot of janitorial jobs where the current provider is doing as perfectly adequate job, according to his somewhat limited specs.  The facility might look less than optimal because the carpet needs to be cleaned, or the exterior windows washed, or the VCT burnished.  None of these "periodic" services, or cleaning supplies, are in the specs, but might well be available (for extra billing) should the customer call.  The customer doesn't call - perhaps he's too busy, or forgotten what's not in the specs - so the periodic work does not happen, the appearance of the building deteriorates, and the janitorial service forgoes a bit of extra revenue.  Because the facility looks less than ideal (because of the dirty carpet, etc.) I'm there bidding on the current fellow's job.

In quoting a job, we generally give the prospective client two prices - one for basic janitorial (but with our health, security and indoor air quality programs built in) and a second price for a bundle of "periodic" services - perhaps a bi-weekly burnishing, an as-needed scrub and refinish, a quarterly carpet cleaning, monthly windows, and a quarterly ceramic or stone floor scrub.  One monthly price for the bundle, rolled into the monthly bill.  We optimize the frequencies, so the carpet and tile are never trashed, and we can do more of a maintenance than a restorative job (cheaper for us, cheaper for the client).  We schedule the jobs well in advance, and can thus even out work loads.  The client gets the same bill every month, so doesn't have to budget, or get approved, extra charges.  The client never has to remember to call to order a job.  And the facility looks good ongoing.

We "nudge" (never require) the prospective client to take the "full service" package.  It's better for him - less hassle, better looking facility; it's better for us - for the same reasons.

Periodic floor work - best to include it in the janitorial service package

I generally do my best, with the client's permission, to include, on a regular schedule and built into the monthly price, the "periodic" services that many janitorial firms charge extra for: burnishing (high speed buffing) and refinishing vinyl floors, cleaning and protecting carpet, scrubbing ceramic and grout, and washing windows.  Here's why.

A while back, I quoted and started a high-end machine shop.  I suggested a twice per month or monthly burnishing with an as-needed refinshing, in both office and shop areas.  The area was newly built-out, and the contractor had laid down a quite adequate looking finish, so the client declined; he seemed to think the finish would look good forever, or at least quite a while.  I also suggested that he might want to replace the hard plastic chair casters (made for carpeted floors) with something softer, and gave him names of a couple of local caster firms.  He passed on that too; $25 or $30 per chair seemed an unnecessary expense, and the casters were brand new, not to be replaced lightly.

Got a call from him several months into the job; he asked what we could do about the ugly black rings developing under the chairs.  I suggested that we could 1) scrub the black areas and patch the finish, inexpensively and with mediocre results, 2) scrub and topcoat the entire floor, for more money and with better results, or 3) strip the whole thing, for a lot of money and with very good results, except for a bit of dulling where the top layer of vinyl had been ground away.  The strip would only cost him a bit more than six months of burnishing, a bit of top-coating, and new casters would have.

Regular burnishing hardens the finish, so you get less wear; as-needed top-coating replaces worn-off finish, so you keep the wear on the finish, not the vinyl; and soft casters grind less.  Burnishing (and casters) are cheap; stripping is expensive.

Going to strip it.  Next week, after the new casters have arrived.

...so the client is replacing the carpet.

His small office area is backed by a huge dusty warehouse, which the client's folks sweep periodically using an oil-based sweeping compound.  We've suggested, repeatedly, placing treated entry mats between office and warehouse, to stop the dirty oil before it hits the office carpet.  No deal; too expensive.  We've suggested letting us clean the carpet more often than the currently contracted every six months; same response.  (We generally include periodic services, including windows and tile burnishing, in our ongoing janitorial service price.)  We've even mentioned that we or the client could periodically scrub the warehouse concrete, to keep the oily dirt to a minimum; you guessed it.  Client seems to think that the oil will come out with more thorough vacuuming.

But, because the carpet "almost always" looks sub-par, he's just replaced it.  Still not using mats.  Perhaps his corporate budget allows for new carpet, but no more ongoing maintenance.

Here's a perceptive article from Contracting Profits, "Four ways to Extend the life of Carpet - and Reduce Your Environmental Footprint".  It begins:

"1. Use entryway matting. When it comes to entryway matting, the bigger the better. There must be room for at least two steps with each foot, preferably three, to sufficiently wipe soil from feet before encountering the installed carpet. A mat with a nylon face and vinyl back is best for moisture and oils absorption, combined with the resiliency necessary to collect a quantity of particle soil."

Point #4 suggests periodic "deep cleaning".  I'd suggest that "periodic" means a bit more often than every six months if an oily warehouse is adjacent.

The article leads with the vast amount of carpet we throw away every year.  Generally, carpet is replaced due to wear or discoloration in a few traffic areas;it's hard to replace just the affected area.  Carpet wear - mostly caused by grit walked onto the carpet and then ground in by foot traffic - and discoloration - mostly caused by oil and gunk (the technical term) walked in -  can both be minimized by proper entry matting.

Better for the environment, and your pocketbook, to preserve carpet rather than replace.

Unless you're in the hands of a decorator, and she wants "mauve".

Why we do floor maintenance

Back in 2011, I noticed an article that I used, in a blog post, to connect Sears declining sales volume (and profitability) to declining floor maintenance in the stores, implying a chicken and egg relationship, in small part.  No profit, and you spend less on maintenance; but, no maintenance, and people stay away, so no profit.

Caught an article today, in the Phoenix Business Journal, on Sears closing even more stores and perhaps selling of its stake in a major string of Sears stores in Canada; both are a result of more losses and "burning through cash".  I'm guessing that management is scrimping even more on maintenance (if so, can't much blame them), but that a less than stellar appearance, especially in flooring, will help drive down customer visits, and profit.

Could have expected a continued decline.  Here's my original comment:

Good article on the economic impact of deferred maintenance in today's Wall Street Journal.  Miguel Bustillo's piece contrasts traditional chain store annual maintenance spending of $6.00 to $8.00 per square foot with Sears current level, about $1.90; he ties maintenance spending levels to Sears steady decline in sales since 2005.  ("No one really comes here anymore", said the only customer to be found at the Sears store visited.)

The article does not specifically mention janitorial floor maintenance, but that's got to be a major part of the store's deteriorating appearance; for several years, I've heard stories around the industry about draconian reductions in budget, burnishing schedules, and so on.  A tacky looking floor in a big box store is about the first thing you notice on walking in - and you tend to not walk in again.  That's why, in even our smaller accounts, we pretty much insist on including appropriate floor maintenance (periodic burnishing, as-needed refinishing) in our cleaning package.  A worn floor shouts lack of maintenance, lack of cleaning and sanitation, and lack of caring management.

Maintain it, and they will come (customers, that is).

"The carpet keeps getting dirty..."

...so the client is not sure how thoroughly we're vacuuming.  Besides the carpet, the grout lines in the restroom ceramic floors discolor rapidly.

So I dropped by to take a look for myself.  It's a small office area, perhaps a couple of thousand square feet, adjacent to a large, though clean looking, production facility.  We're cleaning the office area five nights per week, cleaning the carpet quarterly (mostly using a low moisture soil encapsulation process, with an occasional extraction), and scrubbing the restroom ceramic quarterly (one office restroom, and one the the shop).

I mentioned that the shop floor looked to be clean, so ought not contribute overly to the carpet and grout soiling problem.  The client explained that his folks maintain it, frequently, using a sweeping compound: an oil based sweeping compound.

All I needed to hear, though the client didn't at first want to hear my conclusions.  The oily sweeping compound is good for the shop floor, and even gives it a bit of a sheen; once you transfer the oil residue to the office carpet, and restroom tile grout, carpet, tile and grout get sticky, and hold any dirt that hits them.  Vacuuming carpet, and damp mopping tile, will do little to help.  Further, though the client had rented, treated entry mats at the shop/office doors, they were too small - 3' x 5' - and badly placed; the one in front of the main shop door was not in the traffic lane, and there was no mat at all by the shop restroom.  At best they would catch one shoe out of two entering the office.  Mat companies suggest 12 to 15 feet of mat, walked upon by everybody, and by both feet.

I suggested to the client that he had several options: clean the oil off the shop floor, by scrubbing at least after each sweeping;  getting aggressive about mats, in both size and placement; upping carpet cleaning and ceramic scrubbing to at least monthly, or maybe twice per month; or learn to like the color of dirty, oily carpet.

In passing, it mighty not do to rely on the salesman or driver from the mat company to suggest proper mat size, and to place the mats properly.  I happened to quote janitorial service for a local linen supplier a bit ago; besides uniforms and hand towels, they supply mats.  Lots of mats around their office, mostly in the wrong places.

Hospital team cleaning

Caught a short article in Cleanlink on applying "team cleaning" to hospitals.  The process is summarized as follows:

"Mercy Hospital’s EVS teams incorporate a starter, a sanitizer and a closer. The starters empty trash receptacles and perform dusting and wiping, the sanitizers clean the restrooms and sanitize high-touch surfaces, and the closers dust mop and wash floors. Each team is assigned to approximately 60 rooms, and each cleaner carries his or her tools on a cart set up for a specific role."

Pretty much in line with standard "team" office cleaning.  I'd tweak it by having the "starter" ("light duty" or "trash and dust" specialist in office cleaning) not just "wipe" but wipe with a sanitizer, preferably on a microfiber cloth, to both clean and sanitize, saving a step for the "sanitizer" crew member; I'd certainly vacuum (using a HEPA filter) rather than dust mop; and I'd specify microfiber damp mops, rather than just "wash", using a fresh mop head in each patient room, thus avoiding cross-contamination.  (Microfiber mops - the flat mops that have a number of similar consumer products - also lay down much less solution, and pick up more of what they lay down, as contrasted with traditional string mops.  The floor dries much faster, certainly a consideration in 24/7 patient and other areas.  Being much lighter than a loaded string mop, microfibers produce much less worker fatigue, as well.)

What particularly caught my eye was the article's assertion that some 95% of hospitals are still cleaned using what the industry calls "zone cleaning", the outmoded predecessor of team cleaning.  Zone cleaning involves a single crew member performing all the cleaning tasks for a number of patient rooms; you tie up a lot of extra equipment, and have to train each crew member in all functions.

I do hope that the 95% figure is inflated, but having seen some janitorial crews in operation, my hopes might be unjustified.