Polishing your marble and natural stone floor surfaces can make your facility really stand out. But how do you keep them looking their best? An effective cleaning and maintenance plan is a good place to start. Investing in maintenance might sound like a cost but on polished marble floors it will save you $1,000s in restoration costs.
Here’s a cleaning plan you’re welcome to copy and use as a standard operating procedure in your business...
Daily maintenance
Small to medium sized areas...
1. Vacuum or dust mop the surface to remove all dry debris and dust.
2. Mop the surface with Bobby Dazzler super cleaner (80:1) and an XO2 microfibre mopping system.
Use plenty of replacement microfibre fringes. Use a new clean one in area or every 25 square metres. That way you are actually remove the soils not just spreading them around.
Use only just enough moisture to get the job done and where possible clean with dry XO2 microfibre. Excellent quality microfibre can work without water in light to medium soils very well.
Medium to larger sized areas...
Scrub the floor using an automatic scrubber dryer with Bobby Dazzler (120:1) and a white natural fibre pad.
When necessary...
Buff the surface with a polishing machine (at slow speed, less than 200 rpm) to remove any residues with a white natural fibre pad or wooly polishing pad.
3-6 monthly maintenance polishing
Commercial super high traffic areas may need to ProGlo polished again.
6-12 monthly maintenance polishing
ProGlo dulled areas, resurface prior to ProGlo where necessary (i.e to remove bad scratches and etching.)
Remember the 7 rules of daily maintenance on marble.
1. Use the right amount of cleaning chemical. No more, no less.
For a quick and easy way to calculate dilution rates and how much chemical to use go to this article here… How To Quickly Calculate Cleaning Chemical Dilution Rates And Ratios
2. Use a clean mop always
Have enough replacement mops heads and fringes so you can swap them as soon they get dirty.
3. Use clean water. Change mop water often.
If the mop water is looking dirty it’s time to change it.
4. Be aware that existing residues may be in your floor.
This means that if you’re doing everything right and streaking still happens this may well be the problem. Residues from other chemicals used, grout and plaster dust, builder’s cleaning practices, spills and staining can all cause streaking. Residues are a problem because when the mop moves across the grout lines (which is where most of these chemical residues are) it will spreads streaky residue across the surface of the tile again. This happens even when you are doing everything right.
5. Don’t over-wet when cleaning. Clean dry or damp whenever possible.
There is now very effective cleaning technology like the XO2 microfibre mopping system that allows you to clean damp or dry. This also means floors will dry faster after cleaning.
6. Remove and recover the dirt. Do real cleaning. Don’t just spread the soil around.
Using wet and dry vacuums or automatic floor scrubbers with vacuum recovery is the ultimate way to ensure all the soils and residue are removed from the surface.
7. Use the right chemical.
Want to know how to polish marble?
If you want to learn more about how to polish marble this this article which will really help you out… How To Perfectly Polish Marble Floors Like A Professional. Tips And Tricks For Pros And DIYers.
Make cleaning easier and get an even longer lasting shine with entrance matting
Ensure effective entrance matting is installed at all door entrances to catch the dirt and reduce maintenance. Dirt and sand acts as an abrasive on polished marble and natural stone floors. So less of it that gets walked on the better. When you get your new entrance mats make sure the mat is large enough for 4 steps. You want each foot of a visitor to touch the mat twice for effective soil and grit removal.
