Keep Your Polished Concrete Floors in Top Shape

Polished concrete is a prevalent flooring option for many industrial and commercial facilities. It is durable, long-lasting and requires minimal maintenance. However, it is essential to clean and maintain your floors on a regular basis. Contaminants such as dirt, rainwater, salt and other harsh chemicals may pose slip hazards and diminish the shine. So, how do you clean your polished concrete floors?

First, let's go over the recommended tools. Below are the items we recommend to keep handy:

• ✔ Dust mop
• ✔ Broom or sweeper
• ✔ Scrubber 
• ✔ Squeegees
• ✔ Cleaners like Clean and Protect 
• ✔ Daily floor maintenance pads
•  

While dust mops and brooms are self-explanatory, sweepers and scrubbers have a few nuances you need to keep in mind. Only use soft bristle brushes or pads with those machines and keep the down pressure at the lowest settings. Please make sure the pads and bristles are clean; otherwise, they may act as an abrasive and diminish the shine over time. When the scrubber is not moving, make sure the pads and brushes are not rotating. Otherwise, you may get double "donut" shadows on your floors. Always store scrubbers with pads and brushes in the "up" position to avoid flattening the bristles. Nylon bristles will return to their original shape if soaked in hot water.

Purchase an industrial floor squeegee for efficient clean-up of water and liquids from commercial flooring. Rotate your squeegees to avoid excessive wear. Rounded edges and damaged squeegees may leave a "dirt trail" on your floors. Cleaning solutions that contain a conditioner will lubricate the squeegee and enhance its cleaning ability.

What about cleaning solutions? A concrete floor's natural pH level is 9-11, and we recommend using a cleaner that matches it. A lower pH cleaning solution may dull your polished concrete floors over time when used daily. A floor cleaner that is too strong and not properly diluted may chemically etch polished concrete as well. Scrubbers require a cleaning solution that suspends dirt which then can be picked up by the scrubber's vacuum. Water-only solutions do not suspend dirt, allowing it to sit on the floor and scuff the finish. Check out QuestMark's cleaners that you can easily order online. To take your polished shine to a new level, look into conditioners like QuestMark's DiamondQuest Ultra 15 or Ultra 30.

When to clean your floor? The frequency depends on the appearance you want and your traffic level. But generally we recommend to clean up spills immediately to minimize staining, remove dirt daily to protect the shine and use a scrubber weekly (or daily in high traffic areas). We also recommend applying refresh and/or revitalize treatments twice a year or as needed to condition your floors and enhance the shine.

For more tips, check out our free Polished Concrete Cleaning Guidelines brochure and visit our online shop to order the products you need to keep your floors in top shape. Have questions or would like to talk to a commercial flooring professional?