How often should you strip and wax?

Over the past couple of weeks I have received email requests from small restaurants, offices and day care facilities asking for a strip and wax of their floors once per month.

I honestly do not think that you will need to strip and wax your floors once per month. Even high-end retail clients that we clean such as Best Buy only do this service once per quarter; but they are also doing special things daily to keep the floors in good condition.

I would recommend that we do some type of service once per month, but rather than doing a strip and wax every time, we choose the service that makes sense based on budget and the condition of the floor. I have listed a description of the different types of services below.

Strip and wax: This is the most aggressive procedure that yields the most dramatic results. The floor is stripped down to the vinyl and then 4 to 6 coats of wax are applied. We recommend this every 4 to 6 months.

Scrub and re-coat: This is a great way to dramatically improve the appearance of the floors without the cost of a strip and wax. Here a light scrub is done to take off a few coats of wax. Then 2 coats of wax a applied. We recommend this every 4 to 6 months.

Mop, Restore and burnish: This is an interim procedure that can bounce the floor back into shape provided that it has some wax remaining. The floor is mopped clean and then a Restorer product is put down. The Restorer fills in the holes in the wax. Lastly, the floor is burnished at 2000 RPM. The burnishing essentially melts the wax and Restorer and gives the floor a high shine. We recommend this monthly.

Mop and burnish: The same thing as above, except the Restorer is not used. We recommend this daily to monthly.

Dust mop and mop: This is the key to regular maintenance. The floors should be dust mopped and mopped with a neutral floor cleaner every day.