Cleaning, Maintenance & Aftercare Guidelines
Whilst installing suitable and functional flooring systems for any facility is one of the most critical activities, cleaning and maintaining them is of the same importance for any environment to ensure the floors are always delivering their intended performance and aesthetics. The traditional continuous routine sweeping and light scrubbing in addition to minor occasional spot cleaning should suffice. Duphill proudly introduces the ultimate cleaning and maintenance guidelines to guarantee your floors and walls are portraying their optimum performance and attractive appearance.
Each facility has its specific operations and activities schedules. Those schedules define the frequency and appropriate cleaning techniques.
Sweeping
Whilst people might underestimate the importance of sweeping, it is considered the most common and most efficient cleaning technique. Sweeping your floors once or more daily using a broom or soft-bristled sweeper. As daily operations in facilities generate extensive amounts of dust, debris and production remains, which act as aggressive abrasives to the floor surface under the weight of traffic of different vehicles being pallet trolleys, forklifts, VNAs (Very Narrow Aisle Systems), etc… a carefully scheduled sweeping regime ensures maintaining the floor surface at its original state and prolongs the period required for recoating the floors.
Cleaning Detergent
Choosing the most suitable cleaning detergent is directly linked to the nature of contamination on your surface. The most commonly used ones are a dilute solution of water mixed with a pH 7.0 (Neutral) or slightly alkaline, non-residual detergent. This should always be your starting point. For harsher types of contamination move on to more aggressive detergents to locally treat the contamination. Ensure you consult your Duphill technical representative about your floors chemical resistance prior to selecting detergents of a lower pH value (higher alkalinity).
Scrubbing
Commonly, the use of a mop and bucket, a soft bristled brush or scrubbing machine is sufficient for treating locally contaminated areas. You may need to allow the detergent to penetrate the floors for a few minutes or as per the detergent’s manufacturer’s instructions in areas where harsher contaminations exist. Stronger contaminations may dictate applying several scrubbing passes to ensure complete removal. It is critical to immediately rinse the floors thoroughly with fresh water after applying the cleaning detergent using wet vacuum or squeegee-to-drain after the use of any detergent. All residues should be completely swept off to eliminate slip/fall hazards and hence the floor needs to be allowed to dry before resuming normal operations. The frequency of scheduling the scrubbing regime is completely dependant on the level of traffic the floors are subjected to, however the common recommendation is to scrub the floors once a week.
High Pressure Wash
The use of high-pressure washing equipment is common in most operational facilities. For all types of floors using water at 65° C is safe for the integrity of the floor. It is critical to consult Duphill’s technical team about higher water temperatures used in high-pressure washing equipment to understand your floor’s temperature resistance and if the proposed water temperature presents any threat to the floor’s integrity.
Periodic Recoat
After your floors have been exposed to an immense amount of wear and tear, applying a layer of coating might be the solution to rejuvenate your floors and successfully add a few years into their service years. In addition to renewing the floor aesthetics, the additional coat will ensure the floors are completely sealed and hide any trace of surface damage or contamination. Consult your Duphill technical representative about the suitable floor sealers to use for your floors and the appropriate preparation method for an ironclad bond between the existing floors and the overcoat sealer.
Anti-Microbial Behaviour
It is important to confirm that the anti-microbial capability offered by Duphill’s hygienic floors are inherent into the flooring system build-up and remain unaffected by floor stains, spillages or surface scratches. Anti-microbial capabilities are of guaranteed functionality as long as the hygienic floors are intact.
