Higher Solids in Floor Finish Do NOT Equal Higher Quality

Shopping For the Best Floor Finish is a Bit Like Shopping for Trash Can Liners In the old days, it was always believed that the thicker the trash bag, the better it was. Similarly, it was also believed that a high solids floor finish, was better. New tec…

Shopping For the Best Floor Finish is a Bit Like Shopping for Trash Can Liners

In the old days, it was always believed that the thicker the trash bag, the better it was. Similarly, it was also believed that a high solids floor finish, was better. New technologies have changed all of that!

New Nano Technology Cross-Links and Blends Polymers

Cutting edge floor finish manufacturers are now creating a new generation of super blends. This new nano-technology produces high-quality, floor finishes with a lower percentage of solids that outperform old-fashioned, high solids floor finish. This same technology allows manufacturers of trash can liners to produce high-quality, thinner trash can liners that outperform low-quality, thicker ones!

Polymer Matrix Technology

Polymer Matrix Technology is an innovative approach to formulating resilient floor care coatings. It is a new process of blending a “polymer within a polymer”. Through this unique process, our manufacturers are able to create performance improvements by combining the strengths of two distinct polymers into a single base component. Pretty amazing stuff!

Floor Finish Solids

“Solids” represent the percentage of the liquid floor finish that actually dries as a solid onto the floor. These solids build coat by coat on the floor to provide the desired level of gloss and protection. Again, the old-school rule was to always strip all of the old floor finishing products from the floor and add thick, gooey coats of high solids floor finish, adding the percentage of solids of the finish being used until the coats equaled 100% solids (i.e., finish with 20% would need 5 coats = 100% total). This is no longer the case.

Scrub and Re-Coat, Rather Than “Strip and Wax”

Ever hear people still refer to floor finish as “floor wax”? Floor Wax hasn’t been widely used as a primary ingredient for several decades! These same people probably insist on doing a “strip and wax” every time their floors look dull.

What is “Stripping” Floor Finish?

We don’t call floor finish “floor wax” and we don’t advise stripping the floors unless they are so badly neglected that we have no other option. Generally speaking, we only recommend stripping floor finish when the edges and baseboards are really built up with “dirty” finish because previous coatings were done without any attention to detail. When floors are stripped, a floor sealer must be used, then 3-4 coats of floor finish applied afterward. That’s a lot of time and money spent on chemicals and floor finishing products!

In most cases, a deep scrub with proper chemicals will remove scuff marks and build-up while leaving a properly prepared surface for the new floor finish. When doing a re-coat, we can achieve a brilliant high gloss shine with only 2-3 coats of finish without the use of a floor sealer product. NOTE – When using floor stripper, it is always a good idea to seal the floor before adding floor finishing products.

We Use Quality Floor Finishes That Are Manufactured With State-of-the-Art Blending Technologies

Most floor care and maintenance contractors don’t have a clue as to what is in their floor finishes nor how the floor finishes are manufactured. Just for fun, ask a floor care and maintenance contractor who makes their floor finishing products and what’s in them.

So, Which Level of Solids Best Suits Your Needs?

Every circumstance is different. What flooring material are we dealing with? What are the floors exposed to? How critical is the sheen and slip coefficient (safety factor)?

Just know that “higher solids” finishes are tougher to buff, strip and restore than lower (mid) solids finishes.

Feel free to contact us to choose the best floor care and maintenance products and program for your facility!