National Retail Chain Store Via National Janitorial Company Calls on Scrub n Shine

National Retail Chain Store Via National Janitorial Company Calls on Scrub n Shine. National Janitorial Company’s Lack of Knowledge Led to an Unsustainable Floor Care Program. After 2 Years, We had to Part Ways. A Few Weeks Ago, We Were Called Upon to Try…

We were first introduced to this store over 3 years ago and had to part ways when the bureaucracy between the two national companies made things unsustainable. They recently called us back and asked us to try to restore their badly neglected vinyl composite flooring. We were able to get the VCT flooring looking pretty good (see pictures below), but without a regular vinyl flooring maintenance program in place, the vinyl floor finish appearance will degrade quickly.

Micro-Managing From an Office Suite 2000 Miles Away Doesn’t Work

The national janitorial company is based in New York. The national retail store’s corporate office is in Oregon. The retail store itself is in the Twin Cities.

National Janitorial Company’s Lack of Knowledge Led to an Unsustainable Vinyl Floor Care Program

Three years ago, our first Work Order from the national janitorial company was laughable. They asked for a monthly high-speed burnishing of the VCT floor tile using red pads. The VCT flooring had absolutely no vinyl floor finish on it. We had to explain to them via telephone that you cannot burnish at 2000 RPMs using a pad that is rated for 500 RPMs (even on VCT flooring that has VCT floor finish on it). We also had to explain that a store with 100s (sometimes 1000s) of customers per day tracking-in ice melt used during our Minnesota winters needs vinyl floor care more than once per month. Also, this floor needed finish ASAP. They declined on adding VCT floor finish and told us to buff once per month and “don’t worry about it”.

“Strip and Wax” VCT Flooring that has No VCT Floor Finish?

Some months later, we received a Work Order to Strip & Wax (only wanted 1 coat of “wax”). We explained that there was nothing to “strip” and suggested a deep scrub. Due to their virtually non-existent daily vinyl floor care program, we suggested 3-4 coats of a clear, commercial-grade urethane floor finish or acrylic high solids floor finish. We were told to use a chemical stripper and apply 1 coat of a low-grade floor sealer from an office products store!

After 2 Years, We had to Part Ways

The VCT floor tile eventually degraded to the point where stains from fruit-based products that spilled were absorbed into the VCT floor tile and dirt in high traffic lanes could not be removed. This was a situation we did not want our business name attached to and so we parted ways.

A Few Weeks Ago, We Were Called Upon to Try to Restore Shine to Vinyl Floor

It took A LOT of scrubbing and several coats of vinyl floor finish to make this VCT commercial flooring presentable (see pictures below). However, without a realistic vinyl floor care program in place, this floor’s appearance will degrade quickly.