Module tile floors – you will need to deep clean your floor about four times a year. Because there is no coating for these types of floors sometimes you may need even remove sections of floor to clean between the cracks.
If you have any spills it’s best at that time to remove the tile and clean all sides of the tile so that you don’t have anything growing underneath the tile. How you do your weekly, annual maintenance is important for the life of your athletic floor including periodic maintenance.
It is recommended that you should coat your wood floors at least once a year. If you are using an oil based product you can either coat with one coat or two coats of finish. Water based finishes – you need to coat with two coats at a minimum.
Manufacturer recommendations – when it comes to installation of any athletic flooring the manufacturers will only want to see certified and trained installers. And that daily and weekly and annual maintenance is performed.
Relative humidity is one of the biggest problems with wood gym flooring and also with some of the modular tile installations for growth and contraction. With synthetic floors it is important to never use a treated dust mop on the floor. This will cause the chemicals in the floor to breakdown and to deteriorate.
This goes the same with also solvent based products. It is very important to know what you’re using and what’s on your dust mop. Daily maintenance is probably the most important of all types of maintenance. It is important to know what type of athletic flooring your facility has.
School facilities everywhere represent the largest financial investment of the community. It is our responsibility to do everything possible to prolong the useful life of the school facility and that certainly includes the flooring
Dust is managed better, green chemicals are being used, mold and mildew are minimized and the quality of indoor air is better. It also impacts the credibility of the district. When a parent or other guests visit the school the first thing they noticed after entering the building is the flooring.
This is where people get their first impression of the school or where their previous impressions are reinforced.
Dust mop daily at least two times a day. I recommend using a disposable dust mop. They are usually chemical free and do the best job of collecting fine dirt and dust.
Credibility and public confidence is so important to all school districts and it is our job to do everything to demonstrate and practice everything that will yield the highest degree of credibility. Properly maintained floors helps to protect the capital investment of the community.
Floor care is extremely important to everyone. It impacts the health and safety of students, staff and community guests in a number of ways. Broken tile, wet, slippery floors, worn and frayed carpeting all contribute to accidents and the overall health of the occupants.
An integral part of any smart/green cleaning program is entrance matting.
At the heart of soil management is the concept of prevention of contaminates from entering a building.
85% of all soil enters a building on the feet of building occupants and most of that can be contained within the first 15 feet with proper entrance matting.
Entrance matting may be scraper mats for the first line defense against soil. Scraper mats should always be used with other entrance mats that will provide wiping properties.
Entrance mats should do four things:
1. Stop soil and water
2. Store soil and water for removal
3. Minimize tracking of soil and water
4. Provide a safe surface for traffic.
The CRI recommends a minimum of 12 to 15 feet of coverage to trap tracked in soil. But this is just a recommendation.
Remember not all entryways were created equal. There are several factors that must be considered when developing an entrance and matting system. These are some of the factors to consider:
* Is the entrance a high/low traffic entrance?
*Does the entrance have an outside cover?
*Do carts and buggies come in this entrance?
*Is this a rainy, snowy/dry area?
One way to determine if the current coverage is enough is to look beyond the end of the matting . Then ask yourself is there excess soil, moisture and wear on the finish? If so then there isn’t enough coverage for the conditions. Remember it is better to have to much then not enough.
Proper matting and amounts of matting make the importance of soil management a little easier.
Andi Lee-Marnicio CCT, RRT
Head Custodian
Blackhawk Intermediate School
635 Shenango road
Beaver Falls PA