Hard floors require maintenance and in most cases hard floors cost more to clean than carpet so the correct analysis of ongoing floor cleaning costs is important to consider when designing your office space.
Certain types of hard tile floors are low maintenance and do not require extra care besides normal cleaning. However all maintenance in really dependent on the type and volume of traffic in the building.
Basic Cleaning Cost Estimates for Vinyl Composition Tile
In most cases, commercial buildings have standard vinyl composition tile (VCT) in commercial settings. VCT is simple to maintain, however regular floor care is necessary for a professional clean appearance. Here are some basic estimates (production rates) for pricing out this type of tile floor care.
Based on 1000 square feet:
- Dust mopping with an 18 dust mop will take 9 minutes (or 6667 square feet per hour).
- Machine scrubbing with a 17 slow speed scrubbing machine will take 32 minutes.
- Applying floor finish wax using a gravity feed applicator will take 24 minutes.
Hard Floor Cleaning & Maintenance Factors
There are many factors that play into performing floor maintenance.
- What is the state of the floor?
- What is on the floor?
- What type of area (Is it a lunchroom or office, for example)?
- How much furniture must be moved?
- What are the desired outcomes for the floor appearance?
- High gloss finish
- Sealed for protection (no high gloss)
- Prevent wear patterns (high traffic retail location as an example).
The next best way after entrance matting to maintain flooring surfaces is with daily & routine maintenance, such as vacuuming, dust mopping, damp mopping, etc. These cleaning procedures are important because as they are removing as much of the sand & dirt that got tracked in past the floor mats. Remember, the less debris that is on the floors, the less potential there is for damage to occur, and the less often more intensive cleaning procedures will have to be performed. –Waxie Sanitary Supply
Hard Floor Polishing
Depending on these desired outcomes you may have to factor in high-speed polishing that makes the floor finish significantly harder and more resistant to scuffs, wear and makes appear clean longer. However, polishing is really something that is traffic dependent. In a high traffic environment like a grocery store, for example, daily polishing would be essential to maintain a consistent appearance from a day-to-day basis.
To polish 1000 square feet of floor with a 2000 RPM polisher takes 7 minutes.
Often in floor care the default action is just to apply wax or floor finish. For a time, the floor is shiny and looks good but often proper steps are not in place to ensure the floor is properly cleaned before finishing. This is why you get dirt and grime embedded into the finish. Over time, these type of actions have a serious impact on the appearance of the floor.
Sheet Vinyl Care and Maintenance
These basics give a sense of the complexity of floor care; we don’t even mention the different types of vinyl composite flooring. These include sheet vinyl which is being used more and more now.
Sheet vinyl has more specialized requirements since the color in these types of vinyl are easily damaged if the incorrect maintenance methods are used. Proper care includes the use of chemicals that are below a certain Ph level otherwise damage will occur to the flooring.
Conclusion
Most if not all floors require regular care and preventive maintenance otherwise the finish will wear away. Once the finish is gone, the floor will quickly wear out, and the damage cannot be restored once it occurs.
So in budgeting for floors allow for maintenance costs and refinishing costs. Factor in the type and volume of traffic and what you want your floors to look like.
Even for a small area refinishing adds hours to the required duties on a monthly basis. Factoring or budgeting costs for this task need to be done at a far higher rate than standard cleaning since this is a specialty skill and requires:
- Properly trained technicians and
- Specialty equipment. Even for a basic set up the cost of equipment would be close to $5000.
