Cleaning a hard floor is easier than a carpet – a hard floor is just a hard floor, right?

Well, in fact, ‘wrong’ – but it is tempting to suppose at a glance that hard floors are less complicated and that pretty much the same processes can be employed to clean them.

However, look again and the fact is you require as much specialist knowledge to maintain and clean these as you would carpet. Like carpet, there are many different types of hard floors including resilient, porous, non-porous, stone and wood.

Categorising these in more depth, resilient flooring would take in vinyl, rubber, safety flooring and linoleum.

Commonly asked about these are problems such as polish flaking off a vinyl floor after application (the polish stripper had not been completely removed or neutralised beforehand) and more general tips on machines (such as what speed should be selected on a single disc rotary machine for buffing a polished floor – 300/350 rpm would be sufficient with a good quality polish maintainer).

Another regular question asked of the training teams on Prochem Europe Hard floor cleaning courses is how often a polished hard floor should be dust mopped to which we tend to advise daily at the very least (fine grit, sand or dust particles walked into the building will otherwise scratch the polished surface, so do recommend a good barrier mat to the customer if there isn’t one in use).

And then, just as with carpet types, it’s important to differentiate between different floor types.

You can for example tell the difference between marble and granite by applying a tiny drop of acidic toilet cleaner to a small, inconspicuous area of the polished stone. Wait to see if it loses its shine when wiped away or even bubbles with the solution’s acid content, and you will then know it’s a limestone e.g. marble.

Getting the knowledge …

Of course, the fast track to knowledge is education in any field, which is which why so many professional cleaners make a point to attending Prochem courses.

You can find out more about these in the Training section on the Prochem Europe web site and the Hard Floor Products section is also useful.

A very useful guide to hard floor maintenance can be found in the Technical Help Guide section on the Prochem site.

It includes topics such as how to clean floors ranging from ceramic, terracotta and porcelain to epoxy resin, laminate and safety floors complemented by useful advice on removing scuffs and similar marks.