Stripping and refinishing a floor
Not cleaning at all. Removing a sacrificial coating and putting a new one down, which is why the floor looks new and why it is the tier that goes wrong.
In detail
Many commercial floors carry a FINISH — a sacrificial polymer coating applied over the flooring, walked on, cleaned, and eventually removed and replaced. Stripping is the removal step: a strong alkaline stripper, dwell, aggressive mechanical action, and recovery, followed by neutralising, rinsing and reapplying finish in thin coats. The distinction that matters is that this is a maintenance SYSTEM, not a cleaning method. A floor maker says a floor may be maintained with a conventional finish system, and that such systems require periodic stripping — the coating is what is maintained, and the flooring underneath is only protected. Which explains why commercial floors look better than domestic ones: often you are not looking at a cleaner floor but at a newer coating. CleaningHQ publishes no stripping procedure. The chemistry is strongly alkaline, the residues have to be neutralised before the new finish will bond, and every source read here that mentions it points at the finish manufacturer's own instructions. Where a household floor has a finish that has failed, the question is which product was used on it, and that is a question for whoever applied it.
Why
Sources for this page
Sources
Luxury Vinyl Tiles and Planks: Maintenance Instructions
Tarkett (Johnsonite), 2016 · Manufacturer documentation
Relied on for: That the flooring may be maintained by a conventional floor finish maintenance system if desired, that such systems require periodic stripping of the floor finish, and that the manufacturer's label instructions govern application and use. (states this directly)
Verification: a person has read the passage relied on.
Read on — Post-installation cleaning, preventive care, routine daily cleaning, periodic deep cleaning and the product reference chart. Supports a wider statement — our claim was widened. Gives the register the professional maintenance REGIME rather than another list of prohibitions. Tiered maintenance, a machine with a stated speed, a pad with a stated colour, a dwell time with an upper bound, and barrier matting as a cleaning decision rather than a doormat — these are what a facilities specification contains and a household care page never does. The insecticide-and-disinfectant warning is the sprint's best example of a cleaning failure caused by something that was not aimed at the floor.
Last reviewed by a person on .