Using pads and brushes Good choices, better results

Contract cleaning service providers can avail themselves of a wide array of mechanical helpers when it comes to floor cleaning, maintenance, sanding and polishing. Next to choosing the right machine, choosing the right brushes and pads is key to ensuring quality results because that’s where the ‘rubber’ hits the ‘road’.When using brushes or pads with abrasive properties, the expertise of a professional is required to find the right balance between effectiveness and efficiency – without doing damage to the surfaces to be cleaned. Pad or brush?That is the question. When is a brush the better choice, and when is a pad the better option? While brushes are suitable for smooth as well as textured surface finishes, conventional pads are really better suited for non-textured surfaces. Roller brushes will usually yield better results than circular brushes on more deeply structured surfaces, such as rubber floor tiles or safety tiles with drainage grooves. The best results on textured floor coverings and mortar grouting are generally achieved with oscillating scrubbers or random orbital scrubbers in conjunction with scrubbing brushes or bristle pads. If you only have a single disc machine for deeper textured floor coverings or just a scrubber vacuum with circular brush(es), we recommend using softer or so-called high/low brushes. Brushes are not the best choice for maintenance cleaning smooth floors that have been finished with a self-shine dispersion: Scrubbing brushes will easily scratch the surface care layer, especially when the brushes are started up on a dry floor covering. Roller brushes are definitely to be avoided for these applications because of their small bearing surface and their especially high rotational speed. The friction creates a mechanical stress that can result in visible stripes on the floor. If the speed is not consistent during the pass, cloudy patches actually get ‘polished’ into the surface care layer. Important: buffed stone floors and porcelain type stone tiles that must fulfill slip-resistance requirements may not be cleaned with brushes containing abrasive substances (grit or sica/silicon carbide brushes, diamond brushes) or pads (cleaning pads from red to black, diamond pads). The reason: using these pads or brushes will eventually alter the surface composition and impair the floor’s anti-slip properties. Although using only pads to remove surface dirt and grime is often the popular choice for basic cleaning projects, it is recommended that the first scrubbing be done with a scrub brush and a general cleaning solution. In contrast to a pad, the brush will not (as quickly) take up debris or surface finish residue, and this will result in higher mechanical effectiveness. The next step is to use a general cleaning pad suited for the floor covering, and to scrub away the last remnants of the finish. If the surface layer is especially tenacious, you may want to use a stripping pad or a general cleaning pad with clear water and scrub thoroughly, before going to work on the floor with the actual general cleaning agent. This only works if the surface finish has not been previously diluted or softened by using a general cleaning agent. After vacuuming the partially or completely sanded off surface film, any residue can easily be removed with a suitable cleaning solution. Brushes: Brushes are available on discs (round, rectangular or trapezoid) and rollers. They are especially suited for cleaning carpets as well as for wet scrubbing and polishing non-textile floor coverings. The bristles are mostly plant-based, e.g. bassine, fiber, union (40 percent fiber, 60 percent bassine) and piassava. Brushes also come with animal (e.g. boar bristles) or plastic bristles (e.g. polyamide, polypropylene, or abrasive grain fibers). Although natural bristles show uneven lengths and cross-sections, one of the main advantages is that they don’t take up an electrostatic charge. They do have a tendency to swell up in wet environments, however, which affects their effectiveness, and they dry more slowly than plastic bristles. Plastic bristles are relatively sensitive to hot water, but as a rule much more impervious to abrasion. Polyamide bristles (nylon) are only partially acid-resistant and therefore not suitable for all applications (e.g. swimming pools, sanitary areas and fixtures). Brushes show a clear advantage over conventional cleaning pads, especially when it comes to grouting and textured coverings: the bristles can reach far deeper into any surface recesses. So-called high/low brushes are especially effective on deeply textured floor coverings. Pads/floor cleaning discs: Floor cleaning discs, also called pads, are made from non-wovens, usually polyester and/or polyamide (nylon) materials. They are used with scrubbing machines and scrubber vacuums equipped with one or more discs or rollers or with excentric or oscillating scrubbing units. A distinction is made between normal pads, super pads, high-speed polishing pads and specialty pads. The pads are usually color-coded in terms of abrasiveness. Although there is no industry standard, the colors used are pretty consistent across the various suppliers. The thing to keep in mind is that the abrasive agents on a red pad are not any softer than those on a black one – only the grain is finer. Diamond pads: Various diamond pads have appeared on the market in recent years. These specialty pads use fine diamond particles of different grain sizes (usually on one side) that are either embedded in the fleece with a binding agent or glued to nubs. Used with single disc machines or suitable scrubber vacuums, diamond pads are very effective for fine sanding and polishing (plane-milled or polished) natural and engineered stone floors as well as resin-based industrial flooring. Even worn polyurethane coatings on elastic coverings can be sanded down or polished with diamond pads to give them a new lease. Elastomer floor coverings (synthetic or natural rubber) with a chalky appearance may be easily restored with diamond pads. Caution: The color coding of diamond pads is not identical to the color coding otherwise used in the industry for conventional floor cleaning pads. Melamine pads: Melamine pads, also known as ‘magic erasers’, are made of melamine resin foam. They can be a great solution to stubborn dirt problems. The excellent cleaning effect of these white, finely structured foam pads is due to the extremely gentle abrasive, or rather ‘erasing’ qualities of the material. They are very easy to use: Simply soak the pad in clear water (use only water, never a cleaning solution), wring it out thoroughly, and then gently rub the spot or stain you are trying to remove. Melamine pads are especially well suited for removing stubborn dirt deposits from finely polished microporous stoneware tiles. Please keep in mind that surface finishes on coated coverings may become dull or show fine scratches from overusing melamine pads. Fiber pads/yarn pads: Textile pads can be divided into fiber pads (active and micro fiber pads) and yarn pads. The pile on fiber pads, made from polyester and/or polyamide fibers (active or micro fiber), has a silky, velour-like appearance. Pile length may vary between 5 and 15 millimeters. Traditionally used for intermediate cleaning on textile floor coverings, these pads are now also popular in conjunction with spray-and-extract systems for basic cleaning on carpets. Also, fiber pads achieve excellent cleaning results with a scrubber vacuum on rubber floor tiles as well as porcelain tiles. Microfiber pads have a much higher capacity for absorbing water (and thus dirt) compared to active fiber pads. That is because the fibers, as the name indicates, are much, much finer. Consequently, microfiber pads are better suited for textile floor coverings than active fiber pads. When using a scrubber vacuum, this characteristic is not of great importance, however. In fact, here, the active fiber pad’s lower water absorption capacity actually turns into an advantage: Because the cleaning solution is continually reapplied and then vacuumed off, the pads don’t get saturated too quickly with dirt. Yarn pads (bonnets) have a looped structured surface. Depending on the design, the loop height may be between 5 and 25 millimeters. The types of fibers used are polyacrylonitrile, polyester and polyamide (and combinations thereof). The areas of application include intermediate cleaning and, in combination with the spray and extract method, basic cleaning of textile floorings as well as cleaning and polishing of rubber tiles. Pads can be laundered after use to deliver excellent results for the next application. Reconditioned pads: If the pads are only used for dry applications (e.g. for polishing or restoring a surface finish) we recommend vacuuming the pads with a heavy-duty vacuum cleaner before laundering them. Pad discs that have a synthetic fleece should be thoroughly rinsed under running water (preferably with a hose and spray nozzle). While fiber and yarn pads can usually go into a washing machine set at 40 to 60 degrees centigrade, this is not recommended for pads made of synthetic fleece – especially pads with abrasive particles, since most of the abrasive material usually gets lost during the wash cycle. Also, excessive washing temperatures will cause disc shrinkage. Always follow the manufacturer’s instructions on recommended washing temperatures when laundering washable pads. Martin Lutz | heike.holland@holzmann-medien.de

Using pads and brushes Good choices, better results

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