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Chicago — At a time when many facilities are deciding not to apply a finish to their floors — or are selecting floors that do not need a finish — there is one type of floor that should be finished for a variety of reasons.
And it's a floor that is usually at the bottom of the totem pole even in those facilities where floors are stripped, refinished, and burnished on a regular basis, according to Doug Berjer, a floor care expert with Tornado Industries.
The floor he is referring to is the cement floor typically found in warehouses and other industrial areas of a facility.
There are actually several reasons cleaning contractors and jansan distributors should advise their clients to apply several coats of finish to a warehouse floor. Among them are the following:
• Address repair issues: Typically, when a cement warehouse floor is just cleaned and not finished, cracks and irregularities in the floor are allowed to develop, which get worse over time. These cracks and irregularities can become a safety issue. Typically, these problems are addressed and corrected before the floor is finished.
• Improve safety: Applying a floor finish with a high coefficient of friction (COF) rating can help prevent slip-and-fall accidents.
• Brighten the location: A floor finish is designed to reflect light. This light reflection can make a warehouse area look brighter, which provides a number of benefits. It reduces lighting needs, promotes safety, and brightens worker morale.
• Make maintenance easier: In general, it is easier to clean a floor that has a finish applied to it. The finish acts like a plate of glass, preventing soiling, stains, grease, and oil from penetrating the cement and making them easier to remove. Battery-powered sweepers and other floor-care equipment are often more effective at collecting and removing dust and debris on a finished floor as well.
• Keep the area neater: Warehouse and other industrial locations have a tendency to get a little sloppy. With a high-gloss shine on the floors, however, workers tend to have more respect for the warehouse work area and ensure that it is kept cleaner as well as better organized.
Tornado Industries has been engineering quality cleaning equipment for more than 85 years. For more information, visit www.tornadovac.com.
