THE HISTORY OF
HARD FLOOR CARE
FROM DIRT TO MODERN
SYSTEMS
WE WILL COVER:
Types of floor surfaces
The evolution of floor coatings
The timeline of developments
Types of equipment used to
maintain hard floors
Through the Years
Prehistoric
Mid-evil
19th Century
20th Century
The
st
21
Century
New technology
DIRT!
Since the beginning
of time
STONE!
Earliest discovery
was 5000 years B.C.
MOSAIC
DATES TO
3000 B.C.
Next Was….
Ceramic Tile
Somewhere around
1500 B.C.
Then came…..
MARBLE
PORCELAIN
FOLLOWED
NEXT
Around 500 B.C.
TERRAZZO WAS
NEXT!
DATES
FROM
THE
VENETIANS
SLATE!!
Widely used for
roofs but also
for floors
WOOD!!!
Let’s not forget WOOD
Wood Floors





Been used since the Med-Evil times
Most widely used form of flooring by the colonists
There are varying degrees of hardness
Pine is the softest
Oak is amongst the hardest
The First Coatings were made by
The Butcher polish
Company
Founded in 1880
 Their first product
was
S.C. Johnson
 Founded in 1886
 One of the largest manufacturer’s of
cleaning products today
 Their first product was:
WOODEN PARQUET
FLOORING
Modern coatings
weren’t developed
until many
decades later!
The Evolution of Floor Tile
1925
Asphalt Tile
1954 Vinyl
Asbestos Tile
1976-77
Vinyl
Composition
Tile
What’s Next?
The Evolution of Coatings
1946
The first synthetic
coating
1968
Johnson Wax
Introduces
COMPLETE
1975
Johnson Wax
Introduces
SHOWPLACE
1985
Butcher Polish
Intoduces
IRONSTONE
The Inventor of Modern Synthetic
Coatings
Richard “Dick”
Gable
Further Developments
In the mid 1960’s, S.C. Johnson invented:
COMPLETE
Further Developments
Drawback
Styrene “yellows” in a relatively
short period of time.
Cleaning Equipment
Buffers
Wet
Vacuums
Auto
Scrubbers
Polishers
Buffers (AKA) Floor Machines




Introduced in the 1930’s
The motor turned at 150 RPM’s
Speed upgraded to 175 RPM’s around 1950
Two-speed machines were introduced by Advance
in 1974
 300 RPM’s (high-speed) intoduced in 1975
Wet Vacuums
First
appeared
in the
1960’s
Auto-Scrubbers




Invented by American Lincoln
Clarke soon followed
Advance introduced their early scrubbers in 1970
By 1974 the Auto-Scrubber was saving labor
throughout the U.S.A.
Polishers
 In 1975 the first polisher was the NSS propane
buffer – you needed a mechanic with each machine
to tighten the screws!
 In 1977 NSS developed the first (burnisher) as we
know them today – 1050 RPM’s
 In 1979 Pullman-Holt had 1080 RPM’s
THE RACE WAS ON!!
Who will win the RPM
contest?
THE RACE WAS ON!!
 NSS was up to 1500 RPM’s with the Charger (still
the only burnisher with the patented, tilted deck to
run on less than 12 amps)
 2000 RPM machines were in every manufacturer’s
line by 1980.
 3000 RPM came in the mid 1980’s
 2500 RPM is still available
THE RACE WAS ON!!
3000 RPM’s tuRned
out to be (too
fast) for the
floor finishes
Ultra High Speed Floor
Finishes
(1.) not “yellow” anymore
(2.) keep from powdering at the
tremendous speeds generated by
the burnishing equipment
SOLIDS – SOLIDS - SOLIDS
 The Earliest finishes had 14% solids (the Carnuba
wax)
 Complete was (about 16%) and set up very hard
 18% floor finishes hit the market in the late 1970’s
 20% was introduced in 1982
Solids – solids - solids
 S.C. Johnson, Spartan, Butcher and a few other
manufacturers thought 25% would work well
 Some manufacturers backed down to 22%
 Still others went to 30 – 35% only to find they
didn’t work
 Finally, around the turn of the 21st century
30% finishes were refined and worked!
Solids – solids - solids
Is more
better??
Floor pads
Floor pads were developed in the early
1970’s
Does anyone remember having to buff with
steel wool pads??? Bassine Brushes???
THAT’S ALL WE HAD!!!
Floor Pads
ETC of Henderson, NC
introduced
The “GORILLA” pad in 1981
Gorilla Pad
Beautiful shine it creates
You can tell when a “Gorilla”
pad is being used by what
other phenomenon?
Floor Pads
3M Introduced the “Eraser”
pad in the late 1990’s
Modern Tile
Asphalt Tile
This tile was colorful
 Red
 Green
 Brown
 Blue
9” x 9”
Asphalt Tile
Though this tile is durable it is also
quite rigid and therefore, subject
to cracking
Vinyl Asbestos Tile (VAT)
 Developed in 1954.
 Either 9” x 9” or 12” x 12”
 By 1970 it was all 12” x 12”
Vinyl Composition Tile (VCT)
(VCT) was developed in the
mid 1970’s
MAINTENANCE!!
MAINTENANCE!!
MAINTENANCE!!
Normal Procedures
 Strip off the factory coating when new
 Rinse and apply either a sealer or combination
sealer/floor finish
 Clean regularly
 Buff to maintain the shine
 When the floor finish shows wear either scrub and
apply more finish or strip and recoat
STRIP – APPLY FLOOR FINISH, CLEAN,
BUFF
REPEAT, REPEAT, REPEAT,
REPEAT, REPEAT, REPEAT,
REPEAT, REPEAT, REPEAT,
REPEAT, REPEAT, REPEAT,
REPEAT, REPEAT, REPEAT
Inorganic Coating
Introduced
in 2005
A paradigm
Shift.
Benefits
The coating’s high pH remains
No microbial activity
Never needs stripping
Increases the lummins
Resists scratching
Other coatings
Epoxy
Urethane
REVIEW - Substrates






Concrete
Ceramic Tile
Porcelain Tile
Asphalt Tile
Vinyl Tile
Vinyl Composition Tile (VCT)
Review - Coatings





Natural base – Carnuba Wax
Synthetic finishes
Inorganic coating
Epoxy
urethane
Review - equipment




Floor Machines
Wet/Dry Vacuums
High Speed Burnishers (Propane and Electric)
Automatic Scrubbers
Programs
 The variety of substrates, coatings and maintenance
equipment available offer the institution many options
when creating the right program for their facility.
Labor
 Depending on the program selected labor can account
for between 80% to 90% of the total custodial budget.