Polished Concrete and Terrazzo Maintenance
With polished concrete floors, all you will need is typical daily cleaning with a dust mop, swiffer or micro-fiber pad (probably stuff you already have). Occasionally, re-application of AmeriPolish rejuvenating cleaner using cloth pads and spraying an even mist in front of your residential scrubbing/polishing machine (or filling your solution tank with the dilluted AmeraPolish Rejuvevating Cleaner, if applicable). Then, when dry, buff with micro-fiber pads to bring out the shine, as desired.
After 6 months or a year, you may want to "deep clean". That's when you break out the nylon brush pads that came with your machine and scrub with a good amount of solution on the floor. Remove excess solution with a mop. When dry, switch to micro-fiber pads and buff the floor.
Application methods may vary (cloth pads vs micro-fiber pads and types of sprayers vs mop applications), but nylon scrubbing pads should not be frequently necessary in a residential setting and buffing should only be done with micro-fiber pads.
You should test a small area (maybe a closet) befrore deep cleaning once or twice a year - to be sure that the nylon scrubbing pads don't cause any damage to any of your floors (polished concrete floors or any other hard surface floors that you may use this type of machine on). I have not personally tested any of the residential scrubbing/polishing machine's nylon pads. I have only pre-qualified the use of residential level scrubber/polishers for polished concrete based on the material data sheets. But, I seriously doubt that these machines will hurt polished concrete.
Residential Scrubbers/Polishers
These machines can come with or without a solution tank. For machines that don't come with a tank, simply spray a heavy mist of solution ahead of your machine or spray a small area (6-8 square feet at a time) and run the machine over the area, following the instructions above.
Rejuvenating Cleaner
We recommend that you pick up a 5 gallon bucket and lid from The Home Depot and mix your solution in large batches, filling solution tanks or spray bottles as needed. This will simplify measuring out the solution mixture. Remember to stir/mix the solution in the bucket before each refill of your sprayer or solution tank
Polished Concrete and Terrazzo No No's:
1) Never use rubber backed rugs. Choose rugs that have woven or cloth backings only. Rubber backed rugs prevent a "vapor pass" and will effect the color and sheen of polished concrete.
2) Never allow acidic liquids (vinegar, coffee, sodas and especially energy drinks) to sit on polished concrete floors. To see how acids effect polished concrete, see the floor of any isle, in any grocery store where pickles are sold.
3) Never, ever, ever put tape on your polished concrete or Terrazzo floors. The adhesive on ALL tapes will cause a chemical reaction with the sealer and will leave a very noticeable mark. The mark can not be removed by any other method than re-grinding the concrete floor.
If any of these things happen outside of your control, don't panic. Call us - we do spot repairs on polished concrete and Terrazzo. We can fix it.
If you choose to wax your polished concrete floors ("sacrificial coating"), you will need to strip, re-seal, re-coat and buff your floors once/twice a year to as much as quarterly (depending on the level of traffic) to remmediate "dulling" in the sheen. We offer this service.
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