Scrubber for epoxy floors?

[PugetDude]

Looking for some advice on cleaning epoxy floors- bought a house with a 5-car garage, all epoxy floors. These were installed in 2004, not sure they have ever been cleaned. I have about 1500ft2 to do.

Want to get these cleaned up, would like to do it myself in sections because I'll have to move stuff around. I'll scub a section, vaccum up the water, rinse, and repeat. Don't want to spend $800-1000 on an industrial floor machine, but I am sure I need more than a $39 electric mop.

Oreck Orbiter (~$300-350 on Amazon ) looks like it might do the job.

Thoughts? Recommendations?

 

[burleyfarm]

I used a micro fiber mop with mop bucket and ringer and Dawn dish soap. Rinsed down the drain and squeegee with a nylon squeegee. I had 1000 sq Ft of Epoxy Cost.

Used a micro fiber mop head due to anti slip in clear coat otherwise a regular cotton mop head will do. Much less $ than a machine.


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[nadogail]

Hot water and strong soap. No need for Holy Stones

 

[Stuart in MN]

Hot water and strong soap.

This. Try the basics before spending a lot of money - you can do a lot with a regular old mop and bucket.

 

[Squirel]

I work at a brewery with epoxy floor and we use an Oreck Orbiter. It works great and requires minimal elbow grease. You can clean a huge area in a small amount of time.

 

[NUTTSGT]

I've moved this to the Flooring Section. The guys here should be able to give you some good information of what to use and what not to use.

 

[PugetDude]

I've moved this to the Flooring Section. The guys here should be able to give you some good information of what to use and what not to use.

Thanks, Eric.

 

[Bruce Amacker]

Rent a scrubber from the local hardware store, they'll do the work of 10 men. I've been scrubbing shop floors for 40 years and it's the best money you'll ever spend. $16/4 hours is all I need, I think it's $30 for 24 hours. The giant Scotchbrite scrub pads are $10 each, I get 2-3 scrubs from a pad. I do my floors about 3 times a year. My floors are painted and oddly the pads don't hurt them at all. I use about a cup of Tide in 4 gallons of water for soap.

 

[benwah]

If you are going to be cleaning sections at a time I personally would suggest and mop, bucket and a mild detergent like Dawn. If you have stubborn oil or grease areas used some simple green or purple Power

They should clean very easily. You should test an area before you go spending hundreds of dollars for no reason

 

[aviatorin]

I work at a brewery with epoxy floor and we use an Oreck Orbiter. It works great and requires minimal elbow grease. You can clean a huge area in a small amount of time.

what type of pads to you use?

 

[aviatorin]

Looking for some advice on cleaning epoxy floors- bought a house with a 5-car garage, all epoxy floors. These were installed in 2004, not sure they have ever been cleaned. I have about 1500ft2 to do.

Want to get these cleaned up, would like to do it myself in sections because I'll have to move stuff around. I'll scub a section, vaccum up the water, rinse, and repeat. Don't want to spend $800-1000 on an industrial floor machine, but I am sure I need more than a $39 electric mop.

Oreck Orbiter (~$300-350 on Amazon ) looks like it might do the job.

Thoughts? Recommendations?

what pads you ended up using for this ?

 

[PugetDude]

Ended up using a mop with a nylon scrub pad on one side. Actually bought a "reconditioned" Ryobi 18V scrubber on eBay, but it was DOA when I tried to use it. Plan was to use the scrubber and a wet vac to clean up the dirty water.
Will revisit it this winter when I get back to Phoenix.

 

[tncatadjuster]

Bissel spinwave, works great.

 

[aviatorin]

I work at a brewery with epoxy floor and we use an Oreck Orbiter. It works great and requires minimal elbow grease. You can clean a huge area in a small amount of time.

what color of brush or pad you are using on epoxy floor cleaning with oreck orbiter?

 

[e015475]

I bought a floor burnisher for the 1200 or so square feet of epoxy floor I had in my former house in Phoenix. I found it on CL for about $300 - new they are north of $1000. If you go the burnisher route, you need to make sure the speed isn't too high - you can smear the epoxy with the burnisher if you're not careful. (I put a larger driven pully and belt on mine to be on the safe side and so I can use it with white pads, but there's 'blue thermal' pads that can run fast without burning)

I used the 17" white Scotchbrite pads on it.

To clean the epoxy floor, I would mix a little ammonia and Dawn in a mop bucket and mop the floor with a cotton mop. With the surface wet, I'd hit it with the burnisher and white pad to loosen the dirt. I'd use clean water in the mop bucket to pick up the dirt and water.

After it dried, the floor would be a little hazy and I really liked it to shine. I bought some stuff in a spray bottle called "Point Up" from a local janitorial supply store and would spray it on 5-6 feet ahead of the burnisher (with a clean and dry white pad) as a mist. I'd hit it with the burnisher, and the heat from the would dry it and bring up the gloss.

If I had to guess, I'd say the "Buff Up" spray was just a diluted acrylic wax, but you can get good advice and materials from a janitorial supply store.

Ended up using a mop with a nylon scrub pad on one side. Actually bought a "reconditioned" Ryobi 18V scrubber on eBay, but it was DOA when I tried to use it. Plan was to use the scrubber and a wet vac to clean up the dirty water.
Will revisit it this winter when I get back to Phoenix.

PugetDude, you might try Hilyards in Mesa, located on Extension just south of the 60 for chemicals, pads and advice.

 

[PugetDude]

Thanks!