Cleaning floor wax off of T&G...(ugh!)

[Sierra Clean Care]

I’ve been asked to clean some T&G in a set of restrooms. The spaces (men’s, women’s, and handicap restrooms), have been cleaned improperly for a long time. There is not only daily funk, but some dough head decided to wax them aswell. It was never cleaned properly in the first place, and they then slopped wax on them to give them the shiny look.
And, I’ve been asked to clean and wax some polished concrete....
I was wondering what process and chems the collective would recommend.
My plan was to clean the restrooms, and re seal the grout with Saigers Super Sealer.
The concrete: what wax would be EASY to work with.
Thank you in advance.
I know the first reaction is to walk away, but, this one I cannot. It’s part of a much bigger project, and if I can’t solve this issue, they will find someone else who can.....

 

[Hack Attack]

dunno if you have access to this, very good sealer and line of products

 

[hogjowl]

Shouldn’t you be staying at home?

 

[Fat Mike]

Use a grout brush on a 175 and use stripper in small areas. Keep it wet don’t let it dry and do add to much stripper a lot of em the water acts as a catalyst. Just don’t promise 100% removal. Sometimes the last 5-10% is the worst!

 

[Andy]

Use a wax stripper (I prefer Buckeyes they are non-butyl). Buckeye also has a finish for concrete.

 

[Kenny Hayes]

All you can do is the very best you can. Hot stripper, and baseboard stripper in joints. Use a regular black pad for tile, then brush for grout. You probably won’t get it all out of grout. Then I would reapply aqua mix sealer. That decision was made a long time ago

 

[scotty747]

That's nothing. The first one I ever did was a bank with years of wax buildup in the lobby. Every professional the manager called passed. But not me. I didn't even know they made tile and grout equipment. I was 23, broke, and just married with a new instant family to take care of. I laid stripper in the grout line, ran down it with a wire brush on a drill, and sucked up the slop with a wet vac. Two hours a night for a week or more straight. First time in my life I had the balls to ask for more money. I bumped the bill from 500.00 to700.00. I remember thinking if I could pressure wash this grout line and pick up the water at the same time that would be cool.
Oh, and just clean it like you normally would but with stripper. Again, and again, and again. Acid rinse.

 

[Sierra Clean Care]

IDK if my quote is on mark....
I quoted @ 5.00 SQFT for the T&G...
They wanted a quote for everything in the building.
It was 4 pages, and came in at 18,600...

 

[Andy]

You might also look into a strata grit brush for any of your electric floor machines. Nylo grit will be too stiff.

 

[Fat Mike]

You might also look into a strata grit brush for any of your electric floor machines. Nylo grit will be too stiff.

We use blue nyl grit with zero issue. The black brush is the super stiff one and of done way worse floors than that

 

[Sierra Clean Care]

You might also look into a strata grit brush for any of your electric floor machines. Nylo grit will be too stiff.

Source? Clean freak?

 

[Sierra Clean Care]

We use blue nyl grit with zero issue. The black brush is the super stiff one and of done way worse floors than that

I’ve got an old General 175/350 variable only. It’s a 17”....

 

[Fat Mike]

Blue brush we get ours from powerflite they last a long time but also depends how much tile and ugly wax jobs.

Only wax jobs we deal with is when custy does what you show above or when working with Saltillo/terra-cotta they always have a bunch of different topicals.

Sometimes we will throw on 50-75lbs of weight for grout lines. For tile surface black or a green pad. Just remember to rinse the pads off they do clog. When using pads we will use a buff pad on the driver then set it on the strip pad

 

[clean image]

Jobs looks rather easy. It’s not on that thick

use you fav chem stripper

test different dillutuon ratios fastest production rate

standard brush fine may need a blue swivel
Grout brush.

plan on using acid
For the white grout lines after atripping

you are using a turbo right? If not get a poertable
Set up

 

[Sierra Clean Care]

Jobs looks rather easy. It’s not on that thick

use you fav chem stripper

test different dillutuon ratios fastest production rate

standard brush fine may need a blue swivel
Grout brush.

plan on using acid
For the white grout lines after atripping

you are using a turbo right? If not get a poertable
Set up

I was planning on doing a cleaning firsthand with my TM. Then, put down stripper, scrub w/175, and grout brush. Then suck up slurry with a shop vac, rinse, and repeat...

 

[Andy]

I was planning on doing a cleaning firsthand with my TM. Then, put down stripper, scrub w/175, and grout brush. Then suck up slurry with a shop vac, rinse, and repeat...

What I seen in your pictures, the cleaning first would be unnecessary. The dirt is probably embedded in the wax anyhow, especially in the grout.

 

[clean image]

if there is a wax on there then standadr cleaning first would be waste of time and may hinder the stripping process.

we turbo stripper all the time, just squirt some liquid defoamsr with flip top..

like i said, test, i do not see much wax on there if any... maybee even a strong alkaline gets iy clean

 

[Sierra Clean Care]

Just received word that they’ve decided to move ahead with this project. We will start next Monday morning....
Sweet...
And thank you to everyone who gave advice...

 

[Fat Mike]

Just received word that they’ve decided to move ahead with this project. We will start next Monday morning....
Sweet...
And thank you to everyone who gave advice...

Cha Ching