Tile and Grout cleaning and removing wax

[TimetoShine]

I have a customer that wants me to clean their tile floors which have previously been waxed. My thought process behind cleaning these floors is #1) spreading a floor stripper down and letting out set in for about 10min or so #2) go through and scrub all the tiles to remove the wax #3) go through and spray groutmaster throughout #4) clean up the floors

I'm just curious if anybody else has run into a job like this where a customer waxed the tiles and had to clean the floors. Any other insights on trying to clean these floors in a decent amount of time that won't take too long?

 

[Steam It.]

Been there done that. 20 years of wax build up on one job it was so horrible. Lots of stripper and I think it would be easier to just use a good shop vac because it clogged filters and my 2 inch hose was caked with wax. Don’t even try and use your spinner until all wax is completely gone. It took us 22 hours to clean 6 restrooms. Told them to never wax tile again, 6 months later they were back to waxing. Hope they never call me again.

 

[TimetoShine]

Been there done that. 20 years of wax build up on one job it was so horrible. Lots of stripper and I think it would be easier to just use a good shop vac because it clogged filters and my 2 inch hose was caked with wax. Don’t even try and use your spinner until all wax is completely gone. It took us 22 hours to clean 6 restrooms. Told them to never wax tile again, 6 months later they were back to waxing. Hope they never call me again.

I'm thinking of using my Orbiter with a green scrub pad after the stripper sits on for a little bit, and then use my floor squeegee to "rake" up there debris into a pile... Then I'm hoping to be able to use the spinner to clean the floors afterward... Hopefully I don't run into any problems, it's mostly 2 hallways, 2 bathrooms and a reception area. By the sounds of what you're saying I may lose my butt on this job I charged them quite a bit to do this and they jumped on it. I get the feeling everybody else must've charged extra high. I anticipated having to spend some time here, I'm just hoping it's not going to be a huge disappointment.

 

[Fedri]

Been there done that. 20 years of wax build up on one job it was so horrible. Lots of stripper and I think it would be easier to just use a good shop vac because it clogged filters and my 2 inch hose was caked with wax. Don’t even try and use your spinner until all wax is completely gone. It took us 22 hours to clean 6 restrooms. Told them to never wax tile again, 6 months later they were back to waxing. Hope they never call me again.

I had a similar situation and since then I am checking carefully before every tile cleaning jobs if it is waxed or not. If they do call you just give them the quote sheet of $200x22 hours=$4400

 

[OxiFreshGuy]

I did a natural stone job today, there was a bit of wax on one corner that was covered by the butcher block table, about a 2x3 area. I didn't notice it until we moved the table so I just simply put the table back over it after sealing it lol

 

[Kxp]

I got called on one and told him it would be cheaper to do a top scrub and add more wax that’s what we did.

 

[TimetoShine]

I got called on one and told him it would be cheaper to do a top scrub and add more wax that’s what we did.

That's a good idea. I might just suggest this, I'm going to start in one bathroom first and see how it goes, if it looks like it's going to be a pain I'll suggest the rewaxing

 

[Kxp]

Oh believe me it’s going to be a pain I also tried a bathroom first , you also have to protect the baseboards that’s where the trouble starts, it can be done but they have to have deep pockets to pay for a lot of time.

 

[mustangcarpet]

Been there done that. 20 years of wax build up on one job it was so horrible. Lots of stripper and I think it would be easier to just use a good shop vac because it clogged filters and my 2 inch hose was caked with wax. Don’t even try and use your spinner until all wax is completely gone. It took us 22 hours to clean 6 restrooms. Told them to never wax tile again, 6 months later they were back to waxing. Hope they never call me again.

Yep we pass on these jobs because it’s not worth it. We actually did an estimate the other day with one of these situations and ended up giving the estimate for the carpet only.

 

[PistolPete]

When you do the estimate take some stripper and a razor blade and do a test spot to see how thick the wax is.
Then charge accordingly.
I second the posts on here about using a shop vac if the wax is anything more than one coat.
Using a spinner and TM is like using a Porsche to plough a field...
If its multiple layers of wax then you're in for a long day.

 

[bcsfacilities]

This is the way right here. Test spot and shop vac will take you home.

 

[Maninpc]

WAX? What type of wax would you even use and why would they do that?

 

[TimetoShine]