Solution Control
By Mike Schaffer

Before professional painters paint the walls of a room, they always “cut it in” first. This means they go around the room, painting or “cutting in” a few inches of paint in corners, around doors and door frames, where the wall meets the ceiling, and along baseboards. With this carefully completed, they can roll or spray the paint on the larger flat surfaces of the wall with less concern about marring the edges.

With floorcare, at least when it comes to refinishing, while we approach it a bit differently, detail work related to “cutting in” the edges, is no less a challenge than a painter contends with.  Our big concern is to not get stripper, detergents, or finish on nearby walls, baseboards, and doors so traditionally floor care crews try to stay away from edges as much as possible.  This is sometimes referred to as “solution control.” We are not so much concerned about the chemical/water mixture used to clean the floors as we are about where it goes—or splatters.

Once on the walls, baseboards, or doors, the solution can be difficult to remove, can damage paint, and slows down the job, which is a costly situation because the big expense in floorcare is labor. Compounding the problem is the fact that sometimes the technician is unaware that the solution has gotten on the walls or doors. Because stripping solutions are so powerful, this can cause even more damage to these outlining surfaces.

Further, cleaning solution may go under a door and if near a storage room, for instance, damage boxes or files. Or it can flow into a carpeted area where it can harm the floor covering. It may also run out of the work area entirely into a trafficked area, presenting a potential slip and fall scenario.

That’s why solution control is one of a floorcare technician’s primary concerns. And in most cases, they are the ones that are responsible for preventing these problems.

One way to prevent solution from spreading into other rooms or areas—and probably the oldest method—is with towels, which can be folded and then placed under doors to protect these areas and nearby carpets from getting wet.

The technician should flatten the towels and wedge them under closed doors to prevent water from going underneath into nearby rooms. Towels can also be used around floors and stairwells to keep solution from getting on the walls and can be folded and placed end to end along a hall to keep solution in the actual working area, away from traffic lanes.

However, keeping solution off walls, doors, and baseboards can still be a problem. Usually, to prevent solution from splattering these areas, the technician stays at least 6 inches or more away from the edge. Since that area has to be stripped as well to avoid buildup, they have to turn to another old method of floorcare called elbow grease. The worker traditionally scrubs these areas by hand, which is slow, messy, and potentially dangerous if chemical gets on skin or in eyes.

Fortunately, there is another answer that not only keeps solution in its place but allows cleaning workers to stand tall and complete their duties quickly and professionally. It’s called cylindrical brush technology.

Because the two counter-rotating brushes on a cylindrical machine turn inward, there is little chance for solution to spray onto walls. Also, the base of many cylindrical machines is square, allowing the machine to be placed directly against baseboards. This allows these areas to be thoroughly cleaned quickly and efficiently just like the rest of the floor.

One final feature of cylindrical machines is that they use less water and solution than conventional disk machines. This helps minimize solution-control problems—and helps protect the environment as well.