Commercial Tile Cleaning

[bforbis 14]

I've been getting a number of jobs cleaning the interior areas of commercial kitchens, bathroom, and tiles dining areas.

Wondering if anyone else is doing this type of work, what rates are you charging any issues you have found.....That kind of stuff.

All has gone well for me so far and everyone has been very pleased with the final result.

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These floors have not been truely cleaned in a long time and the grease, grime and YUK was caked, especially in hte kitchen under the counters. I used my Vacuboom set up at one end (low point) and worked all the dirty water towards it and followed up with a squeegee and then vacuum up any excess puddles. The base boards were some of the nastiest stuff you could imagine. Really makes you think twice before eeating out at a restaurant agian!!!!!!

[One Tough Pressure 580]

I do tile and I start my pricing at .25 a sq ft. I use a vacuum surface cleaner, so the floor goes fast, it is the baseboards that take the most time for me.

[James 625]

One tough, did you make your own or is it a "steel eagle"? I have looked at many different way's of doing this to add on to my biz.

[One Tough Pressure 580]

One tough, did you make your own or is it a "steel eagle"? I have looked at many different way's of doing this to add on to my biz.

I have the Steel Eagle 11" and 24". I gave thought to making my own, but these are not a quickie item to produce. The time that you spend scavenging for parts and making one, you could have done a few jobs and paid for a real one that is already has the bugs worked out.

[bforbis 14]

I am sure the vac with cleaner all in one is a lot faster than the way I do it. But making due with what I have.

Alan; Do you have the Fury system with your cleaner?....Sorry if you had already posted that info

[squirtgun 122]

We did this for a McDonalds(kitchen arae) last year.I couldn't believe that amount of built up grease that came off of a floor that is mopped a couple times a day.We used berms and a shop vac for the bulk of the water.Drains in the floor area big help also. The worst part is that it only takes a couple of days for the floor to get nasty and slick again.

[bforbis 14]

I make sure to suggest to them to change their mop heads more frequently. These restaurants are only moving grease around when they "mop", most use bleach water and no cleaning additive or degreaser. The mop water sits for days and they go out to mop up and spread more crap on the floor.

[James 625]

Allen do you have the SeelEagle complete system or just the surface cleaner"s hooked to your own system of recovery? Do you do any residential tile or do you think water volume maybe a problem?

[JFife 14]

Anyone ever heard of Sani-glaze??

[bforbis 14]

Do you do any residential tile or do you think water volume maybe a problem?

James; Was that question directed toward Allen as well or myself???

[James 625]

You too. Yes.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

We did tile and grout cleaning at a local restaurant and used HD-80 on it and whoa!~

The manager said he didn't realize the grout was actually white!

Of course, 2 weeks later it was back to black again because of their laxness in mopping procedures. Oh well. More $$$ the next time and they are actually contributing to it as a result.

Rod!~

[bforbis 14]

Hey James,

have not tried inside residential and do not think I would. Too much flow/pressure and potential to cause damage.

I've done a couple of lonestar steak house restaurants where they had hardwood floors on top of concrete floors and had to be careful not to get water under the planking. It work out great. You talk about a huge difference!!! I don't know how many years of peanut salt, grease ect was on that floor but when I finished it actually looked like concrete. The manager and waitstaff were speechless at how much brighter it was in the restaurant.

I forgot to take the after photos to post with the ones above, DUH it was a long night-day-night thing I went by today to do a quality check with management and they want it as part of the regular cleaning schedule. I have 5 of this owners' restaurants. I dont; know what day it is anymore!!!!

[Steve Kiser 14]

Allen do you have the SeelEagle complete system or just the surface cleaner"s hooked to your own system of recovery? Do you do any residential tile or do you think water volume maybe a problem?

I do residential t&g but with a little bit differnet equipment, and we get 1.00 sp ft.

[One Tough Pressure 580]

I do not do any interior cleaning for residential, except for garage floors. The volume and pressure are not the issue, as bothcan be adjusted. I just do not have an interest in those jobs at the moment.

As for Fury System, I only use the Steel Eagle Surface cleaners. My vacuum system is made by another company.

[MMI Enterprises 289]

Only commercial here. I use autoscrubbers and swing machine with nylo grit brush. Chemical choice can vary depending on situation... Purple Power or Sodium Hydroxide for grease situations... and CLR for when the grout is filled with hard as nails deposits and black gunk.....then hydrochloric when it is really bad like new construction. Mortar is a pain and that is the only solution.....worth upwards of $3 sq./ft. easily for such a job. The regular maintenance scrubs on biweekly schedule run about $40-$60 an hour.

[Ron Musgraves 240]

The regular maintenance scrubs on biweekly schedule run about $40-$60 an hour.

That’s not enough money per hour, have we not been through what people need to charge.

Do you folks not know how much it takes to run your equipment?

Anyway, Beth mentioned the tile color. That’s funny because once I had the repair guy match the color of the dirty tile. When we got done it was black and white grout.

I cleaned a kitchen once that thought they had grout.

Interiors floors in commercial kitchen run on average about 475.00.

Fast food dining room is very easy and can be completed in about 2 to three hours. These front end jobs can run 275 to 375

[PRESSURE PACKED 14]

Can You Use Cold H20 With Chemicals Or Only Hot H20

[Steve Kiser 14]

the hotter the better

[Christopher 102]

Hello Bforbis, Do you regulate your pressure with different tips or just back off the pressure with a ball valve or adjust the unloader? I have heard that these tiles cannot take a lot of pressure and was wondering how much if anyone knows they can take? I have been called before to do tile floors but am afraid of too much pressure but I could do it with a wand but I would rather do it with a surface cleaner and some chems. Thanks.

[bforbis 14]

I use as little pressure as possible, mainly b/c you really don't know how good the grout or installation is. You can be cruising along and blow out a section of grout. But don't panic...it's not difficult to replace. The key is to inspect the area and expect it from some areas and inform the customer. Bill accordingly.

I inspect the area(s) before cleaning and look for anything that might be a problem. I do minor tile repair (some has turned into major repairs b/c of it was just needed...not b/c of highpressure) and regrouting.

I have developed a procedure, that even "tile isntallers" do not go to this much detail, for restaurants and use materials that are epoxy modified and really last.

I just did one last night, in a cooler of a Lone Star. If you don't mind the night life, there is good niche for interior tile cleaning for restaurants.

This morning I confirmed another Red Lobster for a complete interior cleaning of thekitchen and prep areas (no hoods), floors, walls, under equipment, sanitization...

[Ron Musgraves 240]

WOW, all year round pressure cleaning.

[Kory 14]

That steak n shake looked pretty nasty. My question is is there any water damage to the wood on the booths or baseboards? And have you had a problem with loose grout? I've done this at a dominoes and the manager thought it was awsome.

[bforbis 14]

No water damage at all. Very little water gets on wood surfaces. All booths are about 4" above floor on Stainless posts. Total floor abd base boards arre tile.

There was SO MUCH GREASE and dirt and crap on that floor it was about 3/16" thick in the grout areas. WHen I finished the final rinse the floor shined as if it weere new and grout was white again.

SOmetimes you do get grout removed, but I will replace it when necessary, but charge for it. If the tile and grout is sound, I have not had a problem with pressure washing, pressure or heat causing an issue. The areas that need work will show up and I know where and what to look for (as best possible).

Most managers understand, that it needs maintenance. Every store I have worked in for tile cleaning/repair has had many "TILE" contractors come in, charge $$$$ and the thile come out in 6 months. Where PW have the advantage is in the preparation. You get it clean, and properly prep'd, use the right materials (grouts, glues etc) it wil last. I have a procedure developed for this that works really well.

An example. About 3 years ago, one of my first jobs isdie a restaurant kitchen line where large areas of tile were coming up, had an area of water, grease, all kinds of FUNK about 1/2" under the tile. It was actually the grout bed had softened from the grease water and crap over many years.

Long story short....we removed, prep'd and installed for new tile. I do there cleaning (outside) on a monthly basis. The tile is still there and what we did not replace was coming up. We are repplacing other sections that were not replaced in a few weeks and have district interested in looking at other storers

[Christopher 102]

Hello, For the "Sanitizing" of some of these places, what do you usually use if it is not bleach? I am sure that there are a lot of things out there that work well like bleach but was wondering what alternatives there are and what has worked for you. Thanks.