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Floors do not fail because of traffic. They fail when the stage being run does not match the condition of the floor — stripping on a calendar, sealing what does not need it, or leaving abrasive soil on a finish that is still sound.
Floor CareCondition sets the stage. Not the calendar.
One loop, six stages — and every product owns exactly one of them
Six stages. One loop. Four maintenance intervals.
CI360™ is a task-based program, not a product shelf. Floor care runs as a closed loop: restore, prep, finish, maintain, recoat — and back into finish. Each stage has one job and one product lane. The program fails when the lanes blur: stripping too early, sealing floors that do not need it, carrying two daily neutral cleaners, or using heavy degreaser as routine chemistry on a finished floor.
Effective floor care balances chemistry, mechanical action, dwell time, soil load, and maintenance frequency. CI360 standardizes those variables so a facility can hold appearance, durability, and cost control without over-stripping or guesswork. The single most valuable thing this program does is move a building out of recovery mode and into cycle.
- Restoration chemistry returns the floor to a clean neutral substrate — and nothing else.
- Sealer earns its place only where porosity would absorb finish.
- One finish system carries gloss, durability, and burnish response for the whole site.
- Daily chemistry protects the finish by removing the soil that cuts it.
- Interim scrub-and-recoat extends finish life and pushes the strip interval out.
- Specialty chemistry stays in its own lane and is retired when the problem is corrected.
- Stripping annually by habit when the floor could be scrub-recoated twice instead.
- Sealing every floor because the procedure says so, regardless of substrate.
- Running two neutral cleaners so nobody has to decide.
- Solving dull floors by adding coats without cleaning or deglossing first.
- Using heavy degreaser as a general-purpose floor cleaner on finished surfaces.
Follow site SOPs, current SDS, product labels, PPE requirements, and applicable regulations. Never mix stripper or alkaline chemistry with acid products. Barricade and sign wet floors during stripping and finishing, ventilate the area, and keep restoration chemistry in its own lane — label every secondary container.
Do not answer every floor problem by increasing concentration. Dull gloss may be soil load. Poor coverage may be porosity. Residue and film usually mean overtreatment, not undertreatment. A stronger dilution is not a substitute for running the right stage.
Restore & Surface Prep
Stripping exhausted finish, restoring without stripping, and sealing porous substrate before the first coat.
“Strip by condition, not by calendar. Seal only where porosity earns it.”
This is the most expensive pair of stages in the loop, which is why they should run least often. Strip when the finish is structurally exhausted — uneven gloss, embedded heel marks, powdering, peeling, or no response to burnishing. If the finish is dull but still sound, this is not the stage you want; go to interim maintenance instead. Once stripped, decide on porosity: seal a floor that would otherwise absorb finish, and skip the stage on floors that will not.
| Task / condition · best-fit products | Why it belongs · operator note | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Finish removal — exhausted coatingCI UltraStripX | High-strength, low-odour floor stripper for fast, deep finish removal in commercial environments.Apply evenly and hold the dwell. A stripper that dries on the floor has to be re-applied — that is the most common cause of a slow strip. |
| 2 | Mechanical agitation | Chemistry loosens the coating; the pad removes it.Match pad aggressiveness to the coating, not to the operator’s patience. Edges, corners, and door tracks are done by hand or they are not done. |
| 3 | Slurry recovery and rinse to neutral | Everything the stripper lifted has to leave the floor before any coating goes down.Residual stripper is the reason new finish peels. Rinse until the floor is neutral, then let it dry fully. |
| 4 | Porosity assessment | A water-drop check tells you whether the substrate will absorb finish.If it soaks in, seal. If it beads, skip the sealer stage and go straight to finish — the sealer earns nothing there. |
| 5 | Sealing porous substrateCI UltraSealX Floor Sealer | Penetrating high-gloss floor sealer that improves finish adhesion and durability.Two thin coats beat one heavy coat. On porous VCT, concrete, terrazzo, and stone this stage pays for itself in finish not absorbed. |
| 6 | Restore instead of strip · winter filmCI Redemption XL Floor RestorerCI SaltBurn Salt Residue Stain Remover | A non-acidic restorer that cleans and rejuvenates polymer finish in one pass; a targeted remover for salt residue, de-icer staining, and winter film.Both are condition-driven, not scheduled. Salt film at entrances is a distinct problem from finish failure — treat it as its own task before deciding to strip. |
Dull is not the same as dead. Only one of the two is worth a strip.
- Gloss has dropped but the film is continuous and sound.
- Burnishing still brings back shine in traffic lanes.
- There is no powdering, peeling, or flaking at edges.
- Heel marks sit on the surface rather than embedded in layers.
- Finish is yellowed, layered, and uneven across the floor.
- Coating powders, peels, or flakes under a pad.
- Burnishing produces no gloss response at all.
- Repeated recoats sit on top of a failing base layer.
Assess → recoat → restore → strip.
Stripping appears on the schedule every year regardless of condition. Crews strip in areas that still burnish well. Finish is being rebuilt from bare substrate more than once a year on floors with normal traffic. Product spend spikes annually with no change in traffic or soil load.
New finish peels or flakes within weeks — usually residual stripper or an unrinsed floor. Coats are absorbed unevenly on porous substrate that was never sealed. Edges and corners carry visible buildup while the middle of the floor looks acceptable.
Finish Application
Building the protective working surface that carries gloss, durability, and burnish response.
“Thin coats, full dry time, one finish system per site. Coats do not fix a floor that was not clean when you started.”
The finish is the working surface. Everything downstream — daily cleaning, burnishing, scrub-recoat intervals, and how often the floor needs stripping — depends on how well this stage was executed. Lock one finish system for the site and stay on it. Mixing finish products from different suppliers produces adhesion and appearance problems that look like maintenance failures but are not.
| Task / condition · best-fit products | Why it belongs · operator note | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Applying the finishCI UltraShine X High Solids | High-solids floor finish with nano-zinc cross-linking — strong gloss build, fast dry, and durable burnish response.Thin and even beats thick and fast. A heavy coat traps solvent, dries soft, and marks under the first cart that crosses it. |
| 2 | Dry interval between coats | 15–20 minutes is the working figure; humidity and airflow move it.If the previous coat is still tacky, the next coat will not bond. Waiting is cheaper than recoating a failed floor. |
| 3 | Coat count by traffic | 3–5 coats on initial build; 1–2 on scrub-recoat.Light-traffic municipal floors do not need arena coat counts. Match the build to the load the floor actually carries. |
| 4 | Cure before traffic returns | The finish continues to harden after it is dry to touch.Schedule finishing at the start of a closure window, not the end. Early traffic is the most common cause of a finish that looks worn within a month. |
| 5 | Rubber and arena surfacesCI BlackMagic Hockey Floor Polish | Black, water-based, non-powdering self-polishing finish built for rubber arena floors and dressing rooms.Do not run standard floor finish on rubber arena flooring. It is a separate substrate with its own product lane. |
Coat count is set by traffic, not by ambition.
- Traffic is light to moderate — municipal offices, low-use corridors.
- The floor is sealed and holdout is good.
- Scrub-recoat is scheduled and will maintain the build.
- Closure windows are short and full cure cannot be guaranteed.
- Traffic is heavy and continuous — arenas, schools, main corridors.
- The substrate is porous and consumed part of the first coats.
- Burnishing is part of the routine and will wear the top layer.
- The recoat interval will be long by operational necessity.
What a good finish stage buys you.
A correctly built finish carries three things: gloss that survives traffic, a surface that responds to burnishing, and a film thick enough that a scrub-recoat can be performed without cutting into sealer or substrate. Get those three and the annual strip stops being necessary. Miss them and every downstream stage works harder for a worse result.
Different finish chemistries have different cross-linking behaviour, different burnish response, and different removal characteristics. A site running two finishes will eventually produce a floor that neither product can maintain — and the only exit is a full strip.
Daily & Interim Maintenance
Soil removal, dust control, spot maintenance, and the scrub-recoat cycle that keeps the floor out of recovery mode.
“Abrasive soil left on the floor is what destroys finish. Traffic is not the real problem; dirty maintenance is.”
Daily soil removal is the highest-leverage step in the entire program. Use one neutral cleaner as the site standard — HG Concentrate as the default, or NutraClean where that is already the established product. Do not run both as parallel daily cleaners. When gloss drops but the finish is still sound, scrub and recoat rather than strip. Every recoat cycle you complete pushes the strip interval further out, and the strip interval is where the money is.
| Task / condition · best-fit products | Why it belongs · operator note | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Soil capture at entrances | Three stages of matting — scraper, wiper, and finishing — remove the majority of tracked soil before it reaches the finish.The cheapest floor care product in the building is matting. Every gram of grit stopped at the door is grit that never cuts the finish. |
| 2 | Tracked abrasive loadCI SaltBurn Salt Residue Stain Remover | Winter brings de-icer and salt film into the first ten metres of every entrance.Treat entrance salt film as its own task, on its own frequency — it does not belong in the general daily route. |
| 3 | Daily neutral cleaningCI HG Concentrate Synthetic DetergentCI NutraClean pH 7 Detergent | A neutral-pH, non-soap floor cleaner for daily maintenance; a neutral-pH all-purpose alternative where that is the site standard.Standardize on one. Two parallel daily cleaners split training, split inventory, and make results impossible to compare between shifts. |
| 4 | Dust control between wet cleaningsCI Dust Mop Treatment LCI Dust Mop Treatment Aerosol Spray for Dust Control | Water-based and aerosol dust mop treatments that hold dust and fine particulate in the mop instead of redistributing it.Water-based treatment leaves no slippery residue on finished floors. Dust mopping between wet cleanings is what keeps the daily route from getting longer. |
| 5 | Scrub and recoatCI HG Concentrate Synthetic DetergentCI UltraShine X High Solids | Scrub with dilute neutral cleaner to clean and degloss, then apply 1–2 coats of finish.This is the cycle that decides annual cost. More recoats between strips means longer finish life and lower total spend. |
| 6 | Spot maintenance | Entrances, heel-mark zones, spill areas, and high-wear corridor lanes.Spot work is weekly, not annual. A corridor treated in sections never needs the whole floor taken out of service. |
A dull floor is usually a soil problem before it is a finish problem.
- Gloss returns after a proper wet clean and dry.
- The dull areas follow traffic lanes and entrances.
- Film or haze appears shortly after cleaning — overtreatment.
- Dust mopping frequency has slipped or matting is undersized.
- Cleaning makes no difference to gloss.
- Burnish response has flattened out across the floor.
- Scratch patterns run into the film rather than sitting on it.
- The last recoat is well past its interval for this traffic level.
Clean → dust control → spot → recoat.
Film and haze on a finished floor is almost always too much product, not too little. Post dilution charts at every dispensing point and verify the dispenser rather than adjusting by eye.
Specialty & Problem Soils
Carpet care, spotting, fabric protection, heavy grease correction, and recovery-tank foam control.
“Specialty chemistry is not daily chemistry. Correct the problem, then return to the standard floor program.”
This stage exists so the rest of the loop can stay clean. Carpet has its own lane — pre-treat, extract or shampoo, spot, and protect. Heavy grease in kitchens, mechanical rooms, and industrial contamination zones has its own lane. Neither belongs in the daily rotation on a finished hard floor. Run the correction, confirm the surface is back to normal, and put the product away.
| Task / condition · best-fit products | Why it belongs · operator note | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carpet pre-treatmentCI Carpet Enzyme Pre Treatment | Non-toxic, biodegradable powdered enzyme pre-spray for hot water extraction systems.Pre-spray and dwell does more for a soiled carpet than raising extraction chemistry concentration. Give the enzymes time to work. |
| 2 | Hot water extractionCI Carpet Extraction Cleaning Solution | Professional extraction cleaner for periodic deep carpet care with odour control and allergen neutralization.Low foam matters here — foam in the recovery tank ends the job early. Extract until the water runs clean, then dry the area properly. |
| 3 | Rotary and bonnet systemsCI Carpet Shampoo Cleaning Solution | Concentrated, biodegradable carpet shampoo that loosens embedded soil for rotary and bonnet cleaning.Interim method between full extractions. Residue-free rinse matters because leftover shampoo attracts soil faster than the original contamination did. |
| 4 | Spotting and fabric protectionCI CSR Shoot Out Aerosol Carpet Stain RemoverCI Commander SoilGuard Fabric Anti-Soil Treatment | A fast-acting, solvent-free aerosol spotter for carpet and upholstery; a water-based anti-soil treatment with static control.Spot immediately — a spot treated on the day is a spot; treated a week later it is a stain. Anti-soil treatment after cleaning extends the interval to the next full extraction. |
| 5 | Recovery-tank foam controlCI Foam Control Agent for Industrial Defoaming Applications | Industrial foam control agent for cleaning equipment and process systems.A defoamer in the recovery tank is equipment maintenance, not floor chemistry. It keeps extraction and autoscrubber runs from being cut short. |
| 6 | Heavy grease and industrial soilCI ACII Degreaser | Economical water-soluble degreaser for grease, oils, and stubborn contamination.Kitchens, mechanical rooms, and industrial zones only. This is corrective chemistry — it is not a maintenance cleaner for a finished floor. |
Carpet chemistry, spotting aerosols, and heavy degreaser each solve a specific problem. Once the problem is corrected, the surface goes back on the standard program. Products left in daily rotation after the correction is finished are the fastest way to lose gloss and build residue.
Test spotters and degreasers in an inconspicuous area first — carpet dye stability, rubber and vinyl compatibility, and finish sensitivity all vary by installation. Two minutes of testing is cheaper than replacing a section of carpet.
One system, three deployments — what changes is frequency, not logic
The product lanes stay fixed. The cycle interval moves with traffic and soil load.
CI360 floor care scales from light-traffic municipal buildings to high-impact arenas on the same core product set. A school does not need different chemistry than an arena; it needs a longer interval between the same stages. Setting the interval correctly for the building is the entire deployment decision.
School & Municipal
Standard traffic · VCT and composite floors
HG Concentrate autoscrub to remove abrasive soil before it cuts the finish.
Scrub and recoat with UltraShine X to restore gloss and extend finish life.
Strip with UltraStripX, seal with UltraSealX if required, then refinish.
Healthcare & Assisted Living
Continuous traffic · appearance and hygiene priority
HG Concentrate by microfibre mop or autoscrub for film-free maintenance.
Burnish or targeted scrub where traffic dulls the finish.
Scrub and recoat where finish integrity is dropping but stripping is unnecessary.
Arena & Recreation
High soil load · accelerated maintenance
HG Concentrate autoscrub every day. High-use sites do not get to skip soil removal.
Scrub and recoat with UltraShine X. Frequent recoat is cheaper than repeated strip-outs.
ACII Degreaser for concession spillover, kitchens, and mechanical contamination.
| Condition on the floorWhat you are actually looking at | StageWhere it belongs in the loop | First moveDo this before anything else | Products | Escalate only if… |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| S1Finish failure or heavy buildup | Restore | Confirm exhaustion, then strip and rebuild the system. | CI UltraStripXCI UltraSealX Floor SealerCI UltraShine X High Solids | Peeling returns after refinishing — check rinse and residual stripper. |
| S2Porous substrate before finish | Surface prep | Water-drop test, then seal only if it absorbs. | CI UltraSealX Floor Sealer | Coverage rates stay abnormally high after sealing. |
| S3New finish system needed | Finish | Build 3–5 thin coats with full dry time between. | CI UltraShine X High Solids | Gloss is uneven after cure — the floor was not clean or dry. |
| S3Rubber arena floor or dressing room | Finish | Use the arena finish lane, not standard floor finish. | CI BlackMagic Hockey Floor Polish | Powdering appears — confirm product and substrate match. |
| S4Daily soil control | Daily | Standardize one neutral cleaner and hold the frequency. | CI HG Concentrate Synthetic DetergentCI NutraClean pH 7 Detergent | Film appears — verify dilution before changing product. |
| S4Dust and fine grit between cleanings | Daily | Treated dust mop on a set route. | CI Dust Mop Treatment LCI Dust Mop Treatment Aerosol Spray for Dust Control | Residue or slip complaints — switch to water-based treatment. |
| S4Winter salt film at entrances | Daily | Treat as a separate entrance task on its own frequency. | CI SaltBurn Salt Residue Stain Remover | Staining persists after treatment — assess finish damage. |
| S5Dull but sound finish | Interim | Scrub with neutral cleaner and recoat 1–2 coats. | CI HG Concentrate Synthetic DetergentCI UltraShine X High Solids | Gloss will not hold for a full interval — reassess coat count. |
| S5Finish recoverable without stripping | Interim | Restore in place before committing to a strip. | CI Redemption XL Floor Restorer | Appearance does not recover — move to S1. |
| S6Carpet deep clean | Specialty | Pre-treat, dwell, then extract. | CI Carpet Enzyme Pre TreatmentCI Carpet Extraction Cleaning Solution | Soil returns quickly — add anti-soil treatment. |
| S6Rotary or bonnet carpet cleaning | Specialty | Interim method between full extractions. | CI Carpet Shampoo Cleaning Solution | Residue attracts soil — confirm rinse. |
| S6Carpet spots and stains | Specialty | Spot on the day. Test first. | CI CSR Shoot Out Aerosol Carpet Stain RemoverCI Commander SoilGuard Fabric Anti-Soil Treatment | Stain has set — escalate to extraction. |
| S6Grease or industrial soil | Specialty | Targeted correction, then return to the standard program. | CI ACII Degreaser | Contamination recurs — the source is upstream, not the floor. |
| S6Foam stopping the machine | Specialty | Defoamer in the recovery tank. | CI Foam Control Agent for Industrial Defoaming Applications | Foam persists — check cleaner dilution and residual product on the floor. |
| Rule of thumb | If the answer to a floor problem is “strip it,” check the four stages above the strip first. Most floors that look finished are one scrub-recoat away from another full cycle of service. | |||
Set it right once, then keep it in cycle
Commissioning turns the stage architecture into repeatable work.
Identify floor type and traffic level, select one finish system, train staff on dilution ratios, standardize equipment, and document maintenance intervals so performance does not drift as staff changes over time. A program that lives in one supervisor’s head is a program that resets every time that person moves on.
Determine substrate and classify traffic as light, medium, or heavy. This drives strip frequency and recoat schedule more than any other input.
Lock UltraShine X as the site finish — or the arena lane where the substrate demands it. Do not mix finish products from different suppliers.
Post dilution charts at every dispensing point. Undertreatment leaves soil. Overtreatment leaves film. Both look like product failure.
Select one mop system, confirm autoscrubber pad type, and verify pad aggressiveness for daily work versus scrub-recoat work.
Set daily, weekly, quarterly, and annual tasks in the work-order system. Planned cycles are cheaper than recovery mode, every time.
Record dilution settings, maintenance intervals, and finish cycle dates in a visible wall-chart format that survives staff turnover.
Time between strip cycles. Extending this interval is the single largest cost saver available in floor care.
Track labour hours per 10,000 sq ft. Efficiency should improve as the program stabilizes and stops running in recovery mode.
Track chemical cost per square foot. Investigate variance that is not explained by a real change in traffic or soil load.
Visual inspection or gloss readings between scrub-recoat cycles confirm the finish is holding its interval.
Annual or less is the target. More frequent stripping usually means a maintenance failure upstream, not a finish failure.
More recoats between strips means longer finish life and lower annual cost. This is the number that proves the program is working.
| What the site reports | First move | Products | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| APPEARANCE | |||
| “The floor looks dull two weeks after we recoated.” | Check daily soil removal before adding coats. | CI HG Concentrate Synthetic DetergentCI Dust Mop Treatment L | Gloss lost that fast is almost always soil load or a shortened daily route, not finish failure. |
| “There is a haze or film after cleaning.” | Verify dilution and the dispenser. | CI HG Concentrate Synthetic Detergent | Film is overtreatment. Confirm the dispenser is delivering label dilution before changing product. |
| “We burnish and nothing happens.” | Assess film integrity — this may be a recoat. | CI HG Concentrate Synthetic DetergentCI UltraShine X High Solids | No burnish response means the top layer is worn through. Scrub and recoat before considering a strip. |
| FINISH & RESTORATION | |||
| “The new finish is peeling at the edges.” | Check for residual stripper and rinse quality. | CI UltraStripX | Peeling after refinishing is a rinse problem far more often than a finish problem. |
| “We are going through finish faster than expected.” | Test substrate porosity. | CI UltraSealX Floor Sealer | A porous floor absorbs finish. Sealing the substrate stops the consumption at the source. |
| “The floor is yellowed and layered.” | Confirm exhaustion, then strip and rebuild. | CI UltraStripXCI UltraSealX Floor SealerCI UltraShine X High Solids | This is the one condition that justifies a full strip. Rebuild the system properly afterwards. |
| ENTRANCES & WINTER | |||
| “The first ten metres inside the door look terrible.” | Treat salt film as its own task. | CI SaltBurn Salt Residue Stain Remover | Winter residue at entrances is a distinct problem from finish wear and needs its own frequency. |
| “Soil is being tracked deep into the building.” | Audit matting before changing chemistry. | CI HG Concentrate Synthetic Detergent | Undersized matting moves the whole soil load onto the finish. Matting is the cheapest fix available. |
| CARPET & PROBLEM SOILS | |||
| “Carpet looks clean but re-soils within days.” | Check rinse and add anti-soil treatment. | CI Carpet Extraction Cleaning SolutionCI Commander SoilGuard Fabric Anti-Soil Treatment | Residual shampoo or cleaner attracts soil faster than the original contamination did. |
| “The extractor stops mid-job with foam.” | Defoamer in the recovery tank. | CI Foam Control Agent for Industrial Defoaming Applications | Foam is an equipment problem. It also signals residual product on the carpet from a previous method. |
| “The kitchen floor is greasy no matter what we run.” | Correct with degreaser, then return to program. | CI ACII Degreaser | Grease needs corrective chemistry, but it does not belong in the daily rotation once corrected. |
On normal traffic, a strip interval under twelve months means the interim stage is not running — or is running too late.
Parallel neutral cleaners mean nobody decided. Results cannot be compared between shifts and training splits.
Usually unsealed porous substrate absorbing coats, or heavy coats applied instead of thin ones.
More recoats between strips is the signal the program is working. Track it and defend it.
Finish reaching its scheduled recoat with gloss intact means the daily stage is doing its job.
A documented cycle survives staff turnover. A cycle in one person’s head does not.
CI360™ Floor Care is a task-based program guide, not a substitute for site-specific procedures. Confirm dilution ratios, dwell times, pad selection, and application methods against current product labels and SDS before use. Follow site SOPs, training, PPE, and applicable regulations. Never mix stripper or alkaline chemistry with acid products. Product names follow the Chem International catalogue; linked names open the product page on chemintonline.com.
Need a site-specific floor care schedule?
CI360 can be translated into a wall-chart maintenance packet with dilution settings, pad selection, scrub-recoat intervals, and annual strip dates for your exact facility type.