• Avoid walking on the floor for at least 24 hours following completion of installation.
• Sweep or vacuum to prevent loose dirt or grit from scratching the floor.
• Polishing your floor can be beneficial to help prevent slight surface scratches and to provide further protection.
Day to day cleaning:
• Sweep or vacuum the floor to remove loose dirt, grit or dust.
• Use clean mops and neutral cleaning solutions to regularly clean your floor.
Contact Polyflor for details of approved maintenance products.
• Dilute the floor cleanser to the manufacturer’s instructions.
• Mop the floor evenly.
• Collect any excess liquid in a mop bucket.
• Rinse the floor with clean water and allow to dry.

Regular cleaning is more beneficial to the floorcovering and is more cost-effective than occasional heavy cleaning.
Do: Install barrier mats at entrances to pick up grit and moisture. (Note, some rubber-backed mats may
discolour the floor.)
Ensure your furniture is fitted with protective pads were necessary to prevent scratches.
Use protective cups under heavy furniture to prevent indentation.
Remove spillages as quickly as possible to reduce the risk of staining and causing slip hazards.
Always use clean equipment when maintaining your floor.
Regularly trim pets claws as these can cause fine scratches.
Don’t: Use metal scouring pads as these can damage the floor.
Clean the floor with abrasive liquids such as solvents, caustic detergents, washing up liquids, soap
powders, bleach, furniture polishes, petroleum-based products, pine gels, stain removers or highly
coloured products. Such products may make the floor slippery or cause permanent damage.
Drag furniture with unprotected feet across the floor.

Why is floor care necessary?

Floor coverings are selected for many reasons including their colour,
design and sometimes specialist properties such as static control or slip
resistance. Without regular maintenance:
> Dust and soiling would soon build up, making the colour and design
indistinguishable and the specialist properties practically useless.
> Dirt and soiling can also harbour bacteria, making the floor covering a
health hazard e.g. in hospitals or food processing areas.
> Dust and grit underfoot can also act as an abrasive, which, if left
uncontrolled, would shorten the life of a floor covering, causing
premature replacement.
Regular and well-planned maintenance keeps the floor covering
in pristine condition and can enhance the original appearance.
Maintenance can also reduce wear and ultimately improve the life
expectancy of the floor covering.
14.1.2 What is maintenance?
Maintenance means many things to many people. To some, it is an army
of operatives using powered machines working to a comprehensive
maintenance programme. To others, it is a person who comes in
three evenings a week to dust and mop the floors. In each case, the
requirement for cleanliness can be completely different.
This variability in what is considered ‘normal’ makes it impracticable in
this manual to give precise maintenance instructions to suit specific
end-user locations. The instructions given are intended to be used as a
guide. A guide based on general experience using established methods
and cleaning materials. Polyflor recommends that the instructions
are followed initially and, as traffic patterns become established, the
frequency is tailored to suit individual requirements.
14.1.3 Tailored Maintenance
Reducing maintenance costs is not difficult; what takes much more
skill is reducing these costs without cutting the effectiveness of the
maintenance system. By tailoring a maintenance programme, real
savings can be made without compromising standards of appearance,
hygiene and cleanliness.
The tailored maintenance programme is simple to apply, with the effort
and thus the cost, concentrated where each location demands. The
benefits are definite savings and considerable return on any floor
covering investment.

Floors should be rinsed and neutralised after disinfection and should
always be dried. Floors that have a wet residue of a disinfecting
solution may have a substance on the surface that is potentially
corrosive not only to the floor covering but also to the soles of any
footwear. The disinfecting solution may break down the shoe sole
material to leave an ingrained stain on the floor. This stain may extend
beyond the area being disinfected as the wet shoe sole will traffic the
solution onto an adjacent dry area.
> Leaving a chlorinated disinfecting solution to dry out on floors may
make them slippery. The dried chlorine salts leave small particles on
the surface of the floor which may act like small ball bearings.
> RINSE floor after disinfecting to neutralise.
> Chlorine-based disinfecting products can be used on Polyflor vinyl
floor coverings provided that they are used and diluted as per the
manufacturer’s instructions and that the area is effectively rinsed
after their use.

The maintenance regime requires the installation of an effective
barrier matting system.

> The cleaners and detergents should be diluted as per the
manufacturers’ instructions.
> Always follow the Health and Safety guidance provided.
> Fit protective feet to table and chair legs, to prevent scratching.
> These maintenance instructions are intended for the PUR family of
floor coverings, which have a polyurethane reinforcement. For other
Polyflor products, reference should be made to the relevant section or
to their specific cleaning guides.
> In most instances, the above maintenance regime will be sufficient to
ensure your floor covering retains the optimum appearance. However,
where there are no mechanical means of maintaining the floor, an
emulsion floor polish should be applied. Details of the procedure to be
used can be found under the Standard Vinyl with PU — Section 14.6.3.
> Regular cleaning is more beneficial to the floor covering and more
cost-effective than occasional heavy cleaning.

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