Floor Maintenance Made Easy

Floor Maintenance

Diversey’s TASKI Intellibot DUOBOT 1850 streamlined the floor cleaning process for the Upper Merion School District.

Without proper maintenance, floor finish can lose its glossy appearance and the ability to protect floors over the long term. Today, many schools must carefully balance their budget with the desire to have clean floors that can withstand heavy foot traffic from students, faculty and visitors.

Upper Merion School District, located outside of Philadelphia, has over 830,000 square feet of flooring, and a variety of floor types including cement terrazzo, epoxy terrazzo and vinyl composition tile. In 2006, the cleaning staff consisted of 37 people, including two floor care specialists who oversaw weekly burnishing using propane burnishers.

Following the economic downturn, weekly burnishing was not economically feasible and several positions were reassigned or eliminated to cut costs. In 2015, with fewer staff members, the district sought a cost-effective, efficient and sustainable way to keep floors looking their best in between burnishing.

“Through equipment we can increase efficiency despite having fewer members on staff,” says William Dillon, custodial coordinator, Upper Merion School District. “

For years, the district has used floor cleaners from Sealed Air’s Diversey Care division, as well as its TASKI Intellibot DUOBOT 1850 robotic sweeper/scrubber and the Intellibot SWINGOBOT 1650 to maintain floors. Thus, it was a natural next step to incorporate TASKI IntelliPad, Diversey Care’s two-in-one floor care pad that both cleans and burnishes.

“We have been using the 15-inch IntelliPads with our SWINGOBOT and have ordered 19-inch pads for our walk behind floor scrubbers following the positive response from cleaning staff and higher-ups in the district,” adds Dillon. “There’s no training required; it’s as simple as putting the pad on the machine and witnessing the floor’s shine increase after each use.”

“With Diversey Care’s portfolio of floor care solutions, we’ve overcome our cleaning challenges and are now ahead of the curve and able to maintain continuity.”

www.diversey.com

This article originally appeared in the issue of .

Featured

  • Year-Round Schools Require Year-Round Indoor Air Quality Planning

    While many schools are out for the summer, year-round schools follow a more “balanced” schedule with shorter, more frequent breaks spaced throughout the school year. Even though this offers educational benefits, these facilities have less downtime for building maintenance. This can become an issue when facilities managers overlook the importance of routine HVAC maintenance and air duct cleaning services.

  • Wold Architects & Engineers Acquires VPS Architecture

    Full-service planning, architecture, and engineering firm Wold Architects & Engineers recently announced that it has acquired VPS Architecture, according to a news release. The move will help strengthen Wold’s education and public-sector design expertise, industries in which both companies have strong pre-existing ties and relationships.

  • University of Kansas Breaks Ground on Entrepreneurship Hub

    The University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kan., recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for the new KU Entrepreneurship Hub, according to university news. The Hub is part of the university’s School of Business and will include spaces for experiential learning and programming.

  • Chartwells Launches Campus Dining Evaluation Framework

    Contract food-service management provider Chartwells Higher Education recently announced the launch of BLUEPRINT, according to a news release. The evaluation framework was designed to provide a data-driven and customizable roadmap towards optimizing campus dining services and, by extension, the student experience.