February 15, 2008
Wax | Topical Coatings + Tile & Grout = Big Mistake
I had a job today where the customer had applied a topical coating to the floor. Initially when they applied the wax to the floor it looked “great” but as time went on the topical coating begin to wear, scuff and accumulate dirt. The more it was cleaned the more inconsistent the floor looked (partial wax removal).
Here is the product that was applied:
When it was being cleaned you could definitely tell the floor had a coating- the cleaning “slurry” had a thickness to it.
You can actually pick it up off the floor.
The floor required a lot of extra scrubbing and dwell time but it was able to be removed so that we could color seal over it.
Luckily this was a residential type of product that was fairly easy to remove.
It’s good to check the floor thoroughly to check for coatings and wax type of products that may have been applied. Look for an inconsistent gloss that continues from tile to grout. Also you can acid test the grout lines, if they don’t fizz up (like they should normally) it’s a another hint to look for a topical coating.
On some jobs the coating can be removed with a little extra elbow grease, dwell time or pressure but on others it can be nearly impossible to remove 100%. On bad situations sometimes it’s better to just leave a floor alone than to spend all day working on it only to have the floor become 70-80% better – which would only create a blotchy, inconsistent floor.
 Word of Warning – Beware the WaxÂ