WEST CHICAGO, ILL.—According to an online survey conducted for Tornado Industries, 67 percent of respondents, a clear majority, agree with the following statement, “We are stripping and refinishing floors less frequently today than we were five years ago.” The other respondents either disagreed with the above statement or were “not sure.”
These findings are consistent with a New Year’s prediction made by Michael Schaffer, president of Tornado, about floor care trends. “For both environmental and cost reasons, end-customers are delaying refinishing cycles or not refinishing their floors at all,” he says.
However, in the long run, delaying or not refinishing floors may actually cause more work and ultimately additional costs for end-customers, according to the respondents. The group overwhelmingly (94 percent) agreed with the following statement, “A floor that does not have finish on it is harder to maintain.”
More Than 60 Surveyed
The survey involved more than 60 building service contractors (BSCs), who answered a variety of questions regarding floor care issues and trends.
Other questions included in the survey focused on floor care machines. For instance, nearly 61 percent of the respondents reported having used or are currently using conventional rotary-pad floor machines when maintaining floors.
Thirty-nine percent have used or use cylindrical brush floor machines.
“I would not be surprised if these figures would be reversed or more 50/50 if this had been asked [of BSCs] in Europe,” says Schaffer. “Probably, because they are working on older, more porous floors, cylindrical brush technology is more popular in Europe and other parts of the world than here in the U.S.”
Cylindrical Brush/Cleanliness Connection
Respondents also cited “splatter on walls or surrounding surfaces” as a common problem when performing floor care tasks. However, the survey found that this is less of a problem when using cylindrical brush technology.
Finally, when asked which type of machine—rotary-pad or cylindrical—respondents thought is more environmentally friendly, meaning it uses less chemical and water, results were about evenly divided.
However, studies by the American Institute of Cleaning Sciences (AICS) indicate cylindrical brush floor machines typically require less water and chemical compared to a rotary-pad system.
More information is available on the Tornado Facebook site at http://tiny.cc/sq5ql.
