Hi all,
I see that many of you do floors as well as carpets. One area I intend to work is to prepare houses for sale and apartments for move-in.

I've been told this includes floors as well.

My questions about floors are:
What type of work do you do on floors?
Which types of floors?
and what equipment, pads, cleaning product, etc do I need to use for these jobs?

I know these require a bit of info - and I'm sure you've discussed these before (though I couldn't find but a couple discussing floor stripping) - so if you know of a message "thread" already on the forum, I'd appreciate you pointing me to it.

Thanks for your time.

Hi Shawn
Drysdale's (my service company) offers 2 types of
hard surface floor services: tile & grout cleaning,
and wood floor refinishing (recoating). Challenger
Pad Systems sells a grout & tile brush (I think it's
$35.) Re. wood floors, recoating means you are not
sanding. You are instead cleaning the wood, lightly
abrading it, then applying one or more coats (usually
two) of one of several types of recoating products.
One system is from ChemSpec, called Rx for Wood Floors. Bridgepoint makes a product as well. Or
you could just either screen-sand the existing finish,
or rough it up with a maroon floor pad, then put down
a new finish of acrylic, or a blend or acrylic and
water-based polyurethane. You can even find a new,
all-natural Safe Floor Finish at
www.organicandnature.com. I have just ordered two
gallons of this product, and plan to try it on my
next wood floor job.

I'm thinking about getting into the program. What about insurance and bonding? Is it necessary?

Hi Steve
I have operated my carpet cleaning & floor maintenance
business since 1990, and have always had a mix of
commercial & residential customers. I can count on
the fingers of one hand the number of times I have
been asked to send over a certificate of insurance.
The standard carpet cleaner's insurance policy covers
damage you might cause on a customer's premises, but
does NOT cover damage you might do to his/her carpet
while cleaning it. So in this way it is quite
unlike a physician's malpractice insurance policy.
Amputate the wrong leg? Hey, I'm insured.
And I have never been asked about my or anyone
working with me on a job being bonded. I usually
work without insurance, and only buy a year's worth
if a large enough commercial prospect says I will
need it if my proposal is accepted. In 15 year's in
business in homes and on all kinds of business
premises, I have had to compensate one customer for a
lamp shade I damaged. Cost: $35 (on a $400+ job).