If you provide floor care services to your customers, then you may have seen some unexpected results and wondered what happened. Here are some common floor finish problems and their possible causes:

1. Finish is discolored under the floor mats. If you've stripped and waxed a floor, you may be tempted to put everything back on the floor as soon as the finish has dried, including the floor mats. This can cause discoloration because floor finish needs to cure after being applied to the floor. If the floor is covered too soon, chemicals can't evaporate, which will cause the floor to dry improperly. If at all possible, keep floor mats off a newly finished floor for at least 12 hours. You can also get yellowing of floor finish from a chemical reaction with the rubber backing on floor mats.

2. Swirl marks. There are a number of reasons you can get swirl marks in floor finish: 1) Your burnishing pad may be too aggressive for the floor finish, 2) You're moving the burnisher too slowly or not using a high RPM machine, 3) Poor contact between the pad and the floor, 4) Used a dirty or wet floor pad.

3. Streaks in the floor finish. You probably didn't let the floor finish dry thoroughly enough before applying another coat. It could also happen if you apply too thin of a coat, or if your application mop was contaminated. Another reason you could have streaks in your floor finish is because the floor was too cold.

4. Powdering. There are a few things that can cause this: 1) Finish coats applied too thin, 2) Fans pointed directly at wet floor finish, 3) Poor adhesion of the floor finish, 4) Contaminated mop head or finish, 5) Floor not rinsed properly after stripping.

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Steve Hanson helps owners of small cleaning companies build a more profitable and successful cleaning business through his online community at TheJanitorialStore.com. Read inspirational cleaning success stories at http://www.cleaning-success.com, and sign up for weekly cleaning tips at http://www.TheJanitorialStore.com.