Believe it or not, a lot of people assume that more coats of finish on a commercial floor is better for it. There are numerous maintenance departments and personnel who make this assumption and believe that more coats are going to protect the floor and provide a better shine for a longer period of time than just a few coats.
Far too often once this is done, people begin to notice that there is more marking of foot traffic on these floors. While it is not necessarily the application of too many coats of finish to the commercial floor, it may have more to do with how quickly those coats were applied.
In many commercial spaces, there is a limited amount of time in which to get the floors cleaned, stripped, and waxed. Every coat of finish applied to the floors take time to dry. If they are not dried properly and thoroughly before another coat is applied, it can cause moisture to become trapped within those layers.
How to determine if the coat of finish is dry.
The most important thing to do before applying a second or third coat of finish on any commercial floor is to make sure the previous coat has completely dried. In order to do this in the most effective and simple way, take a piece of tissue, place it on your foot, and apply it to the floor. If it sticks to the floor or tears, then the previous coat has not completely dried yet.
If the tissue doesn’t tear or stick to the floor in any spots, then it’s ready for another coat. Make sure that you don’t overdo the amount of coats of finish to those commercial floors. Even though the previous coats are completely dry, eventually you will reach a saturation point where it won’t actually improve the condition, durability, or cleanliness of the floor. It could actually become a liability.