Keeping commercial floors clean can be a frustrating process, especially when you have to deal with the usual nightmares that follow people in on a regular basis. These nightmares consist of gum on the bottom of people’s shoes, double-sided tape that gets dropped, and anything else that will stick to the floor and be trampled on numerous times before the maintenance crew can get there with the proper commercial floor cleaning equipment.
Depending on the material of the commercial floor, it could make cleaning up that gum or other residue easier or more challenging. For example, polished concrete is much more forgiving when using small razors and other objects to quickly and easily get up sticky residue. However, vinyl or linoleum tile flooring can actually be significantly damaged if using a putty scraper or other device to get up these sticky materials.
Ammonia should never be used on vinyl floors. Ammonia is corrosive to vinyl. You should also avoid mixing various cleaning agents and chemicals in an attempt to make something relatively mild and safe into a potent gum remover.
Get up as much of the material as possible manually.
Using a safe method, such as a plastic putty knife or other material, scrape up as much of the gum or sticky residue as possible by hand. This may require extra effort on the part of the maintenance personnel, but it’s best to do this rather than attempt to get the entire piece of gum or sticky residue up by mopping or using a floor cleaning machine.
Apply the appropriate chemical solution.
Depending on the type of floor and exactly what you’re trying to get up from it, some chemicals may be more effective than others at removing various sticky residues. Check with the manufacturer of the floor to find out what chemicals are safe to use. You may also be constrained by local ordinances and laws prohibiting the use of certain chemicals, especially in public use areas.