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Commercial floor cleaning means cleaning floors in buildings that stay in operation, in a way that preserves the surface, the joints and the slip resistance and does not stop the business. Which method is suitable depends on the surface: natural stone, tile, concrete and industrial floors each react differently to high pressure, chemicals and grinding.
This overview from systeco sorts the main surfaces and methods and links each surface to the detail page with a practical example. At its core is the vacuum blasting method with the Tornado ACS: a closed system without high pressure, without water and without chemical cleaners.
Three requirements come together in commercial settings that do not matter at home. First, the area usually has to stay accessible, for example in entrance halls, restaurants, stairwells or production halls. Second, floors carry a heavy load over the years: dirt from outside, limescale, rust, grease or paint. Third, workplaces are subject to slip-resistance requirements that must still be met after cleaning.
The German workplace rule ASR A1.5 (German-language source) assigns floor coverings to slip-resistance groups R9 to R13; R9 is the lowest and R13 the highest slip resistance, as the DGUV's IFA institute describes. A cleaning method that roughens or smooths the surface in an uncontrolled way therefore interferes with a safety-relevant property.
High-pressure cleaning. According to the natural stone retailer NGR (German-language source), the water jet puts localized stress on pores, edges and joints; on older surfaces with loosened joints, this can worsen existing weak points. On sandstone, systeco notes that the microscopic surface structure changes, so the floor gets dirty faster afterwards. Wastewater also has to be collected.
Chemical cleaners. Harsh cleaning agents burden the environment and raise disposal questions. On natural stone with paint contamination, dissolved paint can also migrate deeper into the pores, as seen with travertine.
Grinding. Multi-stage grinding, known as wet grinding for travertine, removes the surface over the whole area and requires impregnation afterwards. It brings dust or moisture into the area and usually requires wide barriers.
Vacuum blasting. In the vacuum blasting method, the blasting medium is applied by negative pressure and extracted again immediately. The effect resembles a very fine grinding process: the soiled layer is removed mechanically, layer by layer. Because the system is closed and residues are caught in a filter system, there is neither wastewater nor clouds of dust. A normal power connection is enough to run it.
Natural stone usually has a rough or porous surface on which dirt settles. Each type of stone makes its own demands.
To get started, see natural stone floor cleaning and stone floor cleaning. The second describes a very old stone floor on church grounds in Hildesheim, whose years-old deposits could no longer be removed by conventional means.
On tile, dirt sits on the surface and deep in the joints. Typical contamination is limescale, mineral deposits and rust. The page on floor tile cleaning describes the method for tiled floors; the joints are cleaned at the same time. How professional tile joint cleaning works is shown on its own page.
On concrete and industrial floors, contamination often penetrates the surface. An example from industrial floor cleaning: in a production hall of Nestlé Deutschland AG in Schwerin, ink from an inkjet printer had penetrated the first layer of the refined concrete floor. Cleaning the surface was not enough; a very thin layer had to be removed and then resealed. The work was done during production without interrupting the process.
Markings on hall floors can also be removed; see the page on removing floor markings.
Stairs are where cleaning and safety meet. Classic grinding of stone stairs creates heavy dust, so a stairwell often has to be partly or fully closed off. Vacuum blasting works dust-free and quietly; the stairs stay usable. Details are on the pages stone staircase renovation, natural stone and tile.
Where slip resistance itself is the issue, for example on granite and marble stairs, the page slip resistance on granite describes the approach with individually shaped anti-slip stoppers. For outdoor stairs there is also the page non-slip steps outside.
There is no fixed price list, because surface, contamination, area and accessibility make every job different. A quote is therefore based on the actual area. This checklist helps prepare an inquiry:
For sensitive or old surfaces, systeco lays out a test area before the whole surface is treated. This was the case in Hildesheim and with the test cleaning in Schwerin. An overview of all applications is on the page tile and floor cleaning.
Floor cleaning describes cleaning a floor in general; deep cleaning removes deep-seated dirt that routine maintenance no longer reaches, for example after construction work or a fire. More is on the page mechanical deep cleaning.
That depends on the stone and the contamination. High pressure can stress pores and joints, and chemicals can drive paint deeper into porous stone. Vacuum blasting removes the soiled layer in a controlled way and is used on granite, travertine and sandstone.
With a closed system such as the Tornado ACS, yes. The blasting medium runs in a circuit, no granulate escapes, and there is neither a cloud of dust nor wastewater. Examples are the cleaning of a sandstone floor in a Hamburg restaurant and of an industrial floor in Schwerin.
Yes. On tiled floors, the joints are cleaned in the same pass. A separate page covers joint cleaning in detail.
There is no flat answer. Surface, contamination, area and accessibility determine the effort. A quote is based on the actual area; photos and the details from the checklist above speed up the assessment.
Any cleaning that removes material acts on the surface. On areas where slip resistance under ASR A1.5 is required, the result should therefore be checked. Where slip resistance is to be improved, there is a separate method, described under slip resistance on granite.
No. The method works dry. Depending on the application, the blasting medium is a mineral, biodegradable granulate or a renewable material such as nutshell; on granite, blasting glass SG 150 was used, for example.
