How to Clean Resin Flooring: The Ultimate Guide

Maintaining and cleaning your resin floor is extremely important. Although resin floors, by their very nature, are tough, hard-wearing, and resilient to spills and toxins, a regular cleaning schedule must be followed to ensure your resin floor maintains its desirable properties. But how do you correctly and efficiently clean resin flooring? In this ultimate guide, we introduce everything you need to know about resin floor cleaning so that you can maintain the quality of your flooring long into the future. 

How to Clean Resin Flooring 

As soon as you lay resin or epoxy flooring at your commercial or industrial property, it would be best if you established a floor cleaning regime that focuses on maintaining the integrity of the floor’s surface. Whether you call in an external cleaning company to manage your resin floor cleaning or incorporate it into the duties of your current employees, you will need to encourage them to establish and follow a clear and detailed cleaning routine. Below are some of the aspects you should include in your resin or epoxy floor cleaning schedule: 

Keep the Floor Free from Grit, Dust, Dirt, and other Debris Daily

Grit, dust, and dirt left on the surface of an epoxy floor will cause scratches and abrasions. Suppose you have installed an epoxy floor within an industrial setting where there is a heavy vehicle presence. In that case, it’s even more important that you regularly remove grit particles from the floor on a daily basis. 

The best way to remove grit and other debris from your epoxy floor is to use a vacuum with a soft brush attachment. If you’re about to operate heavy machinery over a particular part of your resin floor, ensure the surface is vacuumed prior to moving the machinery, as this is when your epoxy is most at risk of scratches and surface damage. 

Wash well with Warm Water, but don’t use Soap-based Detergents

You might be surprised to hear that resin floor cleaning does not require the use of soap-based detergents. In fact, soap-based floor cleaners and detergents spoil the surface of resin and epoxy, causing a haze to appear on the surface that only gets worse over time. 

Epoxy cleaning is best done with a deck scrubbing brush and warm water, which should be sufficient to remove most stains and spills from the surface. You must vacuum your resin floor thoroughly before wet cleaning, as any dirt or debris remaining on the surface before applying water can cause scratches in the resin. 

Perform Spot Cleaning where Appropriate, Particularly for Heavily Soiled Areas

While you need to maintain the entire surface of your resin floor, there will undoubtedly be times when you’ll have to target a specific area or spot that has been affected by a spillage. It’s important from a health and safety perspective that any spillages or debris piles are immediately cleaned for the safety of your employees and the integrity of your resin floor. 

When you identify areas that have been heavily soiled, begin by vacuuming up the dirt and debris before mopping with warm water. You might then need to return to the spot and perform further cleaning, which can be done with an ammonia and water mixture (2-3 ounces of ammonia per gallon of warm water). Ammonia is one of the best substances to supplement the cleaning of your resin floor. 

Regularly Check for and Treat Chemical Spills

While resin flooring is incredibly water-resistant, and many types of resin floors are also chemical-spill resistant, you will still need to regularly check for and then treat any chemical spills that occur in the workplace. An untreated chemical spill is not only dangerous to the health and safety of your employees, but it will eventually wear down the surface of your resin floor. 

Most chemical spills can be mopped up with heavy-duty paper towels and then by sufficiently cleaning the area with warm water. However, you may need to neutralise the chemical spill in some instances, which should be done before adding water to the affected area. For example, shop-bought neutralising agents work perfectly well when cleaning up chemical spills on epoxy flooring. 

Avoid Damage wherever Possible

Although it might sound like an obvious point to make, just because epoxy and other resin floors are incredibly hard-wearing and durable, it doesn’t mean that your employees can be careless while operating machinery or performing their other daily tasks. In addition, for thermoset resin floors like epoxy, irreparable surface damage to a particular section of the floor means that the whole surface would have to be ripped up and replaced. 

When you’re establishing clear cleaning guidelines for your epoxy or resin flooring with your employees, you must make it clear that damage to the floor should be avoided wherever possible, and any spills or spoilage should be immediately treated following the guidelines you set.

Cleaning Frequency in Hygiene-Critical Environments

Fine particles of debris, dust, and dirt can accumulate on a resin floor. Together with frequent traffic, this acts as an abrasive. As a preventative measure, it’s essential to clean the resin floor regularly, utilising appropriate cleaning techniques. It’s particularly important to clean often in the cosmetic, food, and pharmaceutical industries where hygienic surfaces are required.

Safely Clean Resin Floors

In order to maintain a safe and clean environment, an appropriate dust control and cleaning/vacuuming system is necessary. Mechanical or manual sweeping should also be employed often. It is recommended to use a mechanical scrubber in addition to a wet vacuum rather than washing with a regular bucket and mop.

Resin Flooring Cleaning Regimen

For resin flooring, the particular cleaning regime used will be determined based on various factors, inclusive of the frequency and type of traffic, the resin floor type, as well as any specified hygiene requirements.

Every cleaning regimen will be specified based on the conditions. So, for example, when heavy soiling is typical, a regular change of cleaning chemicals may be necessary.

When special-purpose, generally available cleaning materials are used, providing that the manufacturer’s instructions are adhered to, resin floors will not be adversely impacted. Nevertheless, prior to making an application of a new special-purpose cleaning product, it’s a worthwhile precaution to carry out a spot test in an area that is quite inconspicuous.

General Guidelines for Cleaning Resin Floors

• In order to remove any loose debris and dirt, sweep the floor over first.
• For the cleansing of resin floors, mechanical scrubbing is preferred. Use a floor scrubber to agitate the floor surface, then remove excess dirty water using a wet vacuum.
• Rinse the floor and scrub once more. Vacuum and dry.
• Follow the manufacturer’s guidelines if using either a pad or a brush. Brushes are typically the better option on resin floors with significant texture or with a raised, non-slip finish.
• Finally, make sure that the cleaning equipment is also frequently cleaned.

At Impact Flooring we can provide specifications as to the appropriate cleaning regimen for your resin floors. This will include the equipment you should use in addition to the cleaning chemicals and the frequency.

We can advise you about steam cleaning/pressure washing, high-gloss flooring, static-controlled floors, as well as what cleaning materials, pads, and brushes are best for your surface.

Top Tips for Resin Floor Cleaning

Now that we’ve established cleaning guidelines for epoxy and other resin floors, below are some top tips that you should remember when cleaning resin floor: 

• Establish an epoxy floor cleaning routine that your employees (or external cleaners) follow. 
• Grit, sand, and other debris can cause scratches and damage to your epoxy floor, so ensure the floor is swept and vacuumed daily. 
• A warm water and ammonia mixture is ideal for cleaning resin flooring. Soap-based detergents should be avoided. 
• Spot cleaning should be performed regularly, and heavily soiled areas should be treated. 
• Chemical spills need to be neutralised and cleaned as soon as possible. 
• Just because epoxy and resin floors are hard-wearing, it doesn’t mean they’re indestructible. Encourage staff to be careful not to damage the floor when performing their daily tasks.

Keep your Resin Floor Clean to Avoid unwanted Damage

Dirty and uncared for resin floors are unlikely to stand the test of time. After investing all that money in installing an epoxy floor, the last thing you want to do is have to replace it because it has been poorly maintained. Hopefully, and thanks to this ultimate guide, you now have all the information you need to keep your epoxy floor clean and free from damage.