Your Guide to Choosing the Right Floor Pads for Your Business

Keeping spaces clean, hygienic, and polished is crucial for small businesses. If you run a cleaning business or oversee a workplace or facility, you may already know how important floor cleaning pads are for keeping your space in sparkling condition. When paired with a floor cleaning machine or a scrubber, floor pads are an essential part of keeping floors polished, buffed, and clean. 

These simple but mighty cleaning tools play a major role in maintaining cleanliness and customer satisfaction for your business. But with different types of cleaning pads available for different floors and needs, you'll want to make sure you're using the right type for your space. With that in mind, here's what you'll need to consider when shopping for floor cleaning pads for your small business.

The type of floor pad you use with your machine will depend not only on the types of flooring in your business, but also on the machine you're using and the effect you're trying to achieve, from polishing to scrubbing away dirt to burnishing for a glossy, sparkly shine. There are even floor pads specific to tasks like carpet cleaning and conditioning hardwood floors. Of course, you'll also need to ensure that the type of pad you buy is compatible with your machine. Here are some key questions to ask when shopping for floor pads:

• What types of floors do I have in my business? 
• What do I want to do to my floor? (Consider options like scrubbing, polishing, buffing, and stripping.)
• Will the pad work with my machine?

When it comes to choosing floor pads for your space, it's also important to make sure your pads can fit your needs without being too aggressive for your floor. For example, floor pads that are too "weak" may not be sufficient for tasks like stripping and burnishing, and will cause you to waste time and money. However, if the floor pads are too aggressive, they can end up ruining your floors and causing expensive damage. 

Fortunately, the floor pad industry uses a color-coded system to differentiate between levels of aggressiveness. Pads that are lighter in color are less aggressive and darker-colored pads have a higher aggressiveness. However, burnishing pads don't fit into this color-coded system, but they are typically more aggressive as well.

Here are some of the most common floor pad types, along with their purposes and the floor types they're best suited for.

Floor Application	Purpose	Pad Color	Floor Type	Cleaning Frequency
Polishing	The softest floor pad you can choose, polishing pads are more gentle on surfaces and are great for everyday cleaning and polishing tasks.	White or Gold	VCT VAT Sheet Vinyl Terrazzo Granite Concrete Surfaces	1-5 times per week
Buffing	These slightly more aggressive floor pads are used to remove dirt and scuff marks while bringing out a polished shine. Use the color code to determine how aggressive each buffing pad is.	Red or White	VCT VAT Sheet Vinyl Terrazzo Granite  Concrete Surfaces	1-5 times per week
Burnishing	These more aggressive floor pads are used on already cleaned floors to bring out a sparkling, glossy shine.	Green, Blue, Tan, and Grey (Doesn't Follow Color-Coded System)	VCT VAT Sheet Vinyl Terrazzo Granite Concrete Surfaces	Varies
Scrubbing	Used for wet scrubbing and in high-traffic areas, these scrubbing pads are aggressive enough to clean heavier levels of dirt and scuff marks without stripping away the floor's finish.	Blue, Green, or Purple	VCT VAT Sheet Vinyl Terrazzo Granite Concrete Surfaces	Quarterly
Cleaning	These less aggressive pads are used to clean light dirt and marks from your floors.	Red	Variety of Floors	As needed
Carpet Cleaning	These specially designed pads are used on vacuumed carpets and can be combined with shampoos to help maintain and deep clean your carpeting.	Green, Blue, or White	Variety of Carpet Types	Once a week
Stripping	Stripping pads are used to prepare floors for refinishing by stripping away the existing finish, including sealers and waxes.	Black or Brown	Vinyl Tile VCT Terrazzo Concrete Other Floor Types	As needed

 

Floor scrubbers are excellent machines for keeping your floors clean and sparkling, but they're not very useful unless they're paired with the right floor pads. Whether you're cleaning carpets, polishing your floors to a glossy shine, or stripping your hardwood for refinishing, choosing the right floor pad for your needs can make all the difference for your small business.

Shopping for floor pads, scrubbers, and accessories? Find everything you need to get the job done at Zoro.com!

Product Compliance and Suitability

The product statements contained in this guide are intended for general informational purposes only. Such product statements do not constitute a product recommendation or representation as to the appropriateness, accuracy, completeness, correctness, or currentness of the information provided. Information provided in this guide does not replace the use by you of any manufacturer instructions, technical product manual, or other professional resource or adviser available to you. Always read, understand, and follow all manufacturer instructions.