Kitchen Floors/walls Cleaning Help

Hello. I have an opportunity to clean the floor and walls of the kitchen for a living facility. They have two kitchens, neither is very large. Both have tile floor and walls with working drains. The current vendor has not been very consistent in showing up, hence the reason they contacted me. They want floors and walls washed down and cleaned well. Neither kitchen is very dirty except in some spots where the previous vendor didn’t take time to clean. I have an 8gpm Landa hot water unit with no reclaim (yet). I was told the current vendor pressure washes the walls and floors and squeeges the water to the drains. The facility has fans they use afterward to make sure the floors are dry by morning. My question is - if I use 8gpm in a small space with no reclaim - is that going to be way too much water? Or if I do a section at a time then stop for a few minutes while my helper squeeges the water we should be okay? I have a 24inch surface cleaner to use on the floors with tips to lower the pressure. I’m trying to decide to use my regular 8gpm machine with hot water or buy/borrow a small 2-4 gpm machine. My local dealer has a used 4gpm machine I’ve been looking at anyway to have for smaller jobs and for a backup, or I thought about a low gpm electric machine from Northern that i could just bring inside and hook up to the inside water. If i go that route it would be a lot less volume of water, but still have the pressure to clean. But I wouldn’t have a surface cleaner to use with it, and with my regular setup I wouldn’t have to run the surface cleaner very long as its not a large space so the floors would clean real quick with my regular settup. This will be a twice monthly cleaning ,so the income is recurring income. The other factor is that this facility is only one of several they have in the area so there is a large probability I can pick up the exterior concrete, building and all, for this and their other facilities, so lots of pottenial. Any thoughts or recommendations? Thanks.

I agree on going with a smaller unit, 8gpm is a ton of flow for an enclosed area… a 4gpm would be a better option. But hot water is needed

Thats kind of what i was thinking, although if i go with the smaller unit I wont have hot water - unless I can hook the small machine to their sink and have warm/hot water that way. I would have to keep the water temp lower like less than 140 degrees to protect the pump. There’s not much grease to worry with, it’s been maintained fairly well. But I could still use the 8gpm surface cleaner on the floors, that would take care of the floors in just a few minutes.

Either way, you’ll be using the same amount of water. Try it once with the 8gpm

1 Like

Thanks @Innocentbystander. I definitely think its worth a try. Worse case, I can do a section at a time so the water doesn’t build up.

I have a monthly job that I do the hood vents and long stainless wall on the cooks line. There’s s lot of grease so I have to spray everything with degreaser. I use a 3gpm machine hooked to their hot water with a turbo nozzle to clean it. It’s an Udor pump that can take up to 160 degree water so it works well. I bypass the water onto the ground when off the trigger so heat doesn’t build up too much in the pump. Only takes me 20 minutes and I’m rarely off trigger the whole time. I tried my 4gpm/4k psi machine on it and it was too much water and pressure in an enclosed area.

I agree with @Innocentbystander to just try it with your 8gpm machine with hot water since you already have it. You won’t know unless you try. If it’s too much then you can look into a smaller machine. If it’s drained well and you have some helpers with squeegees then your 8gpm should work well.

2 Likes

This is a good example of what a 3gpm@2700psi is good for. Add hot box.

3 Likes

How is your Landa is set up? Bypass to a tank, ground or back to pump? You could nozzle it down to only put out 4 gpm and bypass the rest. In most cases, you can bypass up to 50% of the water and be ok. 8 gpm will most likely be too much water in that small of a space. A few dollars for smaller nozzles is much cheaper than buying a new machine.

1 Like

Thanks. Thats good info to know. We’re not talking about a big area, just have to make sure to be thorough.

Sorry, but I disagree with everyone. Go spend $250 or borrow a small pw for doing. Just run warm water from the sink - 125-135deg will clean it fine with decent degreaser… You can try using your big one for doing floors, but if that small would just wand it.

Heck, call me, I’ll let you borrow mine. Where in Simpsonville are you?

5 Likes

Thanks Rick. My initial thought was to use a small one like that for the walls and have my regular rig as a backup or for the floors. I’ve seen a heavy duty electric washer with low gpm and 1500 - 2000 psi, that might be just right and pay for itself quick. Then I just bring it inside to the kitchen and hook up to sink. Would also be less noise at night for the residence there. I live in Five Forks. Would love to sit down and talk sometime and pick your brain. Saw you on Pelham road the other day but couldn’t get turned around. LoL.

1 Like

I live less than a mile from 5 forks just off Batesville.

The noise factor definitely a consideration. You can buy an electric one for less than $200. But you’re welcome to try my little one out if you want. I 've cleaned all kind of crap with it. It’ll clean that kitchen in no time. think it’s 2.7 gpm. I’ll need to look.

3 Likes
2 Likes

Thanks for the help. That’s the process I had in mind.

Apply Degreaser
Scrub
Wash with pressure washer.

Walls, nooks and crannys first, floors last.
I will have a helper there to squeegee and vacuum and will probably do it in sections so the water doesn’t pool up too much. I’m still debating on using my big surface cleaner in there. It wouldn’t take more than a few minutes with it and I have nozzles to lower the psi. But we’ll see. I’ll take some pics. Does your tile cleaner have heat or just cold water?

1 Like

Something like this? I’d like to add carpet, tile, and window cleaning at one point in the distant future.

1 Like

Harold, that should work. looks like a Turbo Force knock-off, though

I got mine from RotoVac
Jsib, we hook it up to hot water spigot

Beware of overspray on shelves

2 Likes

Ive used something like that when we did carpet cleaning works great just got to be easy on the steam trigger.

2 Likes

You shouldn’t need to scrub if you use a decent degreaser. I use Zep purple diluted 75% degreaser/25% water…let it dwell for 10 min…second application on bad areas and hit everything with turbo nozzle. I use a 3gpm - 2k psi PW gx160 with spigot hot water and it works awesome for the small area. I’ve used a SC on the floors occasionally. I do keep the PW outside and run 75 ft of hose. Not sure if that would disturb the neighborhood where you are. My job is in a commercial area so it’s not a problem.

3 Likes

If ur using a vac with a good degreaser won’t u have problems with it foaming out?

1 Like

That does happen, so we use the tile machine for the front of house, and regular scrub for back of house, now if we use the tile machine in BOH it’s with less degreaser than when we scrub