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Who uses them?
Floor cleaning machines help protect and preserve large floors and carpeted areas in office buildings, schools, gymnasiums, warehouses, shopping centers, and more. Both dedicated cleaning companies and large businesses who handle their own in-house cleaning depend on them for routine cleanings and more comprehensive jobs.

What are the different types of floor cleaning machines?
There are many different makes and models of floor cleaning machines, depending on your application you'll need to consult a cleaning equipment specialist who can tell you what might work best for your application.
We offer dozens of pieces of equipment that can handle anything from small rooms to large open spaces. This equipment is application-specific and may include certain features and upgrades depending on your cleaning needs.

Floor cleaners

• Compact floor machines – Low-speed floor polishers that easily navigate in narrow paths and around furniture
• Scrubbers – Use brushes powered by a high-speed motor to clean different floor surfaces. There are three main types of scrubbers available:
  1. Small scrubbers for baseboards or tile and grout
  2. Walk-behind floor scrubbers can clean 18,500 to 42,000 square feet per hour; battery powered models are available
  3. Ride-on floor scrubbers are self-propelled drive systems that operate on battery, LP, Gas, or Diesel power and can clean 33,000 to 83,000 square feet per hour
• Scarifiers - Use multiple brushes to remove thick, stubborn grease and oil deposits
• Sweepers – Gas, LP, or Diesel powered vacuums for large areas like parking lots, manufacturing plants, or outdoor arenas
• Tile & grout cleaners – Battery operated machines that clean restrooms, shower/locker rooms, windows, stairwells, and pools.

• Buffers – Remove scuff marks and light scratches and provide a glossy finish to floors. Large propane fueled buffers can handle industrial-sized jobs.
  Sanders – Sand down floors to remove imperfections, uneven heights, and splintering before refinishing jobs
• Polishers – Quickly apply a glossy finish to most wood flooring
• Stone and marble polishers – Restore and maintain high-grade floors like marble, limestone, and granite
• Floor strippers – Remove old layers of floor finish in preparation for a new coat
• Floor stripper applicators – Spread and apply new finishes
  

Carpet cleaning machines

• Cleaner/extractors – Break down heavy dirt and grime in carpets using a power wash and then removes the dirty fluids
• Carpet dryers – Quickly dry carpets and provide ventilation

Industrial vacuums

• Backpack vacuums – Lightweight models that leave your arms free to vacuum tighter spaces
• Large area vacuums – Feature a wide base and more powerful motor to handle large surface areas
• Wet-dry vacuums – Clean up large spills and debris
• Touchless cleaning systems – Use a blast cleaning process that prevents you from touching dirty or contaminated areas

How do I know what size machine I need?
You have to determine the size of the area you're looking to clean. Floor cleaning equipment is rated on its coverage area– how much space it can clean for a specific job. A small home floor scrubber, for instance, may clean the floors in your apartment, but it won't be able to handle a large warehouse.

In addition, you have to be aware of the size of entryways and aisles so you know if you can fit the equipment through tight spaces. Foot traffic is also an important determinant – you need to know how often people walk on your floors and whether or not they track a lot of dirt and grime onto your floors.

What else should I look for in a floor cleaning machine?

• Necessary features – Floor cleaning machines can include certain options to help accomplish the cleaning job quicker and easier. Options may cause the price of the equipment to increase, but can also make the machine more productive.

• Understand terminology – "Lightweight" doesn't mean low power and "industrial" doesn't always refer to ultra-large machines. Instead of focusing on buzzwords, examine how the equipment actually performs.
• Noise considerations – Many pieces of equipment are loud, which shouldn't matter after hours. However, if you're going to clean throughout the day when others need a quiet work environment, make sure to only use equipment with low decibel ratings.
• Combination equipment – Some equipment can do more than one cleaning job and will save you the expense of buying separate tools. However, the convenience won't be worth the cost if the machine can't do both jobs well.

What kind of warranty should I expect?
Depending on the machines you buy, it could be as short as 30 to 90 days and as long as 10 years. Note that certain mechanical parts and power sources (such as batteries) may have considerably shorter warranties.

Prices range greatly depending on the fuel, power, size, and strength of the equipment you choose. Here is a general overview of what you can expect to pay for select floor cleaning equipment:

• Small hand-operated floor machines/scrubbers - $500 to $1,500
• Floor strippers - $800 to $1,200
• Walk-behind scrubbers - $1,500 to $4,000 (wired); $4,500 to $14,000 (wireless)
• Ride-on scrubbers - $15,000 to $45,000
• Sweepers - $1,500 to $3,000 (low-end push models); $3,000 to $6,000 (battery-operated industrial machines)
• Small carpet scrubbers - $600 to $800
• Carpet cleaners/extractors - $800 to $3,000
• Floor polishers - $1,000 to $2,000
• Backpack vacuums - $250 to $500
• Wet/dry vacs – $350 to $1,000
• Wide-area vacuums - $1,500 to $3,000
• Floor sanders - $2,000 to $3,000