Types of Floor Buffers

The use of floor buffers is not a common in home product that you will most likely ever see, but their mainstay has always in the commercial or institutional veins of society. In the past they pretty much came in only one size, and any male that has been in the armed forces became very intimate with buffers during basic training, as the floors had to be kept up this way daily. Today there are many different sizes, and machines that specialize in certain types of flooring. At one point in history they actually had gasoline-powered buffers that were actually used inside buildings. The fumes alone would be grounds for a lawsuit these days, but back then it was just a part of doing business.

Those large Wally World type stores that you see everywhere today will have two types of buffers on hand. One will be a large sized walk behind that no only buffs commercial grade tiled flooring, but will strip the old wax of when the pads are changed out. The old school models only had one pad to deal with, but these behemoths, have four to six now. They are self-propelled and have transmissions like an automobile, so they can go faster, or negotiate walking ramps that need their attention as well.

In recent years, they have developed a type of floor buffing device that you can actually drive much like a riding lawnmower, or a golf cart. These will let one person clean a mega sized grocery store of up to one hundred and thirty thousand square feet, in an eight hour shift. This floor buffer is also equipped with enormous storage tanks so they can lay down floor cleaner, wax, or stripping agents as it goes up and down each grocery isle. These models are usually propane fueled, as they can cover the huge store twice on one canister. There are also battery-operated models but are not as effective, and have to be charged twice in one eight-hour shift.

Floor buffing is almost a lost art that only a few maintain today, and can pull a mirror like shine from a floor with their expertise. This writer used to buff floors in the Army, and we would set the Johnson's paste wax on fire for a minute or two then apply it to the floor. It would result in a spit-shine like job, which would pass inspection every time.