How are these newer grade/type finishes differentiated from the "standard" finishes labeling/spec wise?
What would one look for when comparing products while searching for the good stuffs?
Solid content?
Anything else?
Not all waxes/finishes are made to be equal and that is by design.
You want to look at what the molecular composition/structure of the finish is and what scenarios that finish was designed for.
In other words there are finishes that are better for supermarkets that you wouldn't want to put in a school and vise versus.
There are finishes that need more Maintenance than others or you would pick a finished based on the fact that it would have a more frequent burnishing regiment, or not so frequent burnishing.
Is the floor going to be scrubbed often? How often? This would affect your descision in picking the finish.
When picking a finish you will want to specifically pick the finish based on solids and its structure for example a metal interlocking finish is more ideal I. Scenarios where burnishing will more than likely never take place, and is design for this and holds up well in various scenarios like store rooms and low traffic areas.
Please consider that the whole idea around stripping and waxing a floor is not to make the floor shiny, it is to dramatically raise the dry slip resistance and protect the VCT (the actual tile material) from damage. The finish companies have just gotten that good at making clear finishes.
Also consider how the finish will lay or self level. When I started throwing wax about 20 years ago, we would use a "special finish mop". It was so special because if i didnt take care of it my uncle would kick my ass.
It was composed of fine strands woven together and bound across the bottom
( will try and find a picture of the mop). The mop would hold a great amount of wax and you would need to pay attention as you applied the wax to ensure you weren't leaving any lines or the dreaded BUBBLES!
Bubbles were very common as everyone and there mom thought they could throw higher solid finish as easy as lower solid finishes and the results would speak for themselves.
For years we used these type of fine finishing mops and there problematic design features that affected application.
Now days you can grab a 7 dollar finish mop from home depot, wash it in water a couple of times ( you really need to wash any mop before using it to apply a finish to get the small fibers out that didn't quite make the cut) or you will find millions of small fibers in the finish especially if you build the floor up with many coats and you are actually achieving high levels of clarity.
We like many companies products but always stock johnsons wax /diversey
Products that is now owned by the sealed air company. There finishes are always of the highest quality and they have scenario specific finishes not a one fits all. We also like the way most of not all of the diversey product self level which makes the end product stand out.
