Signs you need this
- Entry tile has a dull white haze that mopping will not lift
- Traffic lanes in the carpet are two shades darker than the room
- Finish has worn through to bare tile at door thresholds
- Grout in restrooms is darker than the tile around it
- Burnishing leaves swirl marks instead of gloss
- Your landlord has flagged floor condition ahead of a lease renewal
Why Indiana floors fail faster
Ice melt is the single biggest cause of floor finish failure in Central Indiana buildings. Rock salt and calcium chloride come in on every shoe from the first freeze until the last one, which in Indianapolis usually means December through March and sometimes into April. The crystals are abrasive, so they act like sandpaper in traffic lanes. The residue is alkaline, so it attacks acrylic floor finish chemically at the same time. A lobby that looked sharp in November can be grey and hazed by February.
You cannot stop it at the door entirely, but matting decides how much gets past. Fifteen feet of walk-off matting in sequence takes most of it. Under ten feet and the salt reaches your VCT. Daily vacuuming of entry carpet through the season matters more than anything we do with a machine in April.
What we check before quoting
Floor material first. VCT, sheet vinyl, luxury vinyl plank, sealed concrete, polished concrete, ceramic, porcelain, quarry tile and terrazzo all behave differently and several of them should never see a stripper. Then coat depth, tested in a small corner. Then the condition of the substrate: loose tiles, failed adhesive, cracked grout and moisture from below all change the job. Finally the logistics, which means power availability, water source, drain access, elevator hours and whether a fire alarm will trip on floor machine dust.
Equipment choices
Low speed swing machines for stripping, autoscrubbers for large open areas, and high speed burnishers for gloss. Pad selection does more work than machine choice. Edges, corners and door thresholds are done by hand, because that is where a rushed job always shows. Carpet is cleaned by hot water extraction with a pre-spray matched to the soil, and encapsulation is used where a fast dry time matters more than deep soil removal.
Warehouse and showroom slabs
Polished concrete in distribution buildings along Ronald Reagan Parkway and the airport corridor needs a different program. No finish goes down. It is a propane or battery autoscrubber with the right pad, a neutral cleaner, and occasional densifier and polish maintenance to bring the sheen back. Tire marks from pallet jacks and forklift traffic come out with a targeted pad rather than more chemical.
Scheduling around a working building
Finish work is noisy, smells, and puts a floor out of service for hours. We schedule it Friday evening through Sunday in offices, and around shift changes in industrial space. You get the schedule in writing with the areas broken into phases, so if your building cannot lose a whole corridor at once we do it in halves. Signage and barriers go up, and someone from our side is in the building the whole time.
How the work runs
- 1
Measure and test
We measure each floor area, identify the material and check how many coats of finish are left. A small test patch tells us whether the floor needs a scrub and recoat or a full strip.
- 2
Scope, price and schedule
You get a per square foot price by area and a schedule that works around your occupancy. Most finish work runs on a Friday night through Sunday so the floor cures before staff return.
- 3
Protect, clean and finish
Furniture is moved and returned, baseboards and door frames are protected, and edges are done by hand. Finish goes down in thin even coats with drying time between each one.
- 4
Walk the floor with you
You inspect the finished area before the invoice goes out. Anything that needs a touch up is corrected before we leave the building for good.
What it typically costs
| Job | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Strip and wax on VCT Four to five coats of finish, furniture moved and returned | $0.32 to $0.65 per sq ft |
| Scrub and recoat Two coats over an intact base, the usual spring reset after salt season | $0.18 to $0.38 per sq ft |
| Burnishing Monthly or quarterly on high gloss corridors and lobbies | $0.06 to $0.14 per sq ft |
| Carpet hot water extraction Open office and corridor areas, pre-spray on traffic lanes | $0.14 to $0.30 per sq ft |
| Tile and grout scrubbing Restrooms and entry areas, includes grout sealing where suitable | $0.45 to $0.95 per sq ft |
| Concrete polishing maintenance Warehouse office fronts and showroom areas on polished slab | $0.10 to $0.25 per sq ft |
Typical ranges for Indianapolis and the surrounding area , reviewed September 2026. Every quote is written and fixed before work starts.