If you think of clean, polished surfaces, you often don’t picture rough equipment like sandpaper or steel wool. In many situations, this observation is perfect. When you want to get glossy shine intact on your floor, buffing a floor is one instance.

The floor buffer is an upright electrical cleaning machine that is similar to a vacuum cleaner in size and shape. They can be utilized to both clean and shine non-carpeted flooring. Floor buffers can make quickly and efficiently clean and polish a large floor area so that they are usually used in hospitals, schools, and businesses. Besides, floor buffers usually use a high-speed and polish well and rotate as much as 2000 revolutions per minute. The high speeds generate heat that helps to create a bright shine.

Floor buffers maintain different floor types such as hard floors, tiles floor, or concrete floor. If you can uphold the floor maintenance plan in place, you will be able to extend the life of your floors. To keep them looking like new, choose the right floor buffer for home use that can save your time, energy, money and does the job efficiently.

What is a floor buffer?

A floor buffer is a kind of industrial cleaning. Through it, you may able to clean the wax from a facility’s floor. It’s used to buff, clean, or scrub the facility’s floor to remove dirt or scuff marks. 

Buffers rest on the pad directly and build up 100% concretion between the floor and the pad. It doesn’t rest on hind wheels at all.

In the time of maneuver, the operator is in full control of moving it side by side. So its nickname is “Side to Side” machine.

Types of buffers

Buffer differences depend on its type of gearbox and horsepower motor.

Usually, all buffers are basic cord electric models. To operate, you need electric cord buffers that are nicely plugged into a facility power. During the cleaning path progression, this power cord must need to be moved and replugged.

Gearbox

It provides power and stability for the floor pad circulation in a balanced motion.

There have three types of gearboxes

Single, double, and triple Planetary

Triple Planetary gearboxes provide the best balance control. On the other hand, single and Double Planetary don’t have fully balance control.

Motor

Their motor ranges start from 5-1.5 horsepower. And the motor size depends on the machine size and budget. The motor creates high speeds, and it aids in creating a bright shine.

Some tips about floor buffer for home use

Sometimes buffers can be difficult to operate. Follow these steps for using a buffer on your floor.

Clear the furniture and other objects from the floor

 Place your furniture and move them to the edges of the room. If it is possible, move everything out of the room into another room. When you don’t have other rooms to replace your furniture, put them in half of the room. After that, you should pick up large debris pieces before buffering because buffers can clean spills and remove some dirt.

Examine your scrub brush or polishing pad for cleanliness

If your buffer pad was used or soiled, then restore a buffer pad. Used and dirty buffer pad can scratch the floor, particularly at such high speeds. You need to check for defects in the pad and missing portions of pad fabric or unevenness.

Move to the back corner of the room to begin

Locate the extreme corner of the room from the entry; you will buffer to prevent stepping on the freshly buffed floor as you do. Don’t walk over a floor, and then you have buffed because it might scuff or dent the surface.

Ensure a close electric outlet and your floor buffer cords are as long as enough to span the entire room. If you don’t have, make sure your buffing route around the location of the other outlets. 

Use solution or polishing cream

Use a buffing solution or polishing cream that you can manage from the market. Apply the solution on the pad or directly on the floor.

Turn the buffer on and choose the appropriate setting

Select an appropriate setting for the type of floor you have and what kind of dirt is available on the floor. Some high-speed floor buffers include multiple locations that you need to select different RPMs. After that, you will locate the switch. Normally this switch is placed with other control buttons on the arm of the machine. Consult the manufacture manual if you want to know how to run the floor buffer.

Proceed slowly in a back and forth pattern across the room

Run the buffer across the room, starting from the right. Do this process very slowly and carefully. You need to change up your direction and start cleaning from left to right to guarantee even buffing.

Overlap each row about 1/3 times when you continue to buffer. This procedure ensures that you will not miss any spot.

Next, you should inspect the pad 1 to 2 times during the process of buffing.

Final Words

Floor buffer doesn’t, in fact, do its work with the main material of the floor. Instead, they buff the finish a thin, clear coat of a polymer coat about the thickness. Before buffering, you have to be sure that you have the right floor to use a buffer because a floor buffer is more successful by the presence of that polymer coating. So it’s difficult to identify types of flooring for which a floor buffer will be universally successful.