Utility pads are a larger version of scouring pad and can be attached to a utility pad holder which can either comes with a hand held handle or long pole handle. Utility pads are mostly used for cleaning baseboards, scuff marks on floors, and built up floor wax in hard to reach places. The average utility pad is about 10 inches long whereas a scouring pad is usually six inches or less.
A very popular utility pad is called a doodlebug pad and is manufactured by 3M Corporation. The doodlebug pad is popular because it comes with a pad holder system. The floor hand pad holder has small teeth that grip to the pad and a comfortable handle to reduce stress and fatigue for the user. Pole pad holders also have small teeth that hold the pad, but the actual holder itself can be attached to a pole to get at hard to reach places. Utility hand pads come in different grades of abrasion so it is possible to chose a suitable pad for the task at hand.
A common industry standard in hand pads is that the darker the color pad usually has the coarsest fibers and the lighter colors have denser fibers and are less abrasive. The most common colors for utility pads are white, blue, brown and black. White utility pads are equivalent to a cleansing pad and used for cleaning delicate surfaces. Blue utility pads are more for general use and are mildly abrasive yet still effective at scrubbing. Brown utility pads are most commonly used for scrubbing, scouring and removing light wax build up on floors. Black utility pads are the most abrasive and are great for tackling heavy amounts of built up wax in hard to reach places.
Utility pads are a necessity when refinishing floors and are usually found in every floor refinishing experts tool box. When refinishing a vinyl or tile floor it is important to remove all the old wax or floor finish before applying the new layer. Floor pads and low speed floor machines running at about 175rpm - 300rpm do a great job at removing floor finish and wax from open floors but corners and baseboards can sometimes become quite a chore. This is where utility pads come in handy. When using a utility pad on baseboards and flooring corners a handy tool to use is a utility pad holder with extension pole. When using an extension pole, extra pressure can be applied to the pad to create more friction between the pad and the surface thus removing more old floor finish and cutting down on worker fatigue. When utility pads become caked with old floor finish they can be easily rinsed in hot water or floor stripper to remove the finish from the pad extending the pads life by up to four times. When the fibers within the pad start breaking off it is then time to discard the pad and use a new one. When removing a extra heavy duty buildup of wax on a floor it is recommended that you soak the utility pad in a high performance stripper then and agitate the old wax using a black utility pad. If this method does not work and the buildup is too thick take an old towel soaked in floor stripper and let it soak on the built up area. |
