Square Scrub Saves Time and Money at Cibola High School

Cibola High School in Albuquerque, NM has found the perfect floor machine to refinish the vinyl tile found throughout their campus.

As one of the largest high schools in New Mexico, the small custodial staff has over 200,000 sq. ft. of vinyl tile to refinish each summer. In years past, they used traditional chemical stripping methods. It’s no secret that the traditional methods can be very time consuming and costly.

In the summer of 2017, the staff was behind schedule for their yearly VCT refinishing project. With time dwindling the staff abandoned the traditional stripping method for the chemical free dry prep method using the Square Scrub® EBG-20/C. The end result: The project was finished ahead of schedule.

According to Bernie McGartland, Director of Custodial Services: “The dry method cut our time in half. A lot of time used to be spent letting the chemical stripper set. Now we can get to work faster, and get the job done.” Since the dry method does not require as large of a staff per room, McGartland has been able reduce the number of manhours. “This is a big deal, because we can refinish more rooms in less time,” McGarland stated.

The dry prep method is not only faster, but incredibly safer. Chemical stripper can create very slippery and hazardous surfaces. McGarland added, “I’ve seen people take some nasty falls due to slick floors, but people can walk right through the dry method without hesitation.”

The EBG-20/C is incredibly portable with two non-marking ball bearing wheels, a solid steel axle, and easy to remove weights. McGartland said,” Along with the main building we have 70 portable classrooms. The Square Scrub machines are much easier to move from room to room.”

As the most well-balanced floor machine available, the Square Scrub EBG-20/C equally distributes the workload across the entire pad, which can drastically increase pad life. By releasing the control handle from the base, the new floating head design greatly reduces the amount of felt vibration and user fatigue. McGarland added, “This machine is phenomenal! It’s easy to use, and basically does all the work for you.”

The new Square Scrub EBG-20/C Pivot features:

• New floating head for near perfect weight distribution.
• Pivoting action follows uneven floors more efficiently.
• New longer lasting isolators.
McGartland’s crew has also aban­doned the old mop and bucket method of applying floor finish and has adopted the Square Scrub® Bucket on a Stick, which holds up to 5 quarts of finish and uses a microfiber mop head for easy application. McGarland added that they have saved a significant amount of money on floor finish since the Bucket on a Stick applies the finish more evenly than the old method.