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Maintain - Troubleshooting:

The first step is always to test the product in another application other than your project. The purpose of doing this is to get over your natural reaction that something might be wrong with the product. This will aid in determining what is really happening and why.

If, after testing as described and reviewing the information on this page, you do not have an answer and do not know what to do - contact us for assistance as something is certainly different than you think.

Before emailing for assistance - do the following tests so you can give us the results in the your email. If you contact us before doing the testing and reviewing the information, there will be delays in assisting you because we must still ask you for these test results. We cannot be of assistance by guessing.

(It is important to do all 3 tests)

  1. Apply a small amount to a piece of flat, clean glass per the label directions. The glass gives you a clear view of what the product looks like when dry. With sealers or coatings, this will show you the degree of toughness and adhesion. With cleaners and other products, this will show you the what it looks like when dry.

  2. Apply a small amount to an uninstalled piece of the same surfacing per the label directions. The uninstalled piece of the same surfacing takes away anything that occurred during and after installation.

  3. Apply a small amount per the label directions to a different type of surfacing with a similar absorption. This takes the surfacing itself out of the equation to show if there is something unusual about that particular batch of surfacing.
Now that you see what the product does and how it looks - let's examine the job conditions and determine what is different. The conclusion to be verified is that something has occurred during the installation, or in the time span after installation, to interfere with performance. You do not want to do anything else (reapply product, strip, etc.) that will complicate identifying the issues.

Here are the things to look for:

  • Leaving streaks? The tests above will show you that "Maintain" does not leave streaks. Therefore, they are coming from another source, such as:
    • "Maintain" needs to be diluted more than usual for your situation.
    • "Maintain" is breaking down and starting to remove residue from prior cleaners or wax type coatings.
    • Your mop is leaving residue from other cleaners
    • You mop water has high mineral content and you see that when it dries.

  • Surface has dulled down or looks dirty? Can that be from "Maintain"?
    No, even at full strength, "Maintain" will not dull or otherwise effect any surface negatively. Look for other possibilities, such as:
    • Overly aggressive scrubbing with a brush with other than soft bristles. Or the same with some other type of tool.
    • Mop water or tools are not clean enough and leaving something behind.
    • Mop water has a high mineral content and minerals are left behind. This usually looks like a whitish haze.
    • Tools have previously been used with wax type coatings or cleaners and are now leaving a wax residue.
    • At some point in the floor's history and perhaps unknown to you, someone has used very aggressive supermarket or janitorial cleaners. These could contain things like citrus solvents, butyls, terpenes, and more. These aggressive components can soften some coatings.

    If this does not answer your situation - something is very different and unusual. Do nothing further and contact us.