Hiya,
Finally a post where I can use all the stuff I learned working nights as a custodian at a high school to pay my way through electrical engineering/computer science degrees.
OK, first thing you have to realize there is a vast difference between commercial cleaning and what you do at your house. (for example, you don't break out a garden hose to wash your bathroom or spray the walls of your kitchen down with bactericide.)
#1 Trash can: You flip the trash can over the bucket, push the can as far into the barrel as hard as you barrel to compact the trash already in the barrel, pick it up and hold it open palmed on both sides, take one hand and slap the side of it hard to knock the trash loose and let if fall into the big barrel, flip the can on the rim of the big barrel and use your putty knife to get out any remaining stuff. never use your hands to touch trash, you will be sorry if you do.
#2 Gum on a gym floor: Use the putty knife. (If you need to at all. In the colder months, you can just flick it off with the edge of your boot. (the cement is cold enough to harden the gum.) Gym floors are really tough, a putty knife wont hurt them at all. If your wet mopping with cold water, flip the gum into the mop water, it will sink to the bottom and when you dump the bucket it will go down the slop sink drain. If your dry mopping, leave it on the floor and push it along, the dirt will stick to it and it won't stick to the floor again.
#3 Windows: Always done with a window squeegee set. One for washing (looks like a paint roller but doesn't roll, called a mop), one rubber blade. wet the mop, start at the opposite lower than the hand you are holding it in, go around the edge, then using long sweeping strokes cover the entire window, to dry, start at the same corner as before but end up at the opposite lower corner.
#4 Mops: Mops are never "hung" unless they are "dry mops" (the type to sweep the dust off the floor, they are wide and they swivel) Wet mops are always draped over the wringer of the mop bucket to dry. That way you never have to look for one or the other, they are always together.
#5 Floor Waxing: 3 to 5 very thin coats will give the best wear and shine. Before you strip the old wax, draw a rough pic of the room and mark the highest wear areas, strip the old finish, rinse, rinse, rinse and rinse more, ( the more you rinse the old gunk off, the brighter the floor will look) Apply a thin coat to only the high areas you marked on your paper, let dry an hour, go over the areas again and expand them by 50%, let dry 2 hours, apply the third coat to the entire room keeping a foot away from the walls or any other structure, let dry overnight, next morning apply a very thin coat over the entire room keeping 3" from the edge, let dry for a day, next day, apply the thinest coat right to the edge, let dry 2 or 3 days before you put desks back or else the sliders will rust to the floor and your supervisor will not be happy.
OK, as you can see commercial cleaning is a lot different than home cleaning but after a few years of a school department cleaning, you can whip through the toughest stuff in a house in minutes.
My 38.4 cents,
Tom
