Squeegees, Wet-Vacs & Auto-Scrubbers

Excellence is just the sum of a lot of mundane little things done well. Since ideal concrete coating preparation is nothing really more than removing contaminants from the bond line, good squeegees, and extraction equipment to get solutions up, might be the most important tools you own.

Auto-scrubbers put cleaning solution down, agitate it, and pull the solution up in one pass. They can get pretty big, and they are great for some things. The photo to the right is of a machine that I haven’t personally owned and used for years, but if I was going to buy one today, knowing what I know now, it’s what I’d get.

I’m frankly not sure if the squeegee pictured at left is the best one you can get or not. When I was a contractor, we would buy wooden poles that we would that we would jam squeegee heads onto, and then put a screw into because when that thing is about 50% worn out, it just doesn't work very well, so you replace the head a lot faster than the pole. In any event, try to buy your squeegee locally from an independent business, and if you have to use HomeDepot.com, I've embedded a link in that image.

A vacuum purpose-built for removing water from hard surface flooring is mission critical for coating professionals. These are best sourced from local janitorial supply stores who often have decades of experience helping customers like you. The link to the retailer associated with the picture above is my best guess. I've personally never owned or worked with a brand that sells online.