A floor buffer is a machine that is designed to both clean and protect wood, marble and linoleum floors. It gently dislodges dirt and leaves behind a glossy finish in the floor surface. This machine typically resembles a large upright vacuum cleaner and has soft brushes that rotate underneath it to buff the floor.
Features
The rotary brushes on a floor buffer can operate at varying speeds, depending on the type of floor. The buffer has a steering handle and a set of controls that are used by its operator. The controls are used to manage the direction and speed of the rotary brushes.
Use of Cleansers
Floor buffers usually are employed along with some sort of a cleaning agent. It is not unusual for the liquid cleanser to be sprayed on a section of the floor just before the buffer is used on that area. The cleaning agent will help to loosen any dirt and grime from the surface of the floor, making the process of obtaining a clean and glossy floor much easier.
Industrial Models
Buffing floors in different settings will require a variety of speeds and mobility, so there are different sizes of floor buffers available. Commercial or industrial buffers usually are larger and can cover a wider area of the floor with each pass. Some commercial models also double as floor strippers. Increasing the speed and the pressure employed by the rotary brushes can change the floor buffer's effects from simply cleaning the surface to stripping off wax buildups or stains. These combination floor strippers and buffers tend to be very expensive, but they are almost an essential for maintaining floors in public buildings.
Home Versions
For home use, smaller versions of floor buffers often work very well. Designed to buff floors that receive the usual amount of home traffic, they operate at lower speeds that commercial or industrial buffers and often do not include a stripping feature. Instead, they simply work in conjunction with a cleaning agent to lift dirt and grime and leave behind a clean and shiny floor surface. A home floor buffer is much less expensive than an industrial version, and it tends to be a bit smaller. This allows the home floor buffer to easily get into tight areas, such as in a bathroom, between furniture or in nooks and crevices in a kitchen.
