School is out for summer and now is the time to reevaluate your floor care routines. While students are playing outdoor sports like baseball and softball, summer time is the perfect chance to revolutionize your wood floor care program.

During the school year, students and athletes come into contact with the gym floor every day. Give your gym floors an added layer of proactive antimicrobial protection with Arena^® 300 with Microban^® Technology.

Microban protection is built-in to Arena 300 during the manufacturing process, and provides continual 24/7 antimicrobial protection for the life of the coating while it is on your floor. When microbes come in contact with the product surface, Microban protection penetrates the cell wall of the microorganism and disrupts the cell, making the microorganism unable to grow and reproduce. Microban protection continuously fights the growth of microbes. Microban protection makes floors easier to clean and keeps them cleaner, longer.*

*Images shown are simulations representative of typical bioburden counts on treated and untreated surfaces.

Now is the Time

Many schools hire contractors to recoat their gym floors. The Buckeye Reflections Wood Floor Program allows your in-house staff to do the work easily and efficiently with equipment you already have. Reflections products are safer for your employees to use with no hazardous crosslinkers and Reflections water-based wood floor coatings have some of the lowest VOCs on the market.

The complete Reflections program includes hands-on training with support from online resources and wall charts that can be posted in janitorial closets. Our expert representatives know the routine, interim, and restorative procedures to keep your gym looking its best for the upcoming school year.

Contact a Buckeye representative to schedule a Buckeye Reflections product demonstration or host a wood floor seminar to see how the program can transform your facility.

*Microban technology does not protect users against disease-causing microorganisms. Microban Products Company makes neither direct nor implied public health claims. Normal cleaning practices should be maintained.

Oftentimes, facility maintenance managers will hire contractors to recoat their gyms floors. Because wood floors can be one of the most expensive floors in a facility, staff members don’t want to risk damaging them with improper equipment and inexperience. While recoating a wood floor does require a specific skillset, Reflections has experienced representatives who can train facility maintenance staff to recoat wood floors without compromising their quality, durability, and beauty.

Wood floor contractors can be a costly expense. By training staff members to recoat wood floors in house, facilities can cut down on costs. In person and online training are available through the Reflections Wood Floor Program to train staff members on proper technique, equipment, and products.

The Reflections^® Wood Floor Program can help facilities get the most out of their wood floors. With products and procedures that can extend the life and beauty of your wood floors, Reflections creates a custom program for each facility’s unique needs. Reflections representatives assess the floor, noting things like the age of the floor, damaged areas, and previous maintenance procedures in order to create the best program for that facility.

Because the Reflections program uses equipment most facilities already have, there are no added equipment costs. Training, both in person and online, can make recoating your wood floors easier, and in some cases, faster. Reflections water-based wood floor coatings allow for light sports play on gym floors only 48 hours after recoating.

For added protection, Arena^® 300 Microban^® Antimicrobial Wood Floor Coating utilizes Microban antimicrobial product protection to help inhibit the growth of bacteria. Microban protection is built into Arena 300 during the manufacturing process. When microbes come in contact with the product surface, Microban protection penetrates the cell wall of the microorganism and disrupts the cell, making the microorganism unable to grow and reproduce.

Once a floor has been recoated, Reflections will help facilities maintain their floors between recoats. In addition to in-person training, staff members have access to wall charts, literature, and videos that can guide them through each maintenance process. The Honors^® Custodial Training Program for Schools and Universities can also help guide staff members through each process with videos, PowerPoints, and literature. Honors is available 24/7 online, and comes with additional features like tests and reporting.

Make wood floor maintenance a priority this summer. Contact your local representative to schedule a Buckeye Reflections product demonstration or host a wood floor seminar at your facility.

The Reflections^® Wood Floor Program is built around meeting and exceeding tough environmental regulations, and manufacturing products that are easier and safer for employees to use, while also meeting the stringent expectations of Facility Administrators.

Health Safety Features

Reflections wood floor coatings do not require crosslinkers, which contain polyfunctional aziridene. Other manufacturers use this raw material to crosslink their products for durability. Unfortunately, this crosslinker can have a negative impact on the health of employees and visitors, including respiratory and nervous system health implications.

All Reflections wood floor coatings meet the strict VOC regulations of each state and are single component, 100% urethane products. Using 100% urethane products significantly improves indoor air quality, worker and visitor health safety, and reduces mixing mistakes and overall costs. 

Urethane Wood Floor Coatings

Reflections offers both water-based and oil-based wood floor coatings. When a wood floor is first installed, it’s important to keep water away while the floor boards expand, contract and stretch. For the first few years of a wood floor’s life, oil-based wood floor coatings can help fill the grooves of the new wood floor and move with the floor as it settles. Reflections’ Coliseum^® Oil-Based Wood Floor Coatings are easy to apply and meet VOC compliancy in every state. They offer superior gloss, exceptional durability, and are scratch and scuff resistant.

For older wood floors, Reflections’ Arena^® Water-Based Wood Floor Coatings offer the lowest VOCs, allowing for wood floors to be recoated during normal business hours. Unlike oil-based wood floor coatings, Arena Water-Based Wood Floor Coatings allow for light sports play just 48 hours after the last coat is applied and fully cure 1 week after the last coat is applied.

In addition to mild scents, high gloss, and exceptional durability, Arena^® 300 with Microban^® Technology provides facilities with an extra level of protection. Microban protection is built-in to Arena 300 during the manufacturing process, and provides continual 24/7 antimicrobial protection for the life of the coating while it is on your floor. Microban protection continuously fights the growth of microbes, making floors easier to clean and keeping them cleaner, longer.

Training

Our experts can help you become an expert. When you begin using the Reflections Wood Floor Program, you receive hands-on, personalized training from our expert Reflections representatives. We also provide MFMA (Maple Flooring Manufacturers Association) approved web-based and DVD training, to help guide you as you learn about recoating and maintaining your floors in-house.

Reflections is focused on providing a program that offers the best combination of appearance, application, durability, safety, VOC compliancy, and cost on the market. To learn more about wood floor care and Reflections, contact your local Buckeye representative. 

Wood floors are some of the most beautiful floors in your facility. They’re also some of the most expensive floors. The Buckeye Reflections^® Wood Floor Program can help reduce the cost of maintaining your wood floors, enabling you to recoat them in-house, utilizing equipment already available in your facility.

Reflections products can help you achieve cleaner, brighter, longer-lasting floors that can extend your maintenance cycles. Depending on your facility needs, Reflections offers the greenest, lowest VOC water-based wood floor coatings and the latest, state-of-the-art oil-based wood floor coatings. Reflections maintenance products will clean and restore gloss to your floors between coatings without damaging the floor coating.

In addition to providing superior gloss and durability, Reflections also wants to put the health and well-being of students first. Reflections offers Arena^® 300 Microban^® Antimicrobial Wood Floor Coating, a wood floor coating that continuously fights the growth of microbes and bacteria at no additional cost to you. When microbes come in contact with the product surface, Microban protection penetrates the cell wall of the microorganism and disrupts the cell, making the microorganism unable to grow and reproduce.

Top-of-the-line products combined with in-person and online training is key to the success of the Reflections Wood Floor Program. Buckeye’s full line of wood floor care products comes with hands-on, personalized training from a Reflections representative. This hands-on training covers preparation, recoating, and maintaining your wood floors. For additional assistance, the Buckeye Honors Program can help employees review procedures and teach new employees the proper techniques. Honors presents the complete Reflections Program through a series of videos, providing tests for employees and reporting so managers can review progress of employees.

Reflections’ superior products and training programs can save help you save 35% or more on wood floor maintenance. Achieve lasting results and become an expert in wood floor maintenance with the help of Reflections representatives. See how much you can save by contacting your local Buckeye representative for more information.

In 2018, Buckeye’s Clarion^® 25 floor finish became the first floor finish to utilize Microban^® antimicrobial product protection to help inhibit the growth of bacteria. Buckeye has now added Microban antimicrobial product protection to Arena^® 300 Microban Antimicrobial Wood Floor Coating.

Arena 300 is a 100% urethane, water-based OMU (oil-modified urethane) wood floor coating with exceptional durability and shine. Its mild scent, superior film hardness, quick dry time, and scuff and scratch resistance make it easy to use and the preferred choice for wood floors.

As schools prepare to reopen in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, keeping school facilities clean is more important than ever. With the addition of Microban technology, Arena 300 will keep wood floors looking their best and keep them cleaner, longer at no additional cost. Microban antimicrobial product protection helps inhibit the growth of bacteria, providing continuous protection for the useful lifetime of Arena 300. When microbes come in contact with the product surface, Microban protection penetrates the cell wall of the microorganism and disrupts the cell, making the organism unable to grow or reproduce.

Part of the Reflections Wood Floor Care Program, Arena 300 can deliver years of beauty, performance, safety, and durability. The complete Reflections program includes wood floor maintenance products and training coating and maintaining wood floors. For more information about Arena 300 or the Reflections Wood Floor Program, contact your local Buckeye representative.

Caring for wood floors requires time and expertise that most facilities don’t have. This is why many schools hire contractors to recoat and care for their gym floors. Because wood floors are among the most impressive features in any facility, staff members don’t want to risk destroying their beauty by attempting to recoat the floors in-house. With the proper products and training, facility managers don’t need to be concerned. The Reflections^® Wood Floor Program provides products and trains staff on prepping, scrubbing, and recoating wood floors.

Oftentimes, hiring a contractor can be expensive. Facilities looking to cut down on costs while maintaining the quality of their wood floors can take advantage of the in-person, online, and video training options provided by Reflections. Reflections training includes procedures for restorative, interim, and routine wood floor care.

In addition to in-person training, staff members have access to wall charts, literature, and videos that can guide them through each maintenance process. The Honors^® Custodial Training Program for Schools and Universities can also help guide staff members through each process with videos, PowerPoints, and literature. Honors is available 24/7 online, and comes with additional features like tests and reporting. Supervisors can track the progress of each staff member with reporting on test scores and the amount of video each staff member has watched. 

Since Reflections procedures work with equipment most facilities already have, there is no added cost for new equipment. The training provided by the Reflections program can make recoating your wood floors easier and, in some cases, faster. With Reflections water-based wood floor coatings, staff no longer has to wait for summer to recoat gym floors. The quick dry-times of water-based coatings mean school staff can recoat during winter or spring break, making wood floor care more convenient.

Reflections products also offer some of the lowest VOCs (volatile organic compounds) in the industry, improving the indoor air quality for employees as they work. Reflections has also removed hazardous crosslinkers from their coatings. These crosslinkers can be harmful to the respiratory health of employees and visitors. With its products and training, Reflections has made recoating wood floors quick, easy, and safer for employees.

For more information on the Reflections Wood Floor Program’s training program and products, contact your local Buckeye representative. 

Improving the indoor air quality while recoating your gym floors can be a challenge. Recoating your school’s gym floors takes time. Oil-based wood floor coatings can take up to two weeks to fully cure. During the application and drying process, wood floor coatings can emit VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds), odorous gases that can sometimes be dangerous to the health of employees or others in your school.

Limiting the amount of VOCs that are released can make a difference in the time it takes to recoat your floors. Even more importantly, it’s better for the health of employees and visitors. Reflections Coliseum^® oil-modified wood urethanes have limited VOCs and Arena^® water-based urethanes have some of the lowest VOC ratings of any wood floor coatings in North America. Because Arena coatings are water-based and emit less VOCs, their dry time is faster, allowing for play on gym floors only 48 hours after application.

There are other advantages to using Reflections wood floor coatings. Many well performing water-based products require the addition of a Polyfunctional Aziridine Crosslinker. This raw material is used to crosslink products for durability. However, it comes with many health concerns, including allergic reaction of the skin, lungs, and heart. With each exposure, health concerns only become greater. Reflections wood floor coatings don’t use hazardous crosslinkers, helping limit employee exposure to hazardous materials.

Preparation methods can also contribute to poor indoor air quality. Dry prepping floors can create dust that lingers in the air. If your gym floor is older, the Reflection wet screening prep method can eliminate dust. The Reflections^® Wood Floor Program can help you decide the best preparation method for your floors that keeps your floors looking their best and considers the health of visitors and staff.

The Reflections Wood Floor Program prioritizes manufacturing safer-to-use products that exceed the strict environmental rules that regulate wood floor coatings. The complete program provides top-of-the-line products and procedures that keep gym floors shiny and durable without compromising employee health and safety. To learn more about the Reflections Wood Floor Program, its products, and procedures, contact your local Buckeye representative. 

The age of your facility’s wood floor has a significant influence on the kind of maintenance required to maintain it. For newer wood floors, coating with oil-based wood floor coatings is the only option. A newer wood floor is more porous and likely to absorb water. However, over time wood floors become less porous and less absorbent. Because of this, coating old wood floors with water-based wood floor coatings becomes the better option.

Benefits of Water-Based Wood Floor Coatings

Water-based wood floor coatings have fewer VOCs, creating a better working environment for staff members coating the wood floors. For schools recoating gym floors, the fast-drying times make it possible to recoat over a long winter or spring break. There’s no need to wait for summer to get the job done.

Most importantly, because your wood floor has had years to build up polymer protection, water-based coatings won’t cause any damage to your floors. They can also keep wood floors shiny and ready for foot traffic.

Reflections Water-Based Wood Floor Coatings

Reflections Arena^® water-based wood floor coatings are the best water-based wood floor coatings for any aged wood floor. Arena 300 allows sports play on gym floors only 48 hours after application. With Arena, staff members can wet-prep and coat floors on the same day. The wet screening prep method is recommended for older wood floors as it leaves behind no dust and provides good abrasion for adhesion. If you apply an oil-based wood floor coating after wet prepping the floor, you must wait overnight before coating. Water-based wood floor coatings can be applied in a much shorter window of time. They also have quick cure times and respond well to burnishing.

Their quick-drying times are coupled with low VOCs. In fact, Arena 300 is one of the most environmentally friendly coatings in the industry, with an NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) rating of 0 for Health, Fire, and Reactivity.

Reflections Program

Coating your wood floors takes care and consideration, but it doesn’t have to be complicated and difficult. The Reflections^® Wood Floor Program comes with all the training and products needed to make it possible to coat your wood floors in house. Reflections representatives provide in-person expertise and training to help your staff complete the job. To find out more about the Reflections Wood Floor program and how to take care of your old wood floor, contact your local Buckeye representative.

If you’re recoating your wood floors this summer, hot weather may impact the recoating process. When the weather turns hot, a host of challenges can crop up.

Before applying your wood floor coating, bring your floor coating into the facility and allow it to adjust to room temperature. Never apply a coating that is warmer than the floor. Applying a hot coating to a cool floor can create millions of tiny bubbles. If your floor coating has been stored in a truck or sitting in the sun, it can reach temperatures of 160 degrees Fahrenheit. If you apply the hot coating to a cold floor, the coating will dry extremely quickly. As the warm coating penetrates the wood, it heats up air pockets in the wood, causing them to bubble as the coating quickly dries.

Drying Conditions

A properly dried wood floor coating means that enough solvents have been removed from the coating to allow the polymer chains to entangle. Entanglement enhances adhesion, durability, and overall beauty of a coating. In dry winter conditions, one concern is flash drying due to very low humidity. In the summer, air exchange is important. The outside air is typically humid, and adding solvents or water to the air inside makes it even more saturated, slowing the drying and curing, so you should exchange the air in the room with fresh air. You don’t, however, want this happening directly on a freshly applied and still tacky finish. You don’t want to stir up dust from the rafters.

For best results in hot, humid, summer conditions, be prepared to turn down any airflow while the finish is being applied, and be prepared to get it turned back on several hours later. Air movement and circulation is the most important factor in drying any wood floor coating.

Temperature

Increased temperature can impact drying time in multiple ways. Higher temperature can increase the air’s capacity to carry vapor which can speed up drying, but only if air is circulating. High temperature can also increase the curing rate of solvents in the floor coating.

However, you do not want your wood floor coating to dry too fast. If it does, there may be some combing lines in the coating. Therefore, in low circulation conditions, more time must be taken before allowing regular traffic and moving furniture back onto the floor. When you have low circulation conditions and hot and humid summer conditions, it is especially important to allow more time.

It is always important to consider air circulation, temperature, and dry time when recoating your wood floors. Representatives from Buckeye’s Reflections^® Wood Floor Program have the knowledge and expertise to help you determine when and how to coat your wood floors. Representatives can help train your staff in proper coating applications and procedures.

Contact your local Buckeye representative to find out more information about the Reflections Wood Floor Program and the training that accompanies it.

The Buckeye Reflections^® Wood Floor Program will help you get brilliant shine and excellent durability out of your wood floors. Buckeye has data to back up these claims, but the best way to learn about Reflections is through a Reflections seminar.

With a Reflections seminar, you not only get to see the products in action, but you get the chance to participate in the prepping and recoating process.

Day 1

Buckeye representatives will walk through the process of prepping your wood floor, explaining each aspect as they begin to prep your floor. They will do the same as they scrub and tack, and apply Gym Bond with flat mops.

Afterwards there will be time for questions and a quick introduction to recoating your wood floors.

Day 2

Day 2 is more hands-on. Reflections offers great products, and one of its greatest assets is the MFMA (Maple Flooring Manufacturer’s Association) approved training your staff members will receive from Reflections representatives. Staff members will first learn about prepping procedures in a classroom setting and then will accompany Buckeye representatives in prepping the rest of the wood floor.

Once the floor has been prepped, staff members will have the opportunity to learn about recoating wood floors. Buckeye representatives will present the difference between oil-based and water-based wood coatings, the equipment needed to recoat your floors, the application process, and various maintenance procedures.

To conclude the presentation, staff members will begin to apply their knowledge by recoating the wood floor alongside Buckeye representatives. At the end of the day, all participants will have the opportunity to ask additional questions. Each participant will also receive a Certificate of Training.

Finished Product

By the end of a Reflections seminar, your staff will be fully trained on the preparation and recoating processes for your wood floors as well as additional maintenance procedures. Your wood floor will be completely recoated, giving you the opportunity to fully evaluate how Reflections products can have a long-term impact on your facility.

When asked about the Reflections Wood Floor Program a high-school Facilities Manager had this to say: “I could not believe the amount of pride my staff took in the wood floors once we implemented the Buckeye Reflections Program. For the first time we were receiving compliments on our wood floors instead of complaints. The Buckeye staff came and hosted a training with my staff on the upper wood floor. A year later they did a second training with my staff on the lower wood floor. Shortly after the second training my staff did the upper wood floor on their own and it turned out excellent.”

See how a Reflections seminar can have an impact on your facility and your staff by scheduling a seminar today.