Diamond Devil^® Polishing System: Locust Valley Central Case Study

Locust Valley Central School District Revives Terrazzo Floors With The Diamond Devil^® System. Safe, Easy, And Cost Effective.

Goals

• Identify a viable alternative to stripping and waxing for long-term maintenance of terrazzo floors
• Eliminate time-consuming hallway-related projects that use harsh chemicals
• Find and implement a “greener” polishing and maintenance option
• Prevent slips and falls and eliminate toxic fumes associated with annual floor maintenance

Solutions

• Three distinct tools for terrazzo: Hone, Polish and Shine
• Only water is required, eliminating the need for harsh (and costly) chemicals
• Works on existing floor equipment
• Elimination of annual summer stripping & waxing terrazzo hallways

Results

• Employees can polish, shine and maintain hallways in a fraction of the time
• Increased the safety by eliminating slip-and-fall risks for students and staff
• Alleviated opportunity for salt to destroy the floors, a common winter occurrence
• An environmentally friendly alternative to stripping and waxing
• Replaced costly annual expense (harsh floor chemicals & labor) with a one-time investment in The Diamond Devil^® System
• Even after heavy (foot) traffic, the terrazzo is as vibrant and striking at the end of the school year as it was in the beginning

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Locust Valley Schools Searched For A Better Alternative To Stripping And Waxing Their Terrazzo Floors To Save Time And Money. Their Discovery Offered More Than They Anticipated.

Located on the hearty shores of Long Island, NY, Locust Valley School District is comprised of two primary schools, two intermediate schools, a middle school, and a high school. In February 2022, Locust Valley began looking for viable alternatives to the traditional “strip and wax” method that they had been using to maintain their cementitious terrazzo floors. What was initially assumed to be a straightforward project soon turned into something that was a lot easier said than done.

The main concern that Jason Lueken, assistant head custodian, and his team had with stripping and waxing terrazzo was the time commitment. Not only did you have to strip the floors, you had to apply multiple coats of wax. The floors alone represent a third of the real estate across the schools.

All this time and effort resulted in floors that looked good for a month, maybe two, before returning to their standard “cloudy and dirty” appearance once foot traffic resumed.
Locust Valley officials had researched several options that potentially could solve their time-related issues while offering a more environmentally friendly path forward. The challenge was that while certain chemicals may be “greener,” Lueken and his team found that they did not perform as well.

Specifically, they couldn’t get the “pop” on the floor that they desired. They wanted them to look clean and shiny at the same time – something they didn’t think would be as challenging as it turned out to be.

Thankfully, their research led them to The Diamond Devil^® Terrazzo Restoration & Polishing System. After a free, on-site product demonstration that pre-dated him, Lueken began using the system himself. Soon, he almost couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

The Trouble With the “Old School” Way of Maintaining Floors

From a certain perspective, you could say that terrazzo floors became a “victim of their own success” when it comes to maintenance. They’re commonplace in so many school districts and other public facilities since they’re notoriously durable, even in high traffic areas. Although cementitious terrazzo requires little maintenance, historic belief and common practice is to strip and wax floors annually to keep them looking their best which is costly, time consuming and dangerous.

“With stripping you have to stay on top of it all. If you wait too long, it’ll dry up, and you have to start the whole process over again.”

School districts, constantly grappling with shrinking budgets and a lack of labor, have always looked for the most cost-effective ways to keep their floors looking their best. For most, that involves stripping and waxing them annually. However, terrazzo floors were not meant to be cared for in this way.

By its nature, floor stripping demands the use of harsh chemicals that are applied to the terrazzo regularly, usually during the summer months when school isn’t in session. In addition to being dangerous to staff members, the chemicals also can cause irreparable damage to the floors themselves over time.

Likewise, terrazzo is a porous material. When wax is applied, it leaves behind a residue that reduces the floor’s natural slip resistance. As soon as wax is applied, the risk of slips and falls increases dramatically – especially if water is on the floor.

Enter: The Diamond Devil^® Terrazzo Restoration & Polishing System

The Diamond Devil^® System leverages three distinct tools for terrazzo that restore the shine, image gloss and clarity of the floor while also improving the natural slip resistance of even the most heavily-trafficked floors. A chemical-free solution, uses only water.

• Hone Tool renders terrazzo floors ready for polish in as few as six passes. Workers can achieve better, faster results while using fewer tools than alternative methods require.
• Polish Tool closes terrazzo floors for a clean, even polished finish.
• Shine Tool offers an unmatched gloss level and clarity, using a standard floor machine. The finish is sustained when using this tool as part of a maintenance program.

An Investment in the Future of Locust Valley’s Floors

Quickly, an investment in The Diamond Devil^® System proved to be an investment in Locust Valley itself. It allowed the school to accomplish its main goal of saving time, as well as money. The school no longer buys chemicals and eliminated labor hours dedicated to long summer floor hallway projects.

Almost immediately, Diamond Devil^® was responsible for substantial cost-savings. Since hallways represent over a third of the school’s available floor space, successfully stripping and waxing the seven or eight hallways alone would require over two weeks of work. When you add between 80 and 90 classrooms, the time commitment jumps to more than two months.

All this requires a large volume of harsh, expensive chemicals—supplies that must be purchased year after year. Most schools see this expense as a “necessary evil.” It’s built into the budget because until now, there hadn’t been a viable alternative. But Diamond Devil^® is a one-time expense and uses only water to achieve a high polished shine on the terrazzo. After the initial investment, subsequent years may require a replacement purchase of the Shine Tool. (See cost saving chart below)

An additional benefit of switching to the Diamond Devil^® system is substantial cost savings, not just the first year but year-over-year as the chart illustrates.

The Diamond Devil^® System provides the opportunity to discontinue spending money on chemicals for stripping and waxing that is a short-term fix, ultimately ineffective and that will damage the floors. Money saved can be reallocated where it can have a bigger impact. For Locust Valley, switching to Diamond Devil^® has eliminated their summer hallway projects altogether, in addition to the cost savings.

Nothing Should Come at the Expense of Safety in Schools

The elimination of the toxic chemicals also improves the safety aspect. In his 11 years of experience, dangerous working conditions were something that Lueken had witnessed first-hand. Many of his co-workers had slip-and-fall incidences when using floor stripper.

At another school, he even knew of an employee who fell and broke his ribs and shoulder as a direct result of stripping and waxing the floors. Of course, beyond injuries sustained, employees are out of work for weeks while they recover. This means fewer people to help with projects, increasing both the time and financial cost.

By creating a far safer environment during and after the polishing process, The Diamond Devil^® System totally eliminates these concerns.

Additionally, Locust Valley has yet to experience any issues with salt – something that had been a major issue. When using wax, as students and staff members track salt into the school during the winter, it would compound an already troubling situation. The floors would get so bad that Lueken and his team couldn’t even use their traditional “drag mops” as they would get stuck on the floor. Today, the issue of cloudy, dirty-looking floors is no longer a concern.

Giving Terrazzo Floors a New Lease on Life

The impact of stripping and waxing the floors at Locust Valley versus using The Diamond Devil^® System is night and day.

With Diamond Devil®, the floors look as good today as they did seven months ago.

“The floors look almost as good as the first day we did them,” Lueken said. In his experience, when you wax floors, they quickly get “cloudy and dirty…you can auto scrub them all you want, but they don’t last,” he said. Now, months later, with Diamond Devil^®, the floors “still look shiny and brand new,” Lueken said, “you’re not taking all this time and effort to make a beautiful hallway, only to have it look terrible two months later.”

In terms of the district’s primary goal – saving time – The Diamond Devil^® System performed exceptionally well. The terrazzo hallway stripping and waxing process, which used to take two full weeks to complete, has been eliminated completely.

Lueken said that “with stripping you have to stay on top of it all. If you wait too long, it’ll dry up, and you have to start the whole process over again.” He indicated that not only can you use Diamond Devil^® to do individual sections as opposed to covering all the floors at once, the whole process only takes an hour or two at night and you can accomplish everything during the school year. No more rush to complete summer hallway stripping and waxing projects.

In the past, the floors looked great for a month or two, before that cloudy and dirty appearance would re-appear. “With Diamond Devil^®, the floors look as good today as they did seven months ago,” Lueken said.

He absolutely would give The Diamond Devil^® System “five out of five stars” and would enthusiastically recommend it to other schools for all of the reasons outlined above.

Now, faculty and students at Locust Valley can enjoy bright, shiny, attractive terrazzo floors all year long. The same vibrancy that welcomes students back in September wishes them well as they head off to summer break – exactly the way things should be.