Booking your first commercial strip and wax service comes with a fair number of unknowns. How long will the floor be out of use? What do you have to do before the crew arrives? When can people walk on it again, and when can the furniture go back? None of it is complicated once you know the shape of the job, and walking in with clear expectations is the difference between a smooth night and a stressful one.
Here is what actually happens, what the crew handles, and what falls to you, from the quote through the moment your floors are back in service looking like new.
Before the day: the quote and the walk-through
A good contractor starts with a look at your actual floor, not a number over the phone. Expect a walk-through where they measure the square footage, identify the floor type (VCT, terrazzo, sealed concrete, or another surface), check how worn the existing finish is, and ask how the space is used and when it is empty.
That visit is also when scheduling gets decided. Most commercial strip and wax work happens after hours or over a weekend, so your business loses little or no working time. If you run a large or always-open facility, the contractor may suggest phasing the work, doing one section or wing at a time so part of the building stays open while another is refinished.
You should leave that conversation with a written scope: which areas, how many coats of finish, the schedule, and the price. If you want to understand the service itself before the walk-through, here is what commercial floor stripping and waxing actually is.
What you need to do to prepare
Your part is mostly about clearing the way so the crew can work efficiently. Before they arrive:
- Clear the floor. Move furniture, displays, rolling racks, and floor mats out of the areas being done. Some contractors will move heavier items as part of the job, so confirm in advance who handles what.
- Pull up anything stuck down. Remove labels, stickers, and tape from the floor surface.
- Do a quick sweep. Loose debris does not have to be spotless, the crew will clean thoroughly, but clearing obvious clutter helps.
- Plan access and ventilation. Make sure the crew can get in after hours, and that the space can air out, since stripper has a strong odor while it is being used.
- Communicate the closure. Let staff know the floor will be off-limits during the work and through the cure time so nobody walks across a freshly finished floor.
The clearer the space is when the crew shows up, the faster and cleaner the whole job goes.
What happens during a commercial strip and wax service
Once the area is clear and blocked off with wet floor signs, the crew works through a set sequence. The full technical detail is covered in our complete strip and wax process walk-through, but here is the shape of it.
Stripping. The crew applies a commercial stripper and lets it dwell, then runs a low-speed machine with an aggressive pad to break the old finish loose. On a floor that has not been stripped in a long time, this step may be repeated more than once.
Removal and rinse. The dissolved finish, now a slurry, is picked up with a wet vacuum, and the bare floor is rinsed and dried completely. A clean, neutral surface is what lets the new finish bond.
Finish coats. Fresh floor finish goes on in thin, even coats, four for a standard floor and five or six for high-traffic areas, with drying time between each. This is the slow part, because each coat has to dry before the next goes down.
You do not need to be on site for any of this, though a quick check-in at the start so the crew knows the space and any quirks is always helpful.
After the job: drying, cure, and getting back to normal
This is the part first-timers most often misjudge, so it is worth being precise.
The finish dries to the touch quickly, but drying and full curing are not the same thing. Light foot traffic is usually fine after about an hour, but the finish needs 24 to 48 hours to fully cure and reach its real hardness. On VCT in particular, giving it a full day or more pays off in how well the finish holds up.
Hold the furniture until the finish has cured. Dragging desks and racks back onto a finish that is only surface-dry is the fastest way to scuff a brand new floor. Replace the walk-off mats too, since they protect the fresh finish from day one.
Humidity stretches all of this out. A damp space can roughly double drying time, which is one more reason the contractor builds a realistic window into the schedule. For how that timing scales with the size of your space, we break it down in how long a commercial strip and wax takes.
How the first job sets up every one after
Your first strip and wax is also a baseline. Once you have a fresh, fully built finish down, keeping it up is far cheaper than starting over, and the right routine of regular cleaning and periodic recoating can stretch years out of a single strip.
A contractor worth keeping will talk with you about that cadence rather than just disappearing until the floor looks bad again. If you want to plan it out, here is how to build a multi-year floor care plan so you are recoating on schedule instead of paying for a full strip every time.
Frequently asked questions
How should I prepare for a floor stripping and waxing service?
Clear the areas being done: move furniture, displays, and floor mats, remove any labels or tape stuck to the floor, and do a quick sweep of loose debris. Confirm with the contractor who moves heavy items, make sure the crew can get in after hours, and tell your staff the floor will be off-limits during the work and the cure time.
How long does a commercial strip and wax take?
A space around 5,000 square feet typically takes two to three days: stripping on the first day, finish coats on the second, and limited access on the third while it cures. Crews usually plan 24 to 48 hours per area and can phase a large building so part of it stays open. The work itself is most often done after hours.
How long before I can walk on the floor and put furniture back?
Light foot traffic is usually okay after about an hour, but the finish needs 24 to 48 hours to fully cure, and VCT does best with a full day or more. Wait until it has cured before moving furniture and mats back, because dragging items onto a finish that is only surface-dry will scuff it.
Do I have to move the furniture, or does the crew?
It depends on the contractor. Some include moving furniture in the scope, others expect the area cleared before they arrive. Settle this during the quote so there are no surprises, and so the schedule reflects who is doing the clearing.
Will it disrupt my business?
It does not have to. Most commercial strip and wax jobs are scheduled after hours or over a weekend, and larger facilities can be phased one area at a time so operations keep running. The main thing to plan around is the cure window, when the finished floor needs to stay clear.
How many coats of wax are applied?
Usually four coats of floor finish on a standard floor, and five or six in high-traffic areas that take more wear. Each coat is applied thin and even and needs to dry before the next goes on, which is why the finishing stage takes the time it does.
Excellence Janitorial Services has handled first-time and routine strip and wax jobs for commercial facilities across Northeastern Pennsylvania for more than ten years, scheduled around your hours so your business keeps moving. To set up your first service and get a clear scope and timeline, call us at (800) 851-0806 for a free, no-obligation quote.