What Differentiates Floor Pads And Brushes

How does pad or brush design/shape impact its functionality/effectiveness?

Pads that fit on rotary machines but that have a non-traditional round shape will achieve higher results.  This would apply to octagon, scallop and X-shape type pads.  It has been proven that these pads utilizing a more aggressive edge enables the operator to strip faster, clean deeper or shine higher than traditional round pads.
Rectangle pads are shaped to fit on oscillating machines that are designed for this pad shape.
— Rory Beaudette, VP Sales / COO, ACS Industries, Inc., Lincoln, Rhode Island

1.    As a rule, “the less pad  material in contact with the floor, the less effective and efficient the pad , the machine and  the operator”. 
2.    There are specialty machines that may require a special pad;  e.g. the X pad.   If necessary, the shape suggested by the machine manufacturer should be used.  However,  most rotary floor machine pad drivers are round, not odd shapes.  A round pad puts more pad material   in contact with the floor than  these irregular shape pads; e.g. octagon,  triangle, etc.
— Randall Flowers, Vice President of Corporate Accounts, ETC of Henderson, Inc., Henderson, North Carolina

Floor pads are constantly collecting dirt and debris when is use, however when using brushes, the user will notice that the brushes do not clog up which results in cleaner floors. Brushes will perform on uneven floors, and will get deep into grout lines where floor pads cannot reach.  Also, when using brushes, users do not find themselves wasting time to stop and flip over the brush like one needs to do with pads.  Brushes clearly are more effective and cost efficient.
— Chris Shaw, Northeastern Regional Director of Sales, Malish Corporation, Mentor, Ohio

There’s no advantage between round and rectangular pads; it’s really the customer’s preference of machine type that dictates the pad shape. Both rotary and oscillating machines have distinct advantages and disadvantages in certain applications. Whatever the pad configuration it is very important that it properly fits the machine. Oversized or undersized pads may negatively impact the overall performance of the machine operation and cleaning performance.
— John Miller, VP of Executive Sales and Marketing, Americo Manufacturing Company

Pad and brush fibers/bristles are often discussed when differentiating products. What two things are most important for managers to know about fibers/bristles?

Pad fibers are measured in denier thickness. Polishing and burnishing pads will use a finer, thinner denier fiber and cleaning and stripping pads will use a courser, thicker fiber.  These compositions are required to allow for highest performance allowable.
— Rory Beaudette, VP Sales / COO, ACS Industries, Inc., Lincoln, Rhode Island

1.    Generally, fibers used in floor pads are synthetic fibers, natural fibers or a “blend” of the two.  
•    Synthetic fibers normally are better in wet or damp procedures,  e.g. wet stripping, chemical free stripping, scrubbing,  auto scrubbing but they can be used in dry stripping as well.
•     Blends of natural/synthetic and natural fibers transition to the damp (spray)and completely dry  operations, such as burnishing, polishing, etc.
— Randall Flowers, Vice President of Corporate Accounts, ETC of Henderson, Inc., Henderson, North Carolina

Pads are a woven flat design.  No matter how aggressive they are, they skip over valleys in the floor when scrubbing or stripping.  No matter how soft they are, they trap daily debris on the floor between the pad and the floor causing a more rapid need to scrub and re-coat, or fully strip out.  Brushes will get into the valleys of floors to be cleaned or stripped without damage to the peaks of the floor.  Scrub and strip brushes will also lift the chunks of floor finish during a stripping job to the top of the block removing any chance of the chunk preventing the bristle to stay in contact with the floor, thus providing a better performance and more efficient clean.  Daily maintenance brushes will lift debris off the floor when the machine starts spinning, thus not trapping the daily debris to damage the existing floor finish.
— Chris Shaw, Northeastern Regional Director of Sales, Malish Corporation, Mentor, Ohio