There was a time when scrubbing floors required plenty of water, soap, and a strong back. The only way to really scrub a floor effectively was to get down on hands and knees and slowly work across the entire floor. Fortunately, the floor scrubber was invented and took a lot of the labor out of the process. As a tool that is used daily in all sorts of public buildings, the floor scrubber is a great way to take care of an essential job in a fraction of the time it would take to do the work by hand. Here are some examples of different types of floor scrubbers and how they work.

Automated floor scrubbers made their appearance around the middle of the 20th century. With a basic design that was somewhat like a push lawn mower, these early models of the floor scrubber contained a well for water and soap and jets that could squirt the cleaning mixture onto the floor. A set of rotary brushes worked the cleansers into the floor facing, effectively lifting dirt and scrubbing the floors clean.

Since the modern floor scrubber tended to leave less water behind to dry and doing floors by hand, the floor scrubber improved the process in two ways. First, there was no getting down on hands and knees to do the floor, and the job could be done in much less time. Second, the floor would dry quicker, meaning traffic could resume in a shorter period of time.

As the use of floor scrubbers expanded from corporate buildings to schools and municipal buildings, there began to be some variations on the theme. In order to get the highest degree of shine from linoleum and similar floor coverings, the automated floor buffer came into existence. Floor buffers often used rotary brushes like those of the floor scrubber, but were often softer. The floor bugger would gently buff the clean floor to a nice level of shine that made the area look even cleaner.

For marble and wood floors, a floor polisher was the tool of choice. Floor polishers tended to focus more on natural materials, bringing out the luster and glow that comes with the clean surface that has not been treated with harsh chemicals.

Over the years, the lines have blurred among the varying types of floor scrubbers. Innovations in the design and function of the floor scrubber have made it possible to use one machine for just about any type of flooring, from cement to natural wood to synthetic floor tiles. In recent years, smaller models designed for home use have joined the market, allowing persons to scrub, buff, and shine the domestic floors with the same level of expertise formally found only with professional cleaning crews. Whether the idea is to clean up a messy floor or bring out the natural sheen of the material, a good quality floor scrubber will do the job nicely.