Move-In Ready: 20,880 Sq Ft Ashley Furniture Warehouse Deep Clean in South Portland

Tony Duarte

Oct 8

3 min read

Crew member driving a ride-on auto scrubber across a warehouse floor between empty pallet racks, leaving a clean wet path. — Our ride-on auto scrubber at work under the racking at the Ashley Furniture warehouse in South Portland.

An Ashley Furniture warehouse in South Portland, Maine, needed its 20,880-square-foot floor ready for incoming furniture. The concrete had years of heavy debris, grime, and tire marks ground into it. This wasn't a job for a mop and bucket. It called for a one-time industrial deep clean, done in the right order with the right machines.

Here's how our crew handled it.

The starting point

Dirty gray concrete warehouse floor covered in dark tire tracks and ground-in grime. — Before: multi-year grime and tire marks across the open warehouse floor.

The open floor plan was covered in loose debris on top of a layer of buildup that had been collecting for years. Tire marks ran through the main travel areas. Sweeping alone would only clear the surface, so we planned a multi-step deep clean.

Our four-step process

1. Industrial sweeping. We started by clearing loose debris from the entire open floor with our industrial sweepers. Getting the dry material up first keeps it from turning into mud once the floor gets wet.

2. Degreaser and dwell time. Next, the crew applied an industrial degreaser to the heavy buildup and tire marks and let it sit. Dwell time is what does the work here: the chemical has a chance to soak in and break the grime loose before any machine touches it.

Crew member in a safety vest spraying degreaser on a stained concrete warehouse floor with a pump sprayer. — Applying industrial degreaser and letting it dwell before scrubbing.

3. Deep scrubbing. Then we ran a heavy-duty ride-on auto scrubber over the main floor to lift the loosened grime and pick it up.

View from the seat of a ride-on floor scrubber driving down a racking aisle, with a clean stripe on the concrete ahead. — Operator's view from the ride-on scrubber: the clean path is easy to see.

4. Edges and detail work. Big machines can't reach everything. Our team worked the corners, tight spaces, and edges with a compact scrubber and a swing machine.

Swing floor machine scrubbing along a warehouse wall, with brown slurry of lifted dirt beside a cleaner strip of concrete. — Detail work along the wall with a swing machine. You can see the grime coming up.

Overnight progress, finished the next day

We started with an overnight shift. By the end of that first night, sweeping was 95% complete. The remaining 5% sat under stacked pallets, and we offered to touch up those spots once the facility crew could move them. Scrubbing was 75% complete.

Around 10:00 PM, members of the customer's team stopped by to check on progress. They told us they were very impressed with how the facility already looked.

Our crew returned at about 10:00 AM to finish the scrubbing and detail work and wrap up the project, so the space would be ready for the incoming furniture.

Wet, freshly scrubbed warehouse floor under red and green pallet racking, next to a strip of floor not yet cleaned. — Freshly scrubbed concrete in the racking area. The untreated floor in the foreground shows the difference.

The result

Clean concrete warehouse floor beneath rows of empty red and green pallet racks. — After: a clean, dry floor under the racking, ready for incoming furniture.

All 20,880 square feet went from years of buildup to clean concrete, ready for product to move in.

Why this worked as a one-time project

A floor with years of buildup needs a defined scope, the right sequence, and equipment sized for a warehouse. Treating it as a one-time project let us plan the order (sweep, degrease, scrub, detail) and bring the right machines.

If your building needs a reset like this every so often, see our post on periodic industrial deep cleans.

For the full list of what we handle, from floors to high dusting, visit our industrial and warehouse cleaning page.

CC Smart Maintenance brings OSHA-certified crews, also MEWP (aerial lift) certified, and our own commercial equipment, including ride-on scrubbers, auto scrubbers, and industrial sweepers. We take on one-time industrial and warehouse projects across southern Maine.

FAQ

How do you remove tire marks and years of buildup from a warehouse floor?

We sweep first, then apply an industrial degreaser and give it time to dwell so it breaks down the buildup and tire marks. After that, a ride-on auto scrubber lifts the loosened grime, and a compact scrubber and swing machine handle edges and corners.

Can you work overnight?

Yes. On this project our crew started with an overnight shift and came back the next morning to finish.

What if pallets or stock are in the way?

We clean everything we can reach and touch up the blocked areas once the facility team moves the pallets, as we did on this job.

Get a quote for your warehouse floor

Got a warehouse or industrial floor that needs a reset in southern Maine? Tell us the address, approximate size, and your target date, and we'll scope it.

Call (207) 358-9252 | Text (207) 358-0837 | Email hello@ccsmartai.com