Floor Pads & Bonnets

As a result of selling more and more floor machines, we’ve been regularly giving advice on which floor pads are most suitable for specific jobs. So much so that I thought it would be worthwhile writing a blog with some guidelines and tips.

Floor pads come in endless shapes and sizes, designed for a variety of speeds. We could easily get quite deep and complex when elaborating on which one does what but I’ll try and keep it pretty simple.

Black – Stripping. Heavy duty wet stripping
Brown – Stripping. Cuts away wax/old floor finish. Dry stripping
Green – Scrubbing. Heavy duty wet scrubbing to remove surface coat, ground-in dirt and scuff marks
Blue – Cleaning. Moderate scrubbing or heavy spray cleaning
Maroon – Cleaning. Cleans when damp, buffs when dry. Ideal for spray cleaning, removes scuff marks and polishes floor
Red – Buffing. Dry or spray to remove scuff marks and restore shine
Tan – Polishing. For polishing synthetic or natural finishes to high lustre
White – Polishing. Non-aggressive dry polishing to high gloss

If it’s a unique task that requires a specialist pad then a diamond pad might be the one for you. They are are great for grinding, cleaning, burnishing and polishing but use with care, they can cause a lot of damage!

Our friends over at Contico have this really useful PDF that explains in a lot of detail which pad will best suit the job;

Tip! The best way to clean a floor pad is to brush the pad surface whilst rinsing with clean water using the push-out centre piece on each pad.

What size of floor cleaning pad do I need?

You will need to measure the deck of your machine to find out what size of floor cleaning pad you need. You simply need to measure across your drive board as per the below image.

The pad fitted to the drive board should be approximately 1” (25mm) larger in size than the drive board itself. We have included a table below showing the common sizes of pad in inches and mm.

Inches (Imperial) | mm (Metric)

10" - 254mm
13" - 330mm
14" - 355mm
15" - 380mm
16" - 405mm
17" - 431mm
20" - 510mm

What Types of Flooring Can a Floor Pad be Used on?
Floor cleaning pads can be used on most types of flooring, but are especially suited to very flat flooring with little to no crevices in them. If you have a floor that ins very uneven, or tiled with large deep grout lines then a brush may be more suited to your needs.

How Long Do The Pads Last?
This all depends on the type of flooring that you have and how often you clean your floors, if you have rough floors and clean them every day then you cannot expect the pads to last as long as pads that are being used on a smooth floor.

Will I Need Any Special Adaptors To Allow This To Work On My Machine?
If you do not already have a drive board for your machine then you will need to purchase one to use these pads on your machine. Which machine you have will affect the type of drive board that you need. If you have a Numatic machine you will most likely find the appropriate drive board on our website, otherwise give us a call and we will be more than happy to assist you in finding the right drive board for your needs.