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How to Clean and Maintain Today's Vinyl Flooring
By Shawn Glines
May 23, 2021
How to Clean and Maintain Today's Vinyl Flooring
Cleaning and Maintaining Today's Vinyl Flooring
Your home is your sanctuary, and it's important to keep it in excellent shape from top to bottom. This is how you clean and maintain your vinyl flooring.
The luxury flooring is paid for, installed, and looked amazing until it started to fill up with dirt, dust, fibers, and pet hair. When you have paid that much for luxury flooring in your home, you want to keep it clean. Luckily, you just need to know a few helpful maintenance tips to keep it looking brand new.
Vinyl flooring maintenance is easy, but there are a few yes and no tactics you should know. Below, we provide our must-know guide to cleaning vinyl flooring.
Cleaning Vinyl Flooring
When cleaning flooring, you should always follow the guidelines set out by the manufacturers. Very often, this will include recommendations on specific cleaners and treatments to apply to their vinyl flooring. As they will often have rigorously tested their products, you should follow this advice.
You should also consider methods of preventative care to keep your flooring looking fresh and new. Laying down rugs, wearing appropriate footwear, and limiting scratches from dirt and dust can help.
When asking which cleaner to use on your vinyl floor, the most important considation is the harshness of the cleaner, most brands make it clear that you need a PH nuetral cleaner in order to prevent damage, never use harsh chemicals. Here is a list of links from reputable flooring manufacturers:
Mohawk Vinyl Cleaning Guidelines
Shaw Vinyl Cleaning Guidelines
Pergo Extreme Cleaning Guidelines
Each of these manufacturer's also have their recommended cleaning solutions. Mohawk and Pergo suggest Floorcare Essentials, which is surprising distributed by Mohawk, at the same time Shaw suggests theirs which is called R2X Hardsurface Flooring Cleaner, and yes CoreTec's is called Encore.
Cleaners to Avoid
With luxury flooring, there are a few cleaners that you should definitely avoid. These cleaners can damage the oils and treatments on your flooring. It can lead to corrosion, fading, and cracking of the wood.
Any solution that contains bleach, ammonia, or substances with a high PH level are never needed on your flooring and will cause damage. Luxury vinyl flooring is designed to be hardy and does not need harsh chemicals on it to be cleaned. Dishwasher soap in warm water is as good as any of these and will cause less damage.
If in doubt, just be sure your cleaner has a neutral PH.
Stains
Although the vinyl floor is waterproof, it helps to pay attention to moisture. Make sure water and fluids are removed quickly from your floor.
When cleaning, make sure you dry a floor with your mop after the clean. This takes away any pooling water, which can cause stains if it is based on strong fluids. Ideally, you can use a clean rag or towel for this part.
If you do get a stain on your flooring, you can delicately try to rub it out. Water and baking soda, 3 percent hydrogen peroxide, and isopropyl alcohol are all great products that will not cause damage to the flooring.
Steam Cleaning Vinyl Flooring
Steam cleaning is a big no-go when it comes to many types of flooring, and vinyl flooring is no exception. It can cause long-lasting, irreparable damage that will result in the need for repair or a replacement floor.
Steam cleaning has two main factors. These are high temperatures and moisture. Both of these elements are damaging to flooring.
Your vinyl flooring is coated with polyurethane to protect it. However, the small cracks between planks are a weak point where it is possible for moisture to get in if it is forced with heat and pressure. If you have glued your planks, the heat can also melt the binding substance making your flooring weak. On your rigid core floating vinyl plank options that do not require glue during installation, the heat can cause warping and delamination.
Once the moisture is inside, it can expand and contract. This pushes your vinyl flooring outward, causing it to bow and bend. Many manufacturers are aware of this and state explicitly that if you steam clean your flooring it will invalidate your warranty.
Common Mistakes
There are a few common mistakes that people make when cleaning a luxury vinyl floor. These mistakes can result in fading, damage to the floor, and a shorter life span than you would normally expect.
The first mistake is cleaning with too much water on your mop. You do not want moisture to seep in between your planks. In addition, pooling water can cause stains on flooring.
Limit the amount of water that touches your floors by always using damp mops and rags instead of wet. If you get moisture under your floorboards, it can also lead to mold and mildew building up. This can cause health problems and troublesome odors.
This logic also applies to cleaning up spillages. Leaving them to pool, or taking your time before removing them, can lead to the above problems. While coffee, fruit juice, and wine are all renowned for staining, even common water can leave a mark on your flooring if untreated.
Using harsh scrubbing techniques are also not advised, along with any tough cloths and cleaners. They can take the polyurethane coating from your flooring, leaving it exposed to the elements and moisture.
Finally, vinyl sometimes has a chemical reaction to rubber backed mats. This can cause discoloration to their floor. Go for a matt that is backed with a different substance.
Scratches, Scuffs, and Regular Sweeping
Even the smallest particles of dirt, grit, and dust on your flooring can cause scratches. This is why it is important to sweep or vacuum every day as part of vinyl floor maintenance. You must do this particularly in any areas that have high volumes of footfall, such as hallways.
If you do encounter a scratch or scuff mark try a spot repair kit or apply some light buffing with a soft cloth. Jojoba oil rubbed over the scuff is a method that many people tend to use, as is scrubbing lightly with the textured surface of a tennis ball.
If you have a deep chunk gouged from your flooring, the only option is to replace the plank. This may be a big job, depending on where the flooring panel lies. You should weigh up the aesthetic cost against the time and labor spent, and decide if it is worth your time.
You should always put felt pads on the bottom of your furniture to protect from scratches and also rugs at your doorways should help prevent damaging grit or pebbles from getting track onto your new floor.
Choosing the Right Flooring and the Right Company
Once you know how to clean vinyl flooring, you can keep it looking fresh and new for years to come. However, half of this battle is selecting the right flooring and quality for your home and needs.
We at Znet love to give our customer's great service, many customers are surprised by the time we take and the detail we go into when they get us on the phone, this is because the other companies they call tend to brush them aside, most times when you google "flooring store near me", you will not get the same service as you find with us. Also, please do not make the mistake of thinking we are a flooring liquidator, as we only sell higher end 1st quality goods.
We would love to hear your questions about which transition pieces to use, cleaning advice, or just general product knowledge questions. Please bring us your questions, we would love to build a great FAQ page.
Znet Flooring are specialists in providing durable, long-lasting flooring for your property. We have a range of finishes and styles to suit every need, whether it be for your forever home, investment property, or something in between. Browse our catalog, and let us help put the spring back in your step with quality flooring!