What is on my kitchen floor? Vinyl? Something else? And what...

[Pin Wizard]

do I clean it with???????? I like the pattern, I hate whatever this stuff is! There's a scuff mark that I can't get up for the life of me. When they brought the new refrigerator in a few days ago, them pushing it, with wheels I might add, put these marks in my floor. I HATE IT!!! Give me ceramic tile like I had in Florida! Hmmm...I'll have to think about doing that. But in the meantime, what do I clean it with that works? And it seems to have these little holes...for lack of a better word...in it that just traps all the dirt. Any suggestions other than ripping it out? (Which I would love to do by the way.) Thanks! Do they even use linoleum these days? I haven't a clue what it is.

 

[KathyTX]

You could try this:

http://www.ehow.com/how_18789_remove-scuff-marks.html

They recommend using a pencil eraser.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Go buy the "Mr. Clean Magic Eraser". It might do the trick. You can find it at WalMart or Target.

 

[meeshi]

I second the Mr. Clean Eraser. That little thing is amazing, I think it IS magic!

 

[kadaten]

Sounds like low-grade vinyl...we had it in our last house because the builder wanted way too much to upgrade to the good stuff! Just be glad the refrigerator didn't RIP it (like our washer did when it was delivered ) The ruts from the wheels *may* decrease over time....

Basically anything can be used on vinyl. No wax, of course, unless you want to go skating.... I've got the new Swiffer Wet Jet thingy that works well enough...certainly better than a mop and bucket!! (Or is it the Grab-It Mopping system....don't know....got whichever was safe for hardwood floors since that's what we've got this time around...but they're all good on vinyl.) You can get a $5 coupon in the Sunday paper for the starter set...

I know what you mean about the "little holes". That texture does seem to hold dirt....but we didn't have any better luck with the grout in the tile in the house before that, so it's a toss up!!

 

[tar heel]

I hate my vinyl but didn't like the $3,000 price tag on converting my big kitchen/breakfast room to tile. It's a long way from low grade but is nevertheless extremely difficult to clean/keep clean. I have had good look getting scuff marks off with baking soda and a plastic dish scrubber (such as a Dobie). As a last resort, I use Comet and water, but there's more risk of permanently harming the shine with that.

 

[Pin Wizard]

Thank you, everyone! I tried the eraser, and it worked! Of course, it took some of the shininess off, but the scuff is gone!

Oh, believe me...there are little pieces of flooring missing here and there. It's horrible.

 

[pjlla]

If you are really desperate Home Depot sells an Armstrong product called "New Beginnings" extra-strength floor cleaner/stripper in a green and white bottle. It is made for vinyl floors. We used it to clean the old vinyl before putting a new floor over it. Works great. But I'm not sure if it will take the shine off a newer floor. Ours was CHEAP, 10 year old, abused sheet vinyl. Nothing was going to make it worse. But I was amazed at how well it cleaned. But it is somewhat expensive ($5/qt) and you use it straight, no diluting. And it is somewhat labor intensive.

You put it on straight from the bottle with a damp spongemop. Let it sit for 3 minutes, and then scrub with a scrubber or brush (I did it on my hands and knees with a nylon scrub brush). You do it a small section at a time and then wipe it up and rinse it with clean water. Nothing I would want to do every week, but for once in a while it would work good.

Armstrong also sells another product for putting the shine back on wornout vinyl. For the life of me I cannot remember what it is called, but it is strong stuff. When I used it several years ago I accidentally dripped some on my bathroom counter. That spot didn't wear off for YEARS. It is sort of like shellac or varnish. It is sold along with the floor cleaner in an orange and white bottle.

Hope this helps...... BTW, if you do have actual tears or holes in the vinyl, treat them quickly before they get full of dirt. Fill in the hole with a clear shellac or filler of some sort.... maybe even grout if the color would match closely enough. If you let those holes sit there they get full of dirt that NEVER COMES OUT!! Even with bleach!! This is the voice of experience speaking!! We ripped
(actually RUINED AND GOUGED) the vinyl in our kitchen 4 months after moving into our new house, on the same day we were having our first party!!! The installer was able to come back and patch the areas, but the seams picked up every molecule of dirt and held it tight, as did every later hole, ding, scrape, etc!
...................................Sorry to be so long...............P

 

[Pin Wizard]

Thanks so much, pjlla! I can't believe they actually put this garbage in homes.

 

[mickeyfan1]

PW - I would refrain from using the word garbage to describe your floor. My DH made a very good living installing sheet Vinyl, and believe me, most of it is very expensive. The "holes" you are talking about is called embossing, it is an added detaill that raises the price, but does serve as a dirt catcher. Be forewarned, if you are planning on replacing the vinyl with other sheel vinyl, vinyl or non vinyl tiles, or linoleum (which, BTW wwill cost you even more), you will need to either remove the existing floor or use an embossing leveler to fill in all the indentations before installing the new floor. This is due to the fact that the pattern will telegraph through to the new floor over a period of time. Because you have some damage, a good floor mechanice will advise you to pull up the old before replacing it with like product. Should you choose to replace it with laminate, ceramic or porceain tile, you shouldn't have to remove it. There are some really exciting new vinyl and non vinyl products on the market today for use in residential and commercial applications. You might want to look into the Home Depot Expo or other high end retailers to see just what is out there and how much the products have improved over the years.

 

[KathyTX]

We had all of our sheet vinyl flooring removed several years ago, and replaced it with ceramic tile.

That was the BEST home improvement money I've ever spent!

Very easy to clean, practically indestructable, and cool on our hot summer days!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Then how the heck do you keep that grout clean???? Also my mom had ceramic and it cracked all over. How do you get tiles that don't crack?

 

[Lisa F]

Larger tiles (12x12 or 18x18) mean fewer grout lines, and grout sealer means that stains won't soak into the grout. Also if at all possible, avoid white grout on floors.

As far as cracked tiles, the only thing that can prevent that is proper installation. Cracked tiles come from one of two things... either someone dropped something very heavy on the floor (doesn't happen all that often) OR the tile was not installed perfectly level and it cracks when weight is put on it, which is much more common.

 

[KathyTX]

What Lisa said!

Proper installation is critical! The floor must be carefully leveled before the tile is installed... we had a wonderful professional installer do ours, and he was an absolute perfectionist.

Also, our tile is gray, and so is the grout. I'd NEVER use white grout on a floor (unless you're a glutton for cleaning punishment!)

 

[Pin Wizard]

Oops! Sorry, Marsha. Just my personal opinion of it. I just bought this home the end of last month. And I'm coming from FL where I ripped out ALL the capeting and had ceramic tile put in prior to moving my furniture in...almost 8 years ago. So I've really been spoiled!! I had gone with the 18 x 18, white with gray running through it, and gray grout. It was gorgeous and held up beautifully! So shiny it looked like an ice skating rink. I just had one tile chip...my fault when I accidentally dropped a bottle of champagne. Ha ha! The tile got a little chip, but the bottle was fine. I'm already saying nasty words about the carpeting also. Soooooooooooo tempting to tile the entire first floor! But I'll control myself on that. But the kitchen is a definite possibility when I see enough problems with it. I would put nothing but tile in it. I've been spoiled!!!!! Oh! And I did have quite a few extra tiles, so the guy that bought it just has to have the damaged tile broken up and replace with one already there. I couldn't be bothered with that. Oh, yes! The mess with tile and grout! You do go nuts cleaning up all that "dust."

 

[Pin Wizard]

Originally posted by KathyTX
We had all of our sheet vinyl flooring removed several years ago, and replaced it with ceramic tile.

That was the BEST home improvement money I've ever spent!

Very easy to clean, practically indestructable, and cool on our hot summer days!

I'm with you, Kathy!

 

[Microcell]

THis is probably off track, but...

Why is "Tile Throughout" a selling point in Fl homes?? What happens to carpet and hardwood there that you want tile? Is it the moisture there? The sand? I just like to look around at houses online and kept noticing that being tauted. I don't know if I could handle not having anything but tile. Call me a carpet snob, I don't care! Give me carpet or give me hardwood!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I am in MO but getting hardwood soon. From what I understand since they do not have basements, so they can only put in the laminate hardwood which is not as durable.

Not sure about the carpet issue.

 

[mickeyfan1]

Originally posted by Microcell
THis is probably off track, but...

Why is "Tile Throughout" a selling point in Fl homes?? What happens to carpet and hardwood there that you want tile? Is it the moisture there? The sand? I just like to look around at houses online and kept noticing that being tauted. I don't know if I could handle not having anything but tile. Call me a carpet snob, I don't care! Give me carpet or give me hardwood!

Hardwood - Humidity would wreak havok with it. Even running AC year round and a dehumidifier, it would tend to warp a little more. Wood can be installed over a concrete floor, it just needs an additional subfloor.

Carpet - Stays warm, and there is the sand issue, but there are plenty of houses, apartments, condos, etc with wall to wall.

As far as tile through out.............. It tends to stay cooler, it is easier to maintain. If I was there, I would have it through out, and use area rugs.

 

[luv2nascar]

I have tile in upstairs bathrooms and hate the cleaning
the only way to clean it is on hands and knees
it is horrible always dirty - Yuck
personally I find my vinyl kitchen floor so much easier to clean
just mop it with the clorox mop
I am so thankful we didn't get tile in kitchen
with two kids (one just learning to feed herself) a cat and a dog I'd be on the tile scrubbing day and night

personally I just can't stand tile to hard to clean
plus in old house I had with tile kitchen I found the tile bothered my knees and back if I stood for long periods of time to cook or bake? maybe it's just me