Vinyl floorings are usually durable floorings that can handle harsh situations. But it is extremely important to constantly clean vinyl floors. Unlike other types of floors vinyl floors are characterized by being water resistant and therefore installed in bathrooms and kitchens. These two places are places that receive high traffic and so need continuous cleaning to make sure they are maintained for a very long time. It’s important to understand that vinyl floors are extremely easy to clean and you don’t need to worry about the entire cleaning process.

Here’s a quick simplified guide for you to help you clean your vinyl floors easily.

Vinyl Floor Maintenance

It’s important to maintain your vinyl floors constantly, every now and then to ensure that dust and moisture don’t accumulate between the vinyl planks. As mentioned in our “choosing the right vinyl floors” guide, there are two different types of vinyl floors to choose from: vinyl sheets and vinyl planks. Maintenance is particularly important for vinyl planks and tiles since they dust and moisture can accumulate between them and therefore reduce their durability causing the planks and tiles to change in shape. Maintenance and checking on your floor every day is definitely essential as what is important is to increase maintenance time to help you decrease both the money spent on the cleaning equipment and the time, and increase the efficiency.

Here are a few steps to follow in order to ensure that your vinyl floor is maintained everyday:

• Place a door mat in front of your door
  Placing a door mat in front of your door will help reduce the dirt and soil accumulated between the vinyl planks, therefore making it last for a very long time. It is also recommended to leave your shoes outside the house to not carry and dirt or dust from outside.
• Clean your vinyl floor everyday
  You can simply help extend the life of your vinyl floor and increase the durability simply by sweeping the vinyl floor every day. This way any accumulated dust or dirt will vanish with the sweeping. You might be annoyed by doing this every day and assume that it’s time consuming but in fact doing this everyday will help reduce the time and money spent on advanced cleaning equipment to maintain your vinyl floors later on.
• Don’t use invasive chemicals unless you ask your manufacture.
  It’s important to be extremely careful when you purchase the chemical cleaning detergents, since they can affect the vinyl floors. Don’t make any chemical detergent choice until you are completely positive that you can use it on your vinyl floors. The chemicals can fade the color, or leave a dull film on the surface of the floor.
• Mopping the flooring is important but sweeping before doing that is more important.
  Before you mop your vinyl floors make sure that you sweep it really quick to make sure you get rid of all the dirt and dust accumulated between the planks and tiles. Otherwise the dust and dirt will mix with water and will accumulate further as dust and moisture between the planks. This will help you save time when you mop your floor and prevent the dirt from scratching your floor as you mop with dirt available. Not only that but it will also give you a fresh new look after the mop.
• Warm water
  To achieve better results when mopping your floor either water alone or with water along with soap make sure that you always use warm water for better results.
• Vinegar
  It might be surprising and you might think that it’s not safe to always use vinegar, but vinegar is definitely perfect for use on vinyl floors. In fact vinegar will leave your vinyl floors looking fresh all the time.
• Don’t use steam mopping cleaners
  Steam mopping cleaners are on the rise these days because they are mostly effective and not costly. With vinyl floors this is not the situation as steam mops work on really high temperatures that may damage the vinyl floors, so avoid using them on vinyl floors.

Protecting your vinyl floors

You can keep your vinyl floors protected for a very long time, here are a few tips.

• If your furniture is placed directly on the vinyl floor, and if your furniture has sharp edges, you can use floor protectors on the bottom of the furniture to help protect the vinyl floors from being scratched. Usually the heavier the item the more it needs protection to be added.
• Use rugs or carpet above vinyl floors on areas where kids may spill a lot of may scratch the floor with their toys, this would help extend the life of your vinyl floors. You can go for rugs that you can easily replace.
• Don’t use rubber bottomed equipment on top of your vinyl floor as they can stain after a long time
• Don’t place something too hot or too cold on top of your vinyl floors. Keep heaters away or not placed directly.

Removing particular stains

Certain types of stains can be removed in certain ways, here are a few common stains that might happen and have to be treated immediately:

• Oil Stains, Vinegar spills, Sour: lemon, orange.
  Those stains should be treated immediately, you must make sure that you remove the stains right away because otherwise they will cause a change in color of the flooring.
• Dyes, paint, ink, tomato juice, blood.
  You can treat the following stains by adding dilute alcohol immediately to the stain spot. Leave the alcohol on for a few minutes and let the flooring absorb it, after a few minutes you may wash it with water.
• Pen, colors, markers.
  You can remove those stains that are easily and frequently caused by your children simply by washing with soap and water./li>
• Dirt, dust and rust
  Treat the following immediately by washing with water and mopping the floor.