Vinyl Tile Cleaning Archives - South London Tile Doctor

Vinyl Tile Cleaning

Welcome to my Work History archive where you will find detailed examples of the cleaning and renovation of Vinyl tiles carried out in South London

Vinyl flooring whether it be in a Tile format or a full floor covering has come a long way from the days of being a flimsy plastic based product some of which were made from a wood pulp/resin mix called Linoleum, hence the word Lino. Manufacturers have since introduced products that are tough, scratch resistant blends which are a lot more durable than in the past. Well-known brands include Amtico, Karndean, Altro and Rhino flooring and although durable these products do require a sealer to protect the surface from marking, enhance the colour and appearance of the Vinyl and if required add a sheen finish.

Like any sealed surface, the sealer on Vinyl will wear down over time depending on use and so will require stripping off and re-applying. Tile Doctor has a long background in creation of products for the removal of sealers and has developed Tile Doctor Vinyl Strip, which will strip off any remaining sealer and prepare the Vinyl for a new coating. To reseal the floor Tile Doctor recommend Tile Doctor Vinyl Shine, either 2 or 3 coats can be applied to give a satisfactory sheen finish and enhance the colours.

Below you will find detailed examples of work we have carried out in the past, it should give you some idea of what’s involved and what can be achieved with the right techniques and products.

Amtico Vinyl Floor Before Cleaning After Sealing Wimbledon

Maintaining Amtico Vinyl at Wimbledon Hair Salon

Most people don’t realise this but Amtico recommend their floors are protected against scuffs and scratches with a sealer or floor care dressing as they call it and like any product you apply to a floor it will wear off over time due to the constant abrasion of floor traffic. This is very similar to the problem we face with tile and stone most of which also benefit from the protection of a sealer.

With this in mind I was asked to visit a Hair Salon in Wimbledon which as well as being famous for its annual Tennis tournament is a large town to the southwest of London. Their Amtico flooring had lost a lot of its appearance and a recent redesign had exposed a few obvious areas where equipment was once positioned. It was clear that the whole floor would need to be stripped of what was left of its protective coating and resealed.

Amtico Floor Wimbledon Hair Salon Before Cleaning

Deep Cleaning Amtico Flooring

It was necessary to strip the floor of its old coating first as to apply a fresh sealer would simply have locked in the dirt and led to different layers of sealer on the floor which can leave some areas looking darker than others.

To strip off the old coating and clean the we used Tile Doctor Vinyl Strip mixed with hot water. This was left to sit on the floor for a short while before being scrubbed in with a scrubbing pad fitted to a rotary floor buffer and then the soil was removed using a wet and dry vacuum. It’s worth noting that to scrub this floor we used a finer scrubbing pad than normal because using a black stripping pad would have scratched the Vinyl. We then rinsed the floor twice with water to remove any residue and extracted the water with a wet vacuum.

Normally we these jobs we would look to let the floor dry off overnight and come back the next day to seal the floor, however given the commercial nature of the business this was not a practical option so the Amtico floor was force dried using industrial air movers.

Sealing Amtico Flooring

Once the floor was dry we were able to press on with the application of the sealer which for Amtico and other Vinyl flooring we recommend Tile Doctor Vinyl Shine floor polish which leaves a nice subtle shine. You have to wait for a coat to dry (approx. 30 minutes) before applying the next, so this process can take a while to complete, in this case three coats were applied to achieve the desired finish.