Linoleum Lament

October 14, 2008 by Heather · 4 Comments

Dear Home Ec 101,

I was hoping you could help me with a cleaning problem I have been having lately. I can’t get my floors clean! No matter if I wash the floor on my hands and knees or if I use a mop, there’s still a dirt residue that will not go away. I usually use Clorox clean-up with bleach (1/4-ish c.) diluted in a bucket of water, since that’s what my mom used when I was growing up.

The floor been like this since I moved in, despite my cleaning. It’s a beige/tan colored linolium floor, so the dirtyness is not visibly noticable until you walk over it wearing a pair of light colored socks. Please let me know if you have any suggestions… cleaning techniques, cleaners, etc.

Signed,

The Girl with Grocery Feet

Heather says:

Linoleum can be great and affordable flooring and cute if you are after retro look, not that we are biased or anything. However, it requires the same care as hardwood. Use doormats or throw rugs and sweep daily. The sand and grit that is tracked in on people’s shoes causes tiny nicks and scratches in your linoleum. These scratches are the perfect place for dirt to accumulate.

Don’t use bleach or products containing bleach to clean linoleum. The high pH can actually damage the flooring. For regular cleaning damp mop with, drum roll please, diluted vinegar. However, it sounds like you have a buildup on your flooring that may need several steps to remedy. Not to worry, if you do this once you won’t need to repeat the process for 12 - 18 months.

First, carefully sweep your floor. Then mop with a very dilute solution of hot water and detergent (I like original Dawn dish detergent, but it’s up to you). The detergent will help get the dirt out of those crevices. Next mop the floor a second time, but switch to diluted vinegar, this will remove any detergent residue. Finally Armstrong, a leading linoleum manufacturer, recommends using an acrylic floor polish. The polish will help fill some of those nicks and scratches that are the source of your dirty socks. It’s very important to have very clean floors before using the polish or you will simply be sealing the dirt to your floor.

Good luck!

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