How to care for linoleum so that the coating lasts a long time?

When it comes to choosing flooring, more and more people are choosing linoleum: it is cheaper than parquet, unpretentious than laminate, and the number of colors and textures has long been unlimited by a couple of options. But is linoleum care so simple as we used to think? What is the impact on his teeth, and what will lead to the inevitable damage to the coating?

Preventative measures

If your linoleum looks old, then 90% is not a consequence of how you washed it, but the fact that you are unlikely to take measures to prevent its wear. Of course, dirt spoils the appearance of the floor, but faded areas, scratches and non-wiping stains spoil it even more. How to prevent their occurrence? It is enough to know just a few rules.

• Linoleum is very prone to fading, so constant long-term interaction with the sun's rays will not benefit him, especially if the coating fades unevenly.
• To protect the coating, use linings under the legs of the furniture and do not move the furniture around the room dragging: linoleum with deep mechanical damage is almost impossible to update.
• The more often you dry clean, the better your coverage will be. Dust contains a large number of small abrasive particles, harmful to linoleum.
• If you sprayed oil in the kitchen or dripped with nail polish, remove any dirt immediately. The faster you do this, the less trouble there will be in the future.

Tip

You may have noticed the condition of the linoleum under the office chairs with wheels, at the entrance to the store or in the kitchen near the cooking area. To protect the coating, choose furniture wisely: a bedside table on wheels will be an excellent choice, while such a mobile chair will ruin the floor. Also do not forget about the processing of linoleum in the kitchen and in the corridor with protective equipment, since there are the greatest number of steps.

Cleansing and updating

Do you think that washing linoleum is easy? Well, in fact it is: ordinary water and a mop will save you from dust and dirt, and the addition of cleaning products is not necessary. Then where are the pitfalls that we mentioned, that the care of linoleum may require some knowledge?

• Remember, we told you about the negative impact of abrasive particles on the state of linoleum? So: never start wet cleaning without thoroughly vacuuming the floor. If you decide to wash the floor without preliminary preparation, particles of sand under pressure from the mop will scratch the coating, and no cleaning agent can fix it.
• Do not try to clean the coating of grease and dirt with alcohol or vodka: they will provoke the appearance of yellowish spots that will have to be tinted.
• Often, when thinking about how to wash linoleum from strong pollution, housewives resort to using hot water, but its use on this coating is prohibited: the structure of the material will be broken, and the coating is likely to lose its attractive appearance.
• In order not to puzzle over the question of how to wash linoleum after repair, take the time to protect it from paint, glue and foam. Cover the floor with dense cellophane to save time later on rubbing stains.
• If paint, glue or foam nevertheless got on a covering, it is possible to wash linoleum after repair with abrasive means. Just do not need to rub very hard, otherwise you risk spoiling completely new floors.
• It is best to refresh the coating with linseed oil or linseed oil, which is recommended to wipe the dry clean floor to enhance shine.



• Cleaning linoleum from old stains will not be so easy.If these are contaminants that have not absorbed into the structure, then try to soak the stains in the cleaning agent for a while, trying not to go beyond the area of ​​contamination: linoleum does not like aggressive cleaning products in a 100% concentration. With soaking, it is best to care for linoleum in the kitchen, where the floor is often covered with fat.
• Try to remove the stubborn stains with kerosene or gasoline. However, these substances can spoil the coating, so apply them in small quantities and only on the contaminated area.
• You can update the old floor a little by wiping it with a solution of water and milk (1: 1).
• Want to know how to wash linoleum to shine? But nothing. If your coating initially has a pronounced gloss, then preventive measures and ordinary wet cleaning will help to keep the shine. If the shine is lost or was absent initially, then the only way to restore it at home is to use polish. Of course, polish serves not only as a decorative, but also as a functional means, protecting the floor from mechanical and chemical effects. That is why it is recommended to use polishes regularly: once every 1-2 months.

Tip

Is it possible to do polishing mastic with your own hands? Try to mix rosin and turpentine in a ratio of 1: 4 and rub the composition with a clean, dry floor. If there are scuffs on the linoleum, then a coloring cream can be added to the mastic in the color of the coating.

As you can see, caring for linoleum is not very difficult, especially if you are armed with useful tips that we tried to share with you today!