The widespread use of linoleum is largely due to its unpretentiousness and long service life. But even the best floor coverings can become unusable over time, lose their appearance.
Knowledge of simple ways to clean the floor covered with linoleum will significantly extend the time of its use and less often make cosmetic repairs.
Coating features
Linoleum is functional and strong, able to enter harmoniously into any interior styles. It will not be difficult for you to choose the optimal type of this material for any design.
Linoleum-covered floors can be found in ordinary houses, in commercial establishments and even in offices.
An important feature of religion can be considered that any wet cleaning should be completed by wiping dry.
How and how to remove stains?
Wipe off rust from linoleum is more difficult than removing most other blockages. Bleach will help you (one part of the drug per ten parts of water). Do not try to use increased concentration, otherwise, get unpleasant light traces instead of removing the stain.
If such a mark does appear, wash it with clean water and wipe it with lemon juice.
Residues of fat are removed using ordinary utensils; dilute them with warm water in the proportions specified by the manufacturer. When cleaning is complete, wipe the surface dry with soft, unnecessary rags.
If the grease stain or spill is fresh, remove it with a spatula or cotton swabs, but so that the dirt does not spread out on the surface. The rest of the stains can be treated with alcohol solutions.
It is possible to get rid of oil spilled in the kitchen in another way:
- dissolve a glass of vodka and a teaspoon of detergent in a liter of water;
- soak a soft rag with the solution;
- Wipe thoroughly with it;
- wash the floor in a problem place with clean water and wipe it dry.
To remove gouache, as well as stains left by coffee, food coloring or felt-tip pens, gasoline, kerosene or turpentine can.
But keep in mind that any of these substances has a bad effect on the state of the synthetic coating, so use them only when there is no other way to restore order.
To restore the gloss lost during such a treatment, rubbing the faded area with a slice of lemon or fresh juice will help.
The black stripes left by the shoes in the hallway are so ordinary and stubborn that many consider them invincible. But this is not so, the school eraser, which wipes the dirty place, copes with the problem quite effectively.
After the strips disappear, thoroughly wash the linoleum with a soapy solution - and, again, do not forget to dry it immediately.
Note: do not drag out the cleansing marks left by shoes; the longer they are ignored, the more difficult it will be to solve the problem. Yellow stripes are removed in the same way.
Plasticine, as well as chewing gum, is removed by mechanically removing the hard part from the coating, doing this with careful movements so as not to cause any harm. Then thoroughly wash the area with the trail using a soap solution, and, as always, wipe until completely dry. For cleaning, it is preferable to take not toilet, but laundry soap (10 grams per liter of warm water).
Stains left with brilliant green (easier, brilliant green) are removed with camphor alcohol, ammonia or hydrogen peroxide. If iodine is spilled on linoleum, baking soda, applied with a wet towel, or ½ raw potato will help to cope.
When the floor is excessively active children painted with a ballpoint pen, wipe the dirt with a pumice stone, then smeared with linseed oil. When wax enters, the hardened mass is removed with a spatula, and the remainder of the stain is washed successively with gasoline and water; a similar way will help remove shoe polish.
Sauerkraut juice often helps with stubborn dirt (provided that the pollution does not contain synthetic substances).
If the usual methods for removing blockage do not work, you can try to remove an old stain with baking soda (at first it is kept on pollution for a minute, if it fails - twenty minutes). When cleaning is complete, rinse the former stain with water and apply varnish or wax using a dry rag.
Red spots are eliminated in different ways, depending on what their nature and prescription are. You already know about the method of removing the paste of a ballpoint pen, drops of blood are washed off with warm water and soap. Printer ink and traces of markers are removed with gasoline, kerosene, turpentine, camphor alcohol.
It is enough to just ride a bicycle on linoleum once or put pancakes for the bar so that dark spots from rubber appear, but it is extremely difficult to remove them. In such cases, it is recommended to use an eraser or abrasive powder.
If they do not help, then it remains only to change the coating, or to scrape off the pollution with a knife (a dangerous razor).
We remove traces of furniture
Strictly speaking, furniture does not leave stains on linoleum, but dents and squeezed areas. There is nothing left but the replacement of the damaged strip in such cases. If, by mistake, rubber or other dirty pads are used for the legs, you need to do as they usually struggle with spots of the corresponding type.
Clean after repair
They often ask the question - how to clean linoleum without repair after repair. The simplest thing is to completely prevent pollution, of course: Before starting work, always cover the floor with plastic wrap, preferably in several layers.
Or get the invited team to do so.But if this preparation was not done, or at some point the film moved away, the problem is still solved.
Even a very dirty floor can be cleaned like this:
- remove with a spatula all large residues of finishing materials, sweep dust and small particles in place;
- to finally cope with dust and white coating, wash the floor in several waters, each time with a new rag;
- remove stains with potassium permanganate solution or table vinegar;
- treat very complex and stubborn stains with white spirit (strictly according to the instructions, working in rubber gloves).
Clean the traces of varnishes and paints as soon as possible. Aqueous emulsion formulations (fresh) are removed with wet wipes or unnecessary wet rags. Oil paints get wet with dry napkins and cleaned with sunflower oil, and what remains after such processing should be removed with soapy water or cleaning products.
It is highly undesirable to treat even very large spots of paint with solvents.
The mounting foam is carefully cut off with a knife, and the frozen crust is soaked, and then gently scraped off the surface.
How to add shine?
Just washing linoleum, and even removing dirt, is only half the work. It’s important that the material shines and helps you achieve this. monthly treatment with linseed oil or linseed oil. Alternatively, you can buy mastic in any store of construction or household goods.
Strictly following the manufacturer's instructions, you can protect the coating from ultraviolet radiation and humidity, giving it a rich gloss.
The new linoleum is supposed to be cleaned with transparent mastic, and used for a long time - dark, which will mask small cracks and defects.
It will not be difficult to wash the floor rough from mastic, it will even be easier than ordinary, and its bright shine and minimal glide will become its indisputable advantage. The right choice and skillful use of a protective coating, even at home, will extend the life of the material by several years.
How to care?
Achieving a “shining shine" is quite simple - you need to rub linoleum with a cloth slightly soaked in milk.
It is strictly forbidden to clean and wash such a floor with hot water!
When preparing to use a detergent whose composition or properties you do not know for sure, conduct a test on a small amount of material. So it will be much more reliable and safer.
When washing and dry cleaning it is unacceptable to use hard rags containing metal or rubber threads. In an extreme case, use an old rag, but it will be much better and more effective to use rags of a special kind.
If the room is small or lined with different interior items, you need to use narrow mops equipped with foam rollers or “tentacles” based on microfiber with a built-in water-squeezing mechanism.
It is advisable to use a steam cleaner with a nozzle in the form of a mop to clean linoleum, this will help both speed up and facilitate cleaning, and more effectively disinfect the coating.
Thirty days after installation, it is undesirable to carry out wet cleaning, it is more correct to sweep or vacuum the floor.
Four times a year, you can remove all accumulated blockages with drying oil and polish linoleum with a silk rag. You can further enhance the gloss of the coating by mixing one part of the wax with three parts of turpentine or mastic, rubbing the canvas with this composition. The protective layer will reduce the retention by the material of all kinds of contaminants and large litter.
If clean water does not help to clean up, you need to use special detergents. Do not be afraid to buy them, the price is relatively low, and you can use the compounds only as necessary.
It doesn’t matter if you have put new or old linoleum, what is its strength class, almost always fall under the ban:
- caustic alkalis (the coating will become brittle);
- chlorine and all the preparations in which it is contained;
- abrasives
- most paint solvents (can deform the structure of the material and change color).
White linoleum is cleaned of ink with emery with fine grain or pumice.
This should be done as carefully as possible, without making sudden movements. After cleaning, the problem area is greased with linseed oil and sanded with a silk rag.
Rust and grass stains that have settled on a light relin are removed with a ten percent bleach solution in water, and lemon juice will destroy the residual traces. When traces of repairs remain on a white coating with a relief pattern, a washing vacuum cleaner can be used.
It is forbidden to drag heavy objects along the linoleum, as well as all that has at least one sharp and cutting edge. At the entrance to the house, lay fabric rugs, they will reduce surface pollution.
For how to properly care for linoleum, see the next video.
