Kitchen Floor Cleaning

S

screeby

New member
Very off topic, I had a "luxury vinyl tile" floor installed about 9 months ago. It is in my kitchen and dining room. I have used different cleaners since then. The most recent has been Meguiars D107. I was underwelmed, a lot like when I used it to clean tires this weekend but that is another story.

Does anyone have this LVT in their house and found ANY thing they are happy with? I am tempted to try ONR.

Everything I have used both Megs APC as well as a host of OTC seems to leave a film where 12 hours later all I see are foot prints.

I know this is out of the norm but I also know a lot of you use car products around the home.

TIA

KM
 
Hello screeby
I`d look for the PH balanced kind.
Sounds like there might be a soap build up, so wash it with water a couple times. Then dry mop it thoroughly.
The dry mopping pulls any left over dirt and soap off, which can be stubborn.
Hope it helps
;)
 
You need a neutral cleaner. Keep in mind a dusty or dirty foot print will show up on the cleanest of floors. Look for a hydrogen peroxide based neutral cleaner. Try finding a product called double o seven. Works great.
 
I’ve got travertine tile, and have used several rinseless products and a decent number of apc’s (both detailing chemicals and household floor cleaners). The APC’s I’ve tried do leave that sticky residue. You have to go over them afterward with a mop with only water. Not worth it for me. My favorite has been megs D114 at about 1oz per gallon. Pre-spray from spray bottle, then go over with damp MF mop head (Rasta kind).

I try to stick with pet safe products in the house, but the products recommended on some of the pet sites, and the multi surface cleaners advertised as green and pet friendly left sticky residue after they dried unless I just sprayed only one or two light sprays on the wet Rasta mop head then mopped a large section of floor. Hardly any product being used which makes me think the damp microfiber by itself would work just as well as the grocery store “green” products.
 
I mop the floors (hardwood and bathroom tile) with ONR and it does a great job. Smells real nice too .


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I remember reading somewhere I think the Bona site, where they said most flooring products come with a coating that has to be removed completely before you can actually clean it..
This may or may not apply to the tile you had installed..
Did the tile people leave any information from the manufacturer on how to take care of this product ?
All I can tell you about my experiences with flooring is that I used that dreaded Bona on my laminate wood flooring and it coated it so hard and ruined the nice shine it used to have, I will never use that stuff again..
If you are really good at rinsing whatever you are putting on there, then you can eliminate that.. If not, well then perhaps look at rinsing it really well, and see if you still get a film later...
Perhaps there IS something from the factory on your tile that is going to interfere with what you are doing..
Good luck with this !
Dan F
 
I have LVT floors in my entire house. Odoban at a light concentrate in a bucket with a bunch of microfibers and a brush if you need to scrub that heavy works very well. Scrub a large section then wipe dry with MF

Clorox wipes work well too.

For protection or spot cleaning if you think you need it BSD works good cause it’s not slick. Don’t use like IUDJ, Blackfire waterless, UBER, etc cause you will slip and slide everywhere especially with socks .


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What a relief that I am not the only person trying to find something that works nice. Its also like the auto world as everyone has what works for them.

The Hoover Floormate looks interesting. I used to have a steam mop that I loved but quit heating up.

The most consistant luck I have had is the cleaner in a spray bottle, a clean water bucket and a towel. Spray it on, mop by hand, keep fresh water in the bucket. With a 85lbs english bulldog and 2 children under 6, this floor has taken a beating all ready. Thank you for all the ideas, I have some I will try that may help me in the future and ideas to look for.

Thanks again guys.

KM
 
Regulars here know that we live in a woods, with acres of undeveloped areas for the (big, active) dogs to romp in before reentering through the dogdoor. Certain floors need cleaned every day of the year with no exceptions.

Both of our Hoover FloorMates were quite disappointing, but that might be a function of the (ceramic tile) flooring I use them on. Just didn`t scrub `em all that well, nor pick up enough water for my satisfaction. I do better down on my hands and knees with the Cyclo, a hand brush, a spray bottle of cleaner, a bucket of water, and a stack of MFs.

But for daily cleaning I just use a MF on a MicrofiberTech dot com mop, dampened with some cleaner. Takes maybe three rinse/repeat cycles for a quick improvement. Sure not perfect, but good enough that the bigger job doesn`t have to happen as often.
 
I`m in the same position. 2 nutso dogs and worse 2 teenage boys who clean by wiping the mud on the floor after dirtbike riding. I changed the bristle head ( you can get a couple) as the one it comes with is general purpose.
Now had ya prepped with some fk1000 the water would have all been sucked up :)
 
I have tile on the ground floor where we see most of the traffic with 3 dogs and family in and out all day long. I have to sweep multiple times a day and usually mop at the end of the night with the swiffer wet mop. Its not perfect but it helps and I usually have to use 6 pads for the floor (thanks costco for bulk). For deep cleaning and getting in the grout I usually pull out my steamer and use that with APC and a bunch of MFs. I do that one to two times per month where time permits. Ugh I hate the tiles its a struggle and we have talked about ripping them out and getting LVT installed.
 
Try some McKees N914 at an 8:1 dilution. It works as a paint prep at that dilution so it should work well to clean vinyl flooring and not leave the floor slippery.
 
yamabob said:
Now had ya prepped with some fk1000 the water would have all been sucked up :)
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Heh heh, good one :D

Oh I`m envious of you who can go so long between floor cleanings! The last time we skipped *one day* it resulted in a lot more work the next.

Oh, and I hope the kids that were mentioned know how good they have it! Had I made a mess of anything I would`ve been expected to clean it up, and properly. Yeah...even before I was in gradeschool, before I was old enough to read. Nobody in our household ever made any mess without being expected to clean up after himself, applied to my parents, applied to me. The idea of anybody cleaning up after somebody *else* was simply a foreign concept.
 
Accumulator said:
Nobody in our household ever made any mess without being expected to clean up after himself, applied to my parents, applied to me. The idea of anybody cleaning up after somebody *else* was simply a foreign concept.
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It’s very disturbing to me when I come across people my age (28) that are simply incapable of cleaning up after themselves.

I, admittedly, grew up in an unusual environment that was prone to being very dirty (we had 9 Labrador’s in my grandmothers basement until I was 17, when my parents could afford a house) so cleaning was just a part of life. Vacuuming every night, cleaning up dirty paw prints, you name it.

I’d become so accustomed to cleaning that by time I had my own room (shared one with my older brother at my grandmothers house) I wouldn’t even decorate it because it just meant I had to move stuff around when I went to dust/clean my room. I did this monthly.

I met my gf when I was 17, and I still remember the first time I had dinner with her family. Her mother is a master cook, and it still impresses me to this day. But, watching them pile dishes into the sink as we made dinner was honestly just short of traumatizing.

Pots, pans, dirty plates, piled as high as you can imagine. Every fiber of my being wanting to just clean them as we moved along.. instead of spending a ridiculous amount of time afterwards.

As I grew up and learned to cook [mom worked a lot and my step dad was stationed at Ft Bragg (which is in NC for those that down know, and we lived in MD)] I also learned it’s just SO much easier to clean up as you go when you get the chance. Nowadays when I make us dinner by time I’m done there’s nothing but a cutting board (or something similar) that needs to be cleaned up.

Kind of a long post, but something I actually think about often. What a life it would be to not focus so much on cleaning. I feel the same way about detailing sometimes. If I could unsee swirls, just imagine being happy that your car is clean and waxes.

I guess becoming involved in detailing was inevitable at some point


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finick- I agree entirely!

I go both ways on "cleaning during", sometimes it`s more efficient to let `em pile up for a few and other times that just makes for more work.

Heh heh, if we get your FK1000P problems squared away and you dial in your wash regimen, maybe all you *will* have to do is wash and wax; that`s basically all I ever do. Or you could work on unseeing the marring ;) Some of the most enjoyable car ownership experiences I`ve ever had were with ones I didn`t keep nearly Autopian, just drove the wheels off `em and loved every minute of it.
 
Accumulator said:
finick- I agree entirely!

I go both ways on "cleaning during", sometimes it`s more efficient to let `em pile up for a few and other times that just makes for more work.

Heh heh, if we get your FK1000P problems squared away and you dial in your wash regimen, maybe all you *will* have to do is wash and wax; that`s basically all I ever do. Or you could work on unseeing the marring ;) Some of the most enjoyable car ownership experiences I`ve ever had were with ones I didn`t keep nearly Autopian, just drove the wheels off `em and loved every minute of it.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it definitely depends on what’s being made.. i meal prep a lot so I tend to have stuff on the stove/in the oven for 15-25 minutes at a time so I generally get the chance to clean up while I cook. Other times I don’t, but I almost always like to have the majority cleaned up before I sit down to eat or it’ll drive me mad.

I’m definitely a lot more lenient on the amount of marring I tolerate than I used to be.. I try to aim for 85-90% free of defects, which in reality it ends up maybe being more. It just doesn’t seem realistic for me to worry about keeping it perfect when my cars driven daily, and kept outside most nights. It’ll still look better than nearly any car I’m parked next to!

I did call Finish Kare today.. a few hours ago. Spoke with a nice woman who had never heard of a problem like mine (the smearing/streaks that line up with my last pass of my applicator) and she took me info and said someone would call me about it. Been a few hours, so I may call back. I made it clear I mostly just want information I can pass along to the forums so anyone searching about application/removal issues may be able to come across a post with official recommendations about what to do.

From what I’ve seen.. most people that encounter issues give up on the product. Being the frugal (some say cheap) person that I am, I feel like product is too good of a value to give up on just yet!


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I`ve got a mix of hardwood, laminate, and linoleum in our house. I use a double sided flat microfiber mop thing (I think O Cedar?) that`s low nap on one side, microfiber finger on the other. I`ll spray the low nap side of the head, then the floor with ONR mixture, mop, then chase it with the finger side to make sure there are no streaks. Streaking only seems to be a slight issue on the laminate.

Accumulator said:
Oh, and I hope the kids that were mentioned know how good they have it! Had I made a mess of anything I would`ve been expected to clean it up, and properly. Yeah...even before I was in gradeschool, before I was old enough to read. Nobody in our household ever made any mess without being expected to clean up after himself, applied to my parents, applied to me. The idea of anybody cleaning up after somebody *else* was simply a foreign concept.
Click to expand...

Our 3 year old is already really good about cleaning up after herself. You can even ask her - "It`s ok to make a mess, as long as...?" "You clean it up when you`re done."
 
finick- Heh heh, I have a pal who can`t stand if somebody *else`s* kitchen isn`t all tidy before sitting down to eat. You have me thinking of our Christmas Dinner, where I spend so long cleaning up afterwards that there`s no way it could be done before sitting down!

I like that you`re happy with "Best in the Parking Lot" condition!

Wonder if you spoke with Leda when you called FK, she`s swell. I`ll be very interested to hear what they say.

oneheadlite- Oh am I envious you can do only that! Last night it took four goes at every section to get our kitchen floor clean! Looked fine, but the MF kept coming up dirty.

I`m only using a rinseless on the floor of the bathroom in the shop/"New Garage" (textured ceramic tile), I just use the same IUDJ cloth that I use on our trashcan since I`m OK with just doing that floor weekly.

And that`s *great* about your 3YO! That`s gonna serve her well in life.
 
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