Linoleum floors are a niche tile choice for many homeowners. Only the smart ones make the decision of giving for linoleum, as it’s water-resistant, biodegradable, and strongly resistant to yellowing and molds.
But to maintain these properties, you have to take care of them on a regular basis. To this, a lot of people ask, how to polish linoleum floors?
It’s nothing complicated and is closely related to cleaning wooden floors. First comes removing the built-up dust and then soaking and cleaning with cleaning water. There are only a few specificities to keep in mind when it comes to these floors.
Don’t worry; we’ll be laying out the nuances for you. Let’s start.
Table of Contents
Tools And Materials Required For Polish Linoleum Floors
First, let’s cover the essentials. You’ll need —
- Dusting Mop or Vacuum Cleaner
- 1 Bucket: Room Temperature to Lukewarm Water
- Nylon or Soft-bristle Brush
- Cleaning Agents: Baby Oil, Baking Soda
- A Neutral Wax Floor Cleaner
How To Clean Linoleum Floors?
To polish a linoleum floor, you have to first get it properly cleaned. Cleaning depends on some specific cases. Let’s go over the most common ones you might require.
- Regular Daily Cleaning
For general purpose daily cleaning, linoleum floors are closely related to wooden floors. You shouldn’t use heavy chemical cleaners; rather, just stick to room temperature, preferably lukewarm water.
Here are the steps to follow for general purpose daily cleaning —
- Moping Off Dust
The first step is to get dust and grains from the nooks and crannies of your floor. To sweep or vacuum the floor, you don’t need to go overboard; cleaning once or twice a week is sufficient.
Regular hand mopping to remove dirt is fine. But we prefer using a vacuum cleaner, as it’s much more efficient and does a better job of cleaning.
- Cleaning With Water
Next comes rinsing your floor with ample temperature water. We recommend not using any strong cleaning chemical, rather sticking with a neutral wax floor cleaner when it comes to linoleum floors.
After creating your cleaning mixture, work on the floor in small sections. Dump the cleaning fabric in the water and start polishing the floor. Once it changes color or the water is all soaked out, rinse it off and dunk it again into the water.
While doing this process, make sure no cleaning agent is left on the floor. This creates future stains which trap dust and other debris easily on the floor. Therefore, pay close attention and rinse the floor multiple times with the cleaning fabric and water solution.
- Drying Out
Drying linoleum floors after cleaning is imperative. If you don’t, there are chances of warping and color distortions. We recommend taking an old, dry towel and simply drying off the surface. Some vacuum cleaners have a drying mode which you can use too.
- Further Basic Cleaning
If you take care of these types of floors in your home, they’ll last you easily for 3 to 4 decades. For extra care, we recommend going through the same general cleaning process, but this time using nylon or a soft-bristle brush for scrubbing instead of the damp cleaning fabric.
Doing this once a month is more than enough.
- Special Cleaning Cases: Stains & Hard-To-Remove Spots
You can’t polish a floor that has stains on it. To go through with the polishing process, you’ll have to first get rid of the spots and stains.
When you notice a blemish or stain on the floor, try rinsing it off as quickly as possible. If you’re lucky, room temp or lukewarm water will suffice.
If it doesn’t come off that easily, take a nylon brush and try to clean grease off linoleum floors. Keep jabbing and applying force until it comes off.
For tougher stains, we recommend creating a mixture of baking soda and water. This solution is a strong cleaning agent that can get rid of spots easily.
If even this doesn’t do the trick, pour some baby oil on the stain and wait for a bit. After it has somewhat solidified, try scrubbing it out with the nylon brush. Now there is no chance for any stains to be left.
How To Polish Linoleum Floors?
Now we can finally get started polishing your floor as it’s thoroughly cleaned. We recommend a linoleum floor polisher for the job.
Before you start polishing, we recommend going through a specially thorough cleaning session with a scrubbing brush. Make sure you remove the surface dirt and stain out and that the floor is sparkling clean.
Then, add layers of the linoleum floor polisher by reading the guidelines. Pay attention to the instruction guidelines for how long to wait between layers, how many layers to apply, and how much time you should rest before setting foot on the floor again.
Polishing the floor is something you do every month or so to keep the structural and physical integrity of the floor material. As it’s a special, once in a month activity, you should pay special attention and go through the steps, although it may take time.
So take the time to remove loose dirt and dust thoroughly. Trust us; the hard work pays off!
Things To Avoid When Polishing Linoleum Floors
These floors aren’t like your regular floor material; they require special care. They serve you for decades on end, keeping beauty and structure intact — so you have to pay special attention when cleaning and polishing them. Here are the things you should absolutely avoid when polishing your floor —
- Pick The Right Rug: Colorfast rugs are the way to go when it comes to linoleum floors. They’re rugs that don’t shed color easily.
To test if your rug is colorfast, make the rug relatively damp and press a paper towel against it. If the paper towel absorbs the color, your rug isn’t colorfast and shouldn’t be used on the floors.
If you don’t pay attention to this, you risk damaging the color of the floor and leaving a permanent color stain.
- Watch Out For Waterlogging: Linoleum kitchen floors are the most common. In such cases, it’s crucial to avoid waterlogging at all times. Water is the enemy of almost all floor types, especially linoleum. This is why we recommend drying the floor after every cleaning session.
- Don’t Constantly Re-Floor: You shouldn’t take off and reapply the floors whenever you want. For wooden floors, maybe this works, but it’s a big no for linoleum flooring
It’s ideal to not remove these floors more than one or two times in a single year.
- Always Read The Cleaner’s Packaging: Some cleaners are not good for linoleum. They damage the material and cause several complications like warping and cracking.
One common cleaning type to avoid is ammonia cleaners. Before picking out a cleaner, do some research on whether it’s linoleum friendly. Usually, neutral wax floor cleaners are the best for this case.
Conclusion
Linoleum floors are your best friend if you’ve just moved into your own house. They last for decades if you just take good care of them. We hope our guide on how to polish linoleum floors will help you increase the longevity of your house flooring.
As a final tip, we recommend setting colorfast carpets outside and inside your home. Linoleum floors can’t handle dirt and grime at all, so it’s best to minimize them in every way possible. Go through dust mopping sessions every two days and rinse with water about once a week, and you should be good to go!
