Do any of yo guys clean linoleum. I just got a call form a potentail customer who wants her carpets done but also wants her kitchen floor done. Can I clean this with my cimex? Can I use encap? Or what should I use. The customer tells me that the dirt is in all the crevices of the floor and no matter what she does it won't come clean.


Ralph

the floor is most likely not linoleum but a vinal floor
there is a huge difference and you can ruin a real Lino floor easier then vinal floor.


I have scrubed vinal floor with my rotary for years now. red pad and neutral cleaner. If the factory finish is off the floor you can put finish on it, but then it needs to be maintained

David

I do all my floor care now with the Cimex and it is a whole lot easier & faster.

Light strip solution if linolium & light pad.

I use green pads in residential but recently tried Ricks grey pads & they work great for residential stripping. Stripper will get into those nooks for you.

Commercial stripping with the Cimex should be outlawed it is so easy now.

Thanks guys,

how do you use a light stripper? How do you apply
it to the floor. I assume you wouldn't put these
chemicals in your cimex.I have Rick's grey pads, so apply the stripper and scrub floor and that's all?


Ralph

Ralph -


You definitely can use the Cimex to scrub the kitchen floor. The pads that fit on the bottom come in different grades of 'roughness'. For most cleaning situations, a gray FiberMax pad would probbly work fine on vinyl.

But if you are talking about stripping and refinishing vinyl floors....deep breath....it's not as easy to do a great job and make money at it and be affordable to residential customers as you may think.

To really truly strip tile, you should go with someone else first to show you how. Trying it for the first time on someone's kitchen is pretty iffy - cleaning carpet with a Cimex is more 'foolproof', in my humble opinion.

In other words, if you have to ask how to do it, you should not offer the service to people yet, since you're not ready.

Anyone who really knows floors disagree with me much on this?

many times when I am cleaning carpets and I cross a lino/vinyl floor, I will scrub it and want it clean.
It doesnt take a stripper. Usually a neutral cleaner or my normal prespray. You can use the Cimex or rotary and agitate it.
Then wand it and flush it out of those cracks.
Its very easy and simple and makes quick work of this type of floor.
You will need a little handbrush for under the toe kick where the cimex and rotary won't go under.

Fresh water rinse it.. BAM.. great results.


Steve Dobson
ProFloor
Custom Cleaning Services

I'm curious. I haven't ever used any of my carpet cleaning equipment to clean a vinyl floor. I definitely trust the advice of each of you, but I have one question. Dobs, I'm just curious, so don't take offense. While I have used the wand to extract overspray from vinyl, I have never used it to clean vinyl. It does indeed sound like a pretty good idea. However, my question is have you ever had a problem with vinyl coming out from under the shoe molding or a similar circumstance. Alot of vinyl is "loose laid" now, meaning there is no glue used whatsoever. I would be concerned that it may pop loose. Any problems with that? Thanks in advance!

I have never seen linoleum or sheet goods 'loose laid'.
It is glued like always.
sounds like an installation problem IMO> so No,,
It isnt like tile and grout where we are soaking the floor, giving dwell time and coming back 30 minutes later and cleaning the
'flooded area' via extraction.

I prespray, or use whatever I do, on the floor, agitate. Linoleum isnt penetrable.
Its not going to soak in. Not sheet goods. Not squares would have a little chance of water penetrating. use your judgement there.
Around doors where the vinyl may meet carpeting, again, use judgement on how much moisture. You may clean it by hand. extract too with a wand. you are going to recover your water so quick, it wont have time to go in anywhere.

Be quick and effective I guess.

Be cautionary first, then more aggressive as you gain comfort.

If its laid right, its not 'loosely' laid. I have always seen it heavily glued down over 'the smooth substrate' that is recommmended.

Sounds like an install problem if you experience that.

I hope this helps.

dobs

Steve Dobson
ProFloor
Custom Cleaning Services

I know in my area alot of vinyl is being loose laid. Fibre Rock or Luann is still put down, the seams are sanded, the substrate is patched (leveled), then the vinyl is laid over the floor and cut to fit as would normally be the case, but no glue is used, not even on the edges. It is often glued where maybe a fridge is going and at any seams. Otherwise the shoe molding is to hold it in its place. In certain cases, depending on the product, the installer will be told to glue it, but most are being left to installer discretion. I have found it more beneficial because problems can be easier handled. We also glued one to a floor of a doublewide mobile home that shifted during Hurricane Isabel, causing the seams in the Luann to shift. Some areas were then "sucked down" by the existing crevass with the glue causing the seam to show. That's what we determined anyway! lol I went ahead and ate it because it wasn't that big of a job and I really didn't wanna get into it with the owner. We loose laid the new vinyl and presto! we have had no problems here 18 months later!