Of the existing modern flooring, linoleum is the most popular material in the decoration of apartments and construction of houses. But in order to extend its life, you need to know a few simple rules for care.
Features of linoleum
Such flooring is in great demand. It is used in the decoration of apartment buildings, offices, educational institutions, trade institutions. Since its main advantages are:
- budget cost;
- variety of colors;
- functionality;
- environmental friendliness;
- durability;
- water tightness;
- simplicity in leaving.
IMPORTANT! It must be remembered that linoleum does not withstand the effects of cleaning products that grind the surface. They damage the top layer, lead to defects and discolor the surface.
How to wash linoleum from stubborn stains of various origin
The purpose of daily cleaning is to clean the floor from dust. You can clean the surface with a vacuum cleaner or brush. Then you should wash linoleum with a solution of laundry soap. In this case, the water should be warm, and the rag for the mop should have a soft base, so as not to scratch the surface. It is recommended not to leave traces of soap, but to wipe the relin dry.
But it happens that there are marks from grease, plasticine, ballpoint pen, felt-tip pen, rust or black stripes from shoes. Here, the usual remedy will not help. It should apply folk methods.
From old and stubborn dirt will help:
- Alcohol composition. In the kitchen, the coating most often suffers from fat. To remove stains, you need to make a solution by mixing one liter of warm water, a tablespoon of vodka and grated laundry soap. Soak a rag with this product and wipe the problem area. After doing a wet cleaning with running water.
- Kerosene or gasoline. Effectively clean stains from spilled coffee, berries, juice, gouache, felt-tip pen. It must be borne in mind that the frequent use of these funds harms the integrity of the linoleum coating.
- Drying oil. It is advisable to clean the heavily contaminated place with linseed oil, which is applied in a small amount on a dry rag. After processing, wipe with a flannel. This method eliminates scratches and cracks, polishes the floor to a shine. For prevention, use varnish once every few months.
- School gum. Footprints from shoes, bicycles should not be ignored. It is better to try to immediately remove them with a school gum. Then you need to wash the floor with soap and water and wipe it with a dry cloth.
- Solution of laundry soap. Adhesive chewing gum or stuck plasticine is also easy to remove with a solution of water and laundry soap. But before that, you need to carefully clean the dirt with a knife.
- Hydrogen peroxide and alcohol. There is an opinion that the spilled greens can not be wiped. But hydrogen peroxide, ammonia and camphor alcohol will cope with the problem spot. A napkin moistened with a large amount of soda or juice of raw potatoes will remove iodine drops.
- Flaxseed oil or shoe cream. If the floor is painted with colorful pens by children, then it is first polished with a pumice and then the scratches are poured with linseed oil or colorless shoe cream. After solidification of the mass, the residues are removed with a sharp object.
- Lemon juice. Lemon juice does a great job with old spots. Half the citrus is squeezed onto the problem area, left for a short time. After rubbing with a bath towel and wash the floor with a soap and water solution.
How to remove traces of furniture
Most often, furniture shifts result in dents in the form of dents on the surface. The owners prefer to cut out a spoiled piece of linoleum, and lay a new one in its place. But there are several ways that can help restore gender integrity:
- With a hot iron. Put a rag soaked in cold water in place of the dent. Within half an hour, the problem area is smoothed out. Attention! The iron must be turned on in steam mode.
- Using a hairdryer. The second method will take you longer than the first. Take a hair dryer, direct hot air to a dent and warm it until it disappears.
- Applying a needle. This method is more secure. Needle to pierce the problem area exactly in the center. After a short period of time, air will penetrate under the linoleum and the dent will straighten. Then it should be pressed down with a flat surface (board, book), and a heavy object placed on top.
How to clean dirt from linoleum after repair
If you did not have time to prepare linoleum protection before repair work and there are dirt left on the coating, then solve the problem like this:
- gently stiffen spots from puttying, carefully cut with a spatula or other sharp object;
- vacuum the remaining particles of construction debris and dust;
- wash the white coating with running water, changing the rag each time;
- wipe the remaining stains with a swab dipped in vinegar;
- Treat the stains absorbed in linoleum with white spirit, using the instructions for use.
It’s harder to deal with paint stains. Therefore, they need to pay attention in the first place. The aqueous emulsion solution is immediately cleaned with a wet, unnecessary rag. The oil composition is wet with dry rags, after which the place of contamination is treated with sunflower oil. Next, the floor is washed with water and laundry soap.
IMPORTANT! Do not use thinner to remove paint. Linoleum loses its luster and color.
Frozen mounting foam is removed in two stages. Initially, cut off the top layer with a knife. A wet rag is placed on the remaining mass. After the foam swells, it is easily removed with a spatula. If this method does not work, then use a chemical solvent to remove the foam (you can buy it at a building materials store).
The remnants of whitewashing are disposed of with the help of water with the addition of a solution of manganese or a few drops of vinegar essence.
ATTENTION! Before starting construction work, lay the floor with polyethylene in several layers or with cardboard.
Linoleum shine restoration
Only the bedding is recommended to be rubbed with light mastic to give more gloss. To remove scratches, cracks, dark mastic is used. This helps to eliminate floor defects and protect against the negative effects of sunlight. Wet cleaning with milk and milk will help to remove roughness.
By observing the rules described above, you can extend the life of the floor.
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