vinyl floors...

[Chris A]

I thought I had seen someone post about cleaning vinyl floors with a 175 and a hard surface wand. Any concern of seams buckling or am I just being paranoid? Thx

 

[Lee Stockwell]

Paranoia is healthy.

Yes we do vinyl like that when we fear the turbo hybrid would be too much. Each one is different. It depends on installation quality as much as floor composition.

Get it dry quickly.

 

[hogjowl]

Just locate the seams and don't turbo over them. Installers routinely fail to seal them properly, so moisture penetration is probable.

 

[Chris A]

So you guys are saying if I puss out and scrub it then wand at low psi I should be good?

 

[Willy P]

Just locate the seams and don't turbo over them. Installers routinely fail to seal them properly, so moisture penetration is probable.

S-E-A-M S-E-A-L-E-R

 

[Lee Stockwell]

S-E-A-M S-E-A-L-E-R

...not very successful AFTER the fact.

 

[Willy P]

If you don't know where seams are located on all sheet flooring or carpets, then you'd best learn. And fast. (Hint - 12 feet in most cases)

 

[hogjowl]

So you guys are saying if I puss out and scrub it then wand at low psi I should be good?

Most of the time you don't even need to scrub it.
I use a rotary tool on vinyl all the time at 600 psi.

I'm just saying be safe and locate the seams. Show them to the client. Have them sigh a waver. Edge up to them like you would a doorway threshold and use your floor wand over them.

Having a vinyl seam curl on you is something you need to avoid.

 

[Paul Demers]

I see sheet vinyl (12 foot rolls) installed in some residential kitchens and a lot of apartments. I also see vinyl tiles (12 x12 inches) with or without grout installed in some commercial restrooms. 5 inch by 48 inch and 6 inch by 48 inch vinyl "planks" , make to resemble wood, are starting to become very popular due to their low maintenance and low cost. A lot of apartments are installing this stuff in my area, and I bet I will see more homeowners starting to having it installed due to its low cost, (not high end homes for sure).

These vinyl "planks" as they are called, are pretty water resistant, unlike pergo/laminate flooring...... but I still would not want use water pressure to clean.... just in case.

No matter which type of vinyl floor, I see no need to use any HWE tool. I just use an OP machine, and I assume a rotary would work just as well. Use a neutral, low residue cleaner and rinse with damp Glad pads. If floors are extremely dirty, I would use a high pH encap cleaner, VacAway Grease Hawg being the only one I know of. This will do away with any concern of leaving a detergent residue on the floor.

 

[hogjowl]

HWE works much better at getting the soil out of those pits.

 

[Mikey P]

Agree with porkslop.

Used op pads aint all that absorbent, especially if used for stone sealer clean up on occasion.

A hard surface wand at 300 psi, 100 if you work in SF, is imo, the true way to remove all the soil

 

[Desk Jockey]

We've not used HWE on the planks, just a 175 and a degreaser. It improved the appearance but I'm not thrilled with the results. The client new it was a problem, they could get it clean so they called us.

Does HWE get into those pores better.

 

[hogjowl]

You seriously have to ask that?

Seriously?

 

[Desk Jockey]

Slow traffic day. I figured I'd give yor ahsss something to bitch about.