Top Floor Ltd. provide professional Vinyl & Linoleum Floor Stripping and Sealing services.

Without proper maintenance, a  Linoleum or Vinyl floor will lose their sheen. Depending upon traffic conditions in a given home, the polish will, over time, become worn and dulled. This changing appearance will eventually dictate that it is time to Strip and Seal the floor.

Stripping or removing previously applied polish to your floor should only be performed when routine cleaning no longer works to get your floor looking like new again. The Floor would:

1. The floor would be stripped of existing seals and polishes, using a coarse scrubbing pad on a rotary scrubbing machine and a diluted solution of floor strip.
2. Once all the polish has been removed, the slurry is removed using a wet pick vacuum.
3. The floor would then be rinsed to leave a PH neutral surface to the floor.

A freshly stripped Vinyl & Linoleum Floor will likely require a minimum of 3 coats of polish for acceptable gloss and protection. A proper polish will be easy to apply, provide full protection from traffic and spills, and be removable with stripping detergents, which won’t damage the floor. This sealer and gloss finish will protect and extend the wear of your floor, reduce marks and scratches and guard against soil penetration and abrasion.

About Vinyl

Vinyl composition tile (VCT) is a finished flooring material used primarily in commercial and institutional applications.vinyl tiles are composed of colored vinyl chips formed into solid sheets of varying thicknesses (1/8″ is most common) by heat and pressure and cut into 12″ squares. Tiles are applied to a smooth, leveled sub-floor using a specially formulated vinyl adhesive that remains tacky but does not completely dry. Once in place, tiles are typically waxed and buffed using materials and equipment specially formulated for this application.

Vinyl tile is favored over other kinds of flooring materials in high-traffic areas because of its low cost, durability, and ease of maintenance. Vinyl tiles have high resilience to abrasion and impact damage and can be repeatedly refinished with chemical strippers and mechanical buffing equipment. If properly installed, tiles can be easily removed and replaced when damaged. Tiles are available in a variety of colors from several major flooring manufacturers. Some manufacturers have created vinyl tiles that very closely resemble woon, stone, terrazzo and concrete. Tiles can easily be cut and assembled into colorful and decorative patterns.

Vinyl composition tiles took the place of asbestos tiles, which were widely used in schools, hospitals, offices, and public buildings up until the 1980s. Use of tiles and adhesives containing asbestos were discontinued when asbestos materials were determined to be hazardous. Tiles free of asbestos are easily distinguished by their size – asbestos tiles were commonly manufactured in 9-inch squares. Mastics and adhesives containing low concentrations of asbestos were used into the 1970s and are generally considered non-hazardous because the asbestos is not considered friable.

Linoleum

Linoleum was invented by Englishman Frederick Watson who patented his formula in 1860. Between the time of its invention in 1860 and its being largely superseded by other hard floor coverings in the 1950s, linoleum was considered to be an excellent, inexpensive material for high use areas. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it was favored in hallways and passages, and as a surround for carpet squares. However, most people associate linoleum with its common twentieth century use on kitchen floors. Its water resistance enabled easy maintenance of sanitary conditions.Unlike most vinyl the colour goes all the way through the linoleum.

The best grades of linoleum were called ‘battleship linoleum’, as a common use of this material was in warships Actual battle experience showed this was an inappropriate material due to its flammability.

Linoleum as a floor covering has been largely replaced with polyvinyl chloride (yet still colloquially known as linoleum), which has similar properties of flexibility and durability, but which has greater brightness and translucency and which is relatively less flammable. The fire-retardant properties of PVC are due to chlorine-containing combustion products, some of which are highly toxic dioxins are released by burning PVC, and are toxic even in very small quantities. While the polymer itself is generally considered safe, additives such as placistisers and unintentional impurities such as free monomers are considered a hazard by some: Because it is made of materials and is purportedly non allergines in nature, high quality linoleum is still in use in many places (especially in non-allergenic homes, hospitals and health care facilities).