Vinyl Floor Cleaning/Sealing & Texture Horrors

[mstephens]

We have a 2012 FC with the blonde vinyl flooring. A simulated plank look. It's not bad looking although the light color is a bit irrational for an RV. The real problem though is the imprinted texture intended to look like wood grain. This texture immediately collects the finest dirt which turns the texture black, as anyone would easily predict. It means that normal cleaning like sweeping and mopping will leave the floor looking dirty because it won't lift the dirt out of the texture.

Ultimately, one has to clean this texture out with a brush and lots of scrubbing. Not a fun RVing activity.

Question: Can this texture be sealed off with some kind of wax, or sealant? Ideally, I would like the floor to be smooth with no texture. Such a floor would be a snap to keep clean.

[SteveSueMac]

Same question here - we must have the same floor. I actually like the light color - that is - until those millions of "slits" meant to simulate wood grain fill with dirt :-(

It got ugly real fast. A google search basically resulted in replacing the floor rather than sealing it. But that's general google info. I hope there's a better answer.

[mstephens]

I hope so too. In our experience - we are two adults with a small dog - this floor gets "black" in the texture in just a weekend camping trip in California, where most campgrounds feature a "luxurious dirt carpet" to camp on. It is not easy to scrub this floor with a stiff brush.

"If I were designing an RV" - - I would find (or invent) a really suitable flooring finish that assumes dirt and dogs and kids and camping. I would not be trying to copy "home decor finishes."

[dwightdi]

There are several small solid floor wet floor cleaners that have active brushes. They also have a squeegee/vacuum function that would leave your floor semi-dry after cleaning. They are small enough to fit in the closet. A steam mop might work as well.

[PharmGeek]

we read this about this flooring before buying our new bunkhouse a couple weeks ago..already tracking in and out can see how this will end up...

I bought a small shop vac and a wide shallow brush attachement to run over the flooring routinely to slow the progression to the kind of dirty you all mention here...

I think the light color is really good though...makes things feel much more bright...but I suppose I have not yet scrubbed it yet....

Wax idea seems like a good one? not sure...but at the minimum even as is..I will be wiping it all down every evening really quick in high traffic areas...

I almost bought some runners but the colors they had were horrible and I kinda resent that option in part...

Interested to hear more....

[BAB]

Same floor. Impossible to keep it clean, so I installed FLOR carpet tiles over it. Easy install, and my portable Dyson picks up most everything. Oh, and IF you spill something nasty (like a glass of red wine), you lift the tile up, hose it off, let it dry and you're good to go. I found the texture of the linoleum was part of the issue.

[SteveSueMac]

Those look good, BAB, but it seems Mstephens is trying to keep it original. I think filling the cracks with wax/sealer sounds good, but wonder if it would hold up to all the travel miles. I suppose covering with a non-textured linoleum of the same color would be an option? Why the heck did they use this crap in the first place? :-)

[mstephens]

Comments--

Not sure about rotating brush cleaners (I have owned some in the past). It takes a lot of straight back and forth scrubbing to clean this AS floor texture.

I tried the Shark steam mop. Although I initially thought it worked, it really didn't clean the texture well enough.

Carpet products. I have a fetish against carpeting. IMO, it's a great way to hide and store dirt. Maybe I am just a slob? But any carpet I have ever owned turns out to be LOADED with dirt deep in the fibers that is simply impossible to get out. I won't even mention bugs and other living creatures! However, I don't actually know what "FLOR" is, so I'll look into it, before judging!

I'm really hoping for a wax/sealer to be the answer!

[PharmGeek]

BAB, does that stuff shift and move? and what is the blue stuff?

[BAB]

The "stuff" is carpet....I elected to use two shades....a blue border (kind of an Airstream color?), and then the rest is a silvery gray. You can go on FLOR's website to check out installation. It does not move at all. In essence, you use a heavy duty sticky circle at the intersection of the tiles (underneath, of course). What's cool is you can remove the carpet tiles if they get really dirty. FLOR is made of recycled plastic, and because it is so dense, doesn't seem to get grit down inside. Installation was pretty easy. I did take out the dinette, but you can trim it pretty easily for all the rounded corners. It comes in every pattern and color imaginable. I think a berber would look pretty cool, and if I get tired of what I have, I'll change it out. Oh, the basset hounds much prefer it to the linoleum...and it doesn't seem to attract the dog hair, either.