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Vinyl flooring refers to the flooring produced with PVC materials. Specifically, it is produced by taking polyvinyl chloride and its copolymer resin as the main raw material, adding fillers, plasticizers, stabilizers, colorants and other auxiliary materials on sheet continuous substrate through coating process or calendering, extrusion or extrusion process
Other name: PVC flooring, homogeneous & heterogeneous vinyl flooring.
Categories included: Vinyl sheet flooring, vinyl tile, vinyl plank, WPC and SPC.
Vinyl flooring is so popular because it is affordable price, easy to maintain and durable. According to the Resilient Floor Covering Institute, from 1990 to 2022, about 100 million square yards of vinyl flooring have been installed for new homes in USA, which also means there is vinyl flooring in at least one of its room for each house.
Even though the vinyl flooring is very durable, scratch resistant and high wear resistant, but moving heavy furnitures might snag and rip it, dropping or scraping sharp objects such as knife will gouge the vinyl floor. When scratches and scrapes are appear on your vinyl flooring, it is time for you to consider repairing them.
Fortunately, it is fast, inexpensive, and not difficult to patch the vinyl flooring.
In this article, we will give you ultimate guide how to repair vinyl flooring.
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It’s an in-depth article that takes 30 minutes to read.
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There are many possibilities that might cause scratches and scrapes, below are some of the most common ways:
Moving of Heavy Furniture: moving of heavy furniture can easily scratch the luxury vinyl flooring, especially when the furniture is having more weight than the flooring design.
Dirt From Outside: When you walk into the house from outside, it is unavoidable that your shoes will carry some dirt. When you walk on the vinyl plank with dirty shoes, it might scratch the flooring.
Sharp Objects: We will use sharp objects from time to time at home, such as knife, scissors. When these sharp objects drop on the floor or scrape the floor, scratches and scrapes are happen sometimes.
First prepare a towel, just clean the scratch spot directly. Sometimes when it is only slightly scratch, sweeping will be enough. If there is still scratch, then we will need deep vinyl floor cleaning.
Then please prepare a bucket of warm water with cleaner inside, put towel into the water, squeeze out excess moisture, and thoroughly clean the affected spot. Then use dry towel to dry the floor. Sometimes a thoroughly sweeping or mopping is good enough for light scratches. If it is not fixed, we will go to step 2.
The primary purpose of smoothing is to polish the scratch to get rid of rough edges. Get sandpaper and polish the area. Do this gently to avoid damaging the finish or scoring the vinyl flooring further.
For best results, start with the medium grit sandpaper and rub in the direction of the scratch. This type of sandpaper should be able to remove most of the scrape and give you finer edges.
Next, grab the smoother grit sandpaper and rub the dent in a circular motion. This will rub out any existing wax on the surface of the scratch, preparing the luxury vinyl flooring for waxing later.
Now give the scratch a final sanding with the grit sandpaper. Rub gently in a circular manner until the spot is completely smooth and even with the plank. Touch the area to know whether more polishing is needed.
Once you are completely satisfied with your work, wipe off all the dust that was formed during sanding. Allow the area to air dry before moving to the next step.
Waxing can help smooth and bring back the shine of luxury vinyl flooring. To get the best out of your waxing procedure, use quality wax, preferably car wax.
Pour a small amount of it on a clean piece of cloth and smear lightly on the polished scratch. Rub in a circular motion until you have obtained your desired shine.
Check to see whether there are any wax spills on the plank and clean it off. Now wipe the entire plank with a clean rug and you are good to go. If you have done the job right, the scratch will no longer be visible.
When a vinyl sheet is deeply scratched or scraped, cleaning, smoothing and waxing cannot solve the problem, then you will need to replace the piece of vinyl flooring.
You can replace it no matter it is luxury vinyl tile, luxury vinyl plank or vinyl sheet flooring. It is not difficult at all.
If you want perfect and strong replacement, then you will also do the following steps:
It is very import to patch the vinyl floor if there are any scratches, but it is even more important if we can better prevent the scratches from happening.
1. Use doormat
Dust, chemicals and tiny gravel particles can be trapped on the outsole of shoes and carried into the vinyl flooring sheet, which may damage the vinyl sheet flooring.
Over time, these objects not only cause the floor to turn yellow and black, but also may cause scratch damage to the floor due to their abrasiveness.
You can solve this problem with doormats and shoes before entering the house. If you can take off your shoes, it’s even better; it will keep the floor clean for longer and further reduce the chance of scratching the floor.
2. Clean every day
Get into the habit of cleaning up dust, because if you let it accumulate on the vinyl base plate, it may stick to the floor when people step on it. Clean your floor every day to prevent the accumulation of various factors from making the floor dirty and scratched.
Use a vacuum broom or dry mop to remove daily dirt and debris, but do not use a beater. Although beaters are ideal for collecting dirt, they are not friendly to vinyl base plates because they are too harsh to scrub the floor. Use only soft accessories.
3. Put carpets in places with heavy traffic
Areas with heavy traffic tend to get dirty quickly, which means you need to mop the floor more often to keep it clean.
If you’re like most homeowners, you don’t want to spend the whole weekend cleaning vinyl base boards. That’s where carpet throwing comes in.
The more traffic it is, the more chances that it will get scratched.
Strategically placing them in crowded areas, such as standing near the sink when washing dishes, helps to ensure that the floor is always clean. This additional filler also helps to improve the durability and service life of the floor.
4. Use furniture mats
Heavy furniture may cause dents and scratches on vinyl base boards, which is what suggests foams for furniture feet.
When moving furniture in a room, it is also important to avoid dragging the furniture onto the floor, as this may leave wear marks. In this case, just lift the furniture or use a piece of plywood.
When you move the furniture, please also make sure you move them cautiously.
Now that you know how to fix those unsightly scratches on your luxury vinyl flooring, go ahead and give your floor its sparkle back.
This article is written by Longda Flooring (www.longdaflooring.com), a leading vinyl sheet flooring manufacturer from China.
Please contact Longda flooring for a free quote on your vinyl flooring needs. We have quick response, efficient communication, quality products, on time delivery, and competitive price.
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