Daily flooring tidying is hard work in a hazardous and polluted environment, especially in subtle flooring versions like vinyl material.
Reading this will bring useful information and detail to answer How to clean discolored vinyl flooring? Question.
If you seek an effective method to erase stubborn stains on vinyl flooring, this article is for you.
What Is Vinyl Flooring?
Vinyl flooring is a commercial product with a polymer core manufactured for durable, affordable, and piece-of-cake installation.
The most common material of this flooring is polyvinyl chloride, often known as PVC.
There are two categories of vinyl flooring, including Luxury Vinyl Tiles (LVT) and vinyl plate flooring. These categories establish different attributes suited to different specific purposes.
Luxury Vinyl Tiles (LVT) ‘s mechanism is to replicate natural material options like ceramic or hardwood to a high extent due to advanced technology.
This type comes in solid and flexible tiles and planks. That innovative design offers a natural wood imitation for users.
LVT types standardized format helps it be better and faster used, especially in renovating your room. You can change your room without furniture shifting.
This fiberglass mat with a vast, continuous, and flexible sheet form about Vinyl sheet flooring.
Its design is in various styles, from modern to playful patterns, and brings optional choices for users.
This type is also low on VOC emission and almost phthalate-free, which provides a fresh and healthy environment in your home.
Main Causes Of Vinyl Flooring Discoloration?
Inaccurate Installation
This mistake is the most common reason for flooring original color disappearance.
Almost every base flooring plank will corrupt when contacted directly or indirectly with moisture, which is the biggest mistake when installing vinyl flooring.
When the moisture gets through your subflooring and reaches the plank, it harms the whole flooring synthetic layers.
With prolonged humidity, color disappearance is inevitable to the design layer.
Another factor likely to cause this discoloration is the user manual unfollowing adhesive. This reason is more frequent than usual when using excess or shortage amounts.
Too much adhesive will soak through the plank and create yellow stains for more detail.
Shortage of adhesive will cause oil, dirt, and other contaminants to slip in and eventually perpetual stains.
Mold and Humidity
Mold and humidity often grow in an excessive humidity environment, not excluding your fresh wood-like vinyl mat.
Both inefficiency of waterproofing and water exposure frequently can be the reason.
Other than the aforementioned possible causes, there are still alternative ways for moisture to appear.
Scratches and cracks when you spoil or induce strong force into the mat are an open way for water to come to the inner layer through the outer protective layer.
Financial vinyl planks have a high chance of getting into trouble with this.
Thus, it would be best if you dealt with any flooring dribble immediately from the early sign, or it eventually leads to the contamination that causes discolor over time.
Sunlight Vulnerability
A major reason for discoloration is sunlight exposure because only a few people know about the weak U-V resistance of vinyl flooring.
Prolonged sunlight damage can cause discolor and stubborn yellow stains.
This issue is apparent when observing blanks left by fixed rugs or cloth pieces moving after a long time.
You can also spot it in core areas such as a large window or partial door in a high sunlight density room.
Unfortunately, U-V causes irreversible bad effects. You may have to replace your vinyl planks as an only option when it gets crippled by sun radiation.
Chemical Affections
Vinyl flooring is sensitive to any rubber chemical materials that lead to discoloring chemical reactions.
Most people recommend bleach as a tip or solvent to deal with yellow stains effectively.
However, it would help if you never used bleach to clean your flooring. Besides hazardous attributes, this abrasive cleaners is rough and harms the protective shell of the planks.
Bleach also generates yellow stains on your glowing vinyl flooring when it reacts to sunlight.
You can settle this problem by stopping using rubber accessories or other chemical flooring cleaners like ammonia and potassium.
Food and Beverages Spoils
Food and beverage are also important factors in discoloring your flooring planks.
Liquid spills such as juices, oil, or other colored beverages can effortlessly leave yellow stains on your vinyl flooring.
In addition, greasy food, vegetables, and fruits can also leave nasty stains on your flooring.
It would be best to handle those spills as soon as possible to protect your vinyl flooring’s cleanliness.
How To Clean Discolored Vinyl Flooring?
Cleaning the Floor With Baking Soda
As a casual home ingredient and an essential vinyl flooring cleaner product, this is an effective tool that does an excellent job in removing tough stains on your foot-settle.
This powerful cleaning agent is exceptional in cleaning stains on kitchen stuff surfaces or food spills. It is also easy to store in your kitchen. There are two ways of cleaning you can follow:
Ingredient
- Baking soda
- Plain water
- Sponge or brush
- Microfiber fabric
First Process
- Smear some baking soda powder on the discolored area and ensure no gap is left. If there is any gap, yellow stains will fill it instead.
- Wait for fifteen minutes and let the baking soda stay in completely.
- Now wipe the flooring away with a dampened sponge in circular motion. The lemon and warm water mixture can better wipe away the baking soda residue.
Second Process
- Take some baking soda and hot water in a bowl to mix them into a thick paste.
- Apply and scrub the paste to the discolored area with a sponge or brush in circular path, and wait for fifteen to twenty minutes to dry.
- Wipe away the mixture with a clean cloth and rinse away with cold water.
- Dry excess moisture with a dry cloth then inspects the floor.
Cleaning the Floor With Vinegar And Dish Detergent
Both vinegar, white vinegar and dish detergent are effective options for cleaning. They are professional in wiping out discoloration from greasy, oily food and yellow stains.
In addition to discolor removal, dish detergent is stronger than vinegar in cleaning dirty places… Here’s how to get rid of discoloration with our cleaning agents:
Preparing
- Apple cider vinegar or dish detergent
- Plain water
- Soft brush
- Microfiber cloth
Processing
- Mix a cup of apple cider vinegar with a gallon of medium warm water and one tablespoon of dish soap.
- Use a soft brush to scrub the stains away from your vinyl floor.
- Wipe the entire floor surface with the apple cider vinegar or dish soap mixture.
- Swab the floor off with a clean mop and water to remove any cleaning residues.
- Dry the floors with a microfiber cloth. If the discoloration stains still exist, try scrubbing more with baking soda.
Cleaning the Floor With Lemon Or Rubbing Alcohol
Rubbing alcohol does a great job in scrubbing away ink and makeup spills. You can also use rubbing alcohol to get rid of crayon stains.
You have to take a microfiber cloth and rub it intensely over the stubborn yellow stains, rigid dust marks, etc.
But you need protective gear when rubbing, such as goggles, masks, hand gloves, etc., to avoid direct contact with rubbing alcohol.
You can beat rigid yellow stains, and other discolor by the following progress:
Preparing
Rubbing alcohol
Gloves and goggles
Microfiber cloth or soft towel
Processing
- Pour some rubbing alcohol into a bowl.
- Take a clean cloth or sponge and dive it into the rubbing alcohol bowl
- Place the sponge in the affected area and soak it to remove water stains.
- Wipe away residues with a clean cloth or towel.
How To Prevent Vinyl Flooring From Color Fading?
Normally, preventing is always easier than fixing. So how to prevent vinyl flooring from discoloration? Here are a few tips and tricks:
Change the position of your rugs and furniture casually:
Moving your rugs and furniture prevents discoloration caused by rubber rugs or furniture legs and prevents UV light from damaging the flooring-covered parts.
Minimize the effect of UV lights:
A certain veil is an excellent choice to mitigate UV rays in your room. Some kinds of fabric can even block UV radiation – you will want those filters to prolong your vinyl flooring lifespan.
Install moisture protection:
Moisture slipping through the flooring layers is more dangerous than spills because it’s hiding below.
You should install waterproof protection under or between the subfloor and the vinyl flooring.
Only use exclusive cleaners for vinyl:
Most floor cleaners contain bleach or ammonia, two harsh chemicals that can damage and corrupt your vinyl flooring.
If you don’t have a safe cleaner, apple cider vinegar or dish soap is a remarkable choice.
Be careful during the installation:
Preventing adhesive from damaging your floors is important during installation. Only use a proper amount of adhesive to install the vinyl flooring perfectly.
FAQ
Can Completely Wipe Yellow Stains Away From Vinyl Flooring?
You can wipe almost any stains from vinyl flooring using a suited specific cleaner and at the proper time.
Prolonged cleaning time will let flooring absorb more spill or moisture and make stains hard to remove.
Noticing types of stains also provide a big help in your flooring cleanse work. It helps you choose appropriate cleaners, thus removing stains easier and faster.
How To Mop Vinyl Flooring In Proper Way?
It would be best to use a damp mop to sweep the floor, then rinse with clean water from the bucket.
Add a few drops of dishwashing soap and vinegar mixture to have extra effect. Mop first with the soap mixture, then mop consecutively with the water and vinegar mixture.
Mopping should only be done when necessary and must be an appropriate and safe cleaner, excluding ammonia or bleach.
Vinyl is mediocre water-resistant so that it isn’t entirely waterproof, and liquids can seep through the cracks and edges.
Conclusion
Cleaning discolored vinyl flooring is smooth when you know the right process. We have told you about three effective ways to clean discolored vinyl floors.
You should have known the correct answer to the how to clean discolored vinyl flooring question until this line.
Hope you get back the dream-like vinyl flooring in the shortest time with the least effort.
