Recipe 66 of 100 · The Country Cleans Mix Book
How to Clean Luxury Vinyl Plank Floors Without a Sticky Film
LVP floors gone dull and sticky underfoot? That's old cleaner that was never rinsed. Mop with 1 gallon hot water, 1 tablespoon clear dish soap and 1/4 cup 70% rubbing alcohol, then go back over each section with a second bucket of plain warm water. That rinse pass is the whole trick. Never use mop-and-shine, wax or oil products on LVP.
What it fixesWhole-house LVP that has gone dull and slightly sticky underfoot from cleaner buildup and everyday traffic.
You need
- 1 gallon hot water (3.8 L) for the wash bucket
- 1 tablespoon clear liquid dish soap
- 1/4 cup 70% isopropyl rubbing alcohol (60 ml)
- 1 gallon warm water (3.8 L) for the rinse bucket
- 2 buckets and a microfiber string or flat mop you can wring out hard
Mix it
- Wash bucket: hot water, then the dish soap, then the alcohol. Stir with the mop handle, do not whip up foam.
- Rinse bucket: plain warm water only. Nothing added.
Use it
- Vacuum thoroughly, including the edges where grit collects.
- Dip the mop in the wash bucket and wring it out until it is damp, not wet.
- Mop a section about six feet square.
- Rinse the mop in the rinse bucket, wring hard, and go back over that same section with just water. This second pass is the whole reason the floor stops feeling sticky.
- Move to the next section. Dump and refill both buckets when the wash water goes gray.
- Leave a fan running or crack a window. LVP is waterproof but the subfloor and the seams are not.
Dale's noteSticky LVP is almost never dirt, it is old cleaner that was never rinsed. One tablespoon of soap per gallon feels like nothing, and that is correct, more soap does not clean better, it just leaves more behind for you to rinse next time.
Don'tDo not use any mop-and-shine, wax, or oil-based product on LVP. The urethane wear layer is not designed to bond with them, so they sit on top, trap dirt, go blotchy, and then have to come off with a commercial floor stripper, which is a paid job or a wasted weekend. The Sticky Floor Residue Stripper in the Mix Book will reset ordinary cleaner film, but it will not dissolve a polymer polish once it is on there. Also skip abrasive powders and scrub pads, the wear layer is thin and once you scratch through it the pattern comes off with it.
This is 1 of 100 mixes in the Mix Book
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