With proper care and maintenance of your floor finish, you can ensure the maximum life expectancy of your protective floor coating.
Even properly applied floor wax wears away eventually, eroded by use. A floor coating erodes unevenly depending on the type and amount of traffic across its surface. Scuffs and scratches from shoes, salt, and grit tracked inside from outdoors, furniture rolling on wheels, furniture scraping without wheels: everything that moves across a floor has the potential to scratch or erode the surface coating.
Floor mats help a great deal in protecting VCT from damage in high traffic areas and under furniture. Still, wax wears away more quickly in high traffic areas, while the rest of the floor retains its finish.
Uneven wear leaves patches that are smooth and areas that are rough. The smooth vinyl and the uneven layer of finish give different levels of traction. This interrupts the smooth stride needed for walking – in other words, the floor surface itself becomes a trip hazard.
Applying an even floor coating maintains a smooth, safe surface for walking.
Your floor defines your space.
Floor finish itself needs care, too, to prolong its life. Regularly buffing the floor will maintain a beautiful high gloss and cleanliness. Burnishing heats the floor wax to smooth out scratches and bring back the original shine. Polishing the floor eventually wears down the finish, though. This is normal and part of proper floor maintenance.
Dull, scratched, or dirty looking floors usually just need a new coat of finish. This is called a “scrub and recoat” and is also part of the regular maintenance of a VCT floor.
Once the original tile has been coated with a strong finish, the life of the finish depends on two things: the amount of traffic across the floor, and the level of maintenance. High traffic areas need more maintenance than floors that get little use.
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