How to Prevent Damage to Luxury Vinyl Tile

Luxury vinyl tile (LVT) is a smart commercial flooring choice, especially in busy areas with high foot traffic. It's durable, long-lasting, and easy to clean, making it very popular in heavy traffic and public-facing buildings.

While it is extremely hard-wearing and easy to maintain, it's not immortal or impervious to damage, but there are ways to prevent damage to luxury vinyl tile.

As the name would suggest, luxury vinyl tiles look luxurious. And you want your floor to continue looking as high-end for as long as possible, which means you've got to take good care of your LVT flooring if you want to prolong its life span and prevent it from losing its wow factor.

Thankfully, keeping premium vinyl flooring looking fresh and clean is much more straightforward than other, more sensitive types of floors.

With decades of professional experience maintaining luxury vinyl floor tiles, we've compiled some of the most useful and effective tips we've found and what to avoid to keep your tiles looking their best.

What to avoid when taking care of your luxury vinyl tile

While wear and tear on your floors are inevitable, there are things you can do to prevent unnecessary deterioration of your LVT. Here are three of the most common ways luxury vinyl floor tiles are damaged during cleaning, so you can save your floors from being ruined.

1. Scrubbing too hard with coarse materials

One of the many reasons people love luxury vinyl tiles is their glossy, clean appearance. To avoid dulling the shine of your floor, your janitorial team must correctly use safe tools on vinyl surfaces.

Avoid over-scrubbing or brushing too hard when cleaning up spills or conducting your daily clean-up because it will damage and remove the factory finish* that gives LVT its shiny appeal. It would be best to also refrain from using brushes with hard bristles and never use abrasive wire sponges or scrubbers on your floors.

*If the factory finish (sheen) arrives or becomes damaged and the look is inconsistent and undesirable, we can add a long-lasting protective coating that will look beautiful for years to come. Available in matte, semi-gloss, and high gloss. If the factory finish becomes scratched with heavy use, we can fix that too.

2. Using the wrong cleaning products

Especially when spills happen, using whatever you have on hand can be tempting to clean your floors. However, sometimes the products you use to clean it up can damage your luxury vinyl tile more than the stain in the first place.

Many cleaning products destroy the protective outer layer on vinyl floors, resulting in a dull appearance and making them more susceptible to scratches and stains. Before cleaning your floors, take a second to determine if the cleaning component is safe to use on LVT.

These products should never be used on luxury vinyl tile floors:

• Oil-based cleaners
• Wax-based solvents or varnish
• Acetone
• Vinegar cleaning solutions

3. Soaking the tiles when mopping

Mopping LVT floors is extremely satisfying as it returns the surface to its glistening appearance after a long day of dirt and dust. But you must be careful with the amount of water you use.

If you soak the floors and leave an excess of residual water on the surface, this can seep through the seams of the floor, eroding the bonding adhesive, and the flooring layers will slowly start to peel and create unsightly pockets. Always ensure you're ringing out your mop before applying it to your vinyl tiles.

How to take care of your luxury vinyl tiles

Here are the five best ways to keep your luxury vinyl floors gleaming and looking as good as the day they were installed.

1. Keep on top of day-to-day maintenance

To keep dirt and grime from building up on your luxury vinyl flooring, just as you should with any commercial flooring, keep on top of daily maintenance and cleaning.

Respond quickly to spills and clean them up to avoid staining the vinyl or seeping into the floors. Daily upkeep of your floors plays a big part in keeping them looking fresh and luxurious for longer.

2. Take a gentle approach

As mentioned earlier, you need to be careful with the cleaning products you use on your LVT floors, the tools you use to clean them, and the amount of water you use when you mop.

It's best always to take a gentle approach when cleaning to prevent any issues with the appearance or integrity of your flooring.

• Sweep or vacuum (no harsh beaters) as often as needed to remove loose dirt.
• Wash the floor with a non-abrasive, pH-neutral “no-rinse” floor cleaner.
• When damp mopping, use microfiber mops, clean water, and don't flood the floor.

3. Apply furniture pads

Heavy furniture and commercial appliances getting dragged around are one of the main culprits for destroying luxury vinyl floor tiles.

Sometimes things need to be moved, and it's out of your control whether the furniture is lifted correctly or dragged across the floor, causing nasty scrapes and marks.

Save yourself the stress of dealing with scratches on your floor by preventing them from occurring in the first place.

Ensure the legs of all furniture and appliances like fridges, vending machines, and water coolers are covered with a protected furniture pad to keep your floors safe and protect their shine.

4. Use walk-off floor mats to keep out dirt

You'd be surprised by the amount of dirt and debris pulled in from outside on people's shoes, especially in spaces where people are coming and going. Over time, this dirt will stain your luxury vinyl floors, making them appear older than they are.

To stop the premature aging of your floors and dulling of their shine, place door mats on either side of entrance and exit doors to encourage people to wipe their feet before entering the building and dragging dirt in from outside.

5. Contact the professionals

If you're concerned about your luxury vinyl tiles getting destroyed or needing a little revival, always consult a professional for advice and to see how they can help you.

At Corporate Care, we believe floors should be preserved, not replaced. We can restore your vinyl flooring to look good as new while also preventing further damage and deterioration with a protective coating.

Protective coatings make your floor totally resilient and brilliantly bold. The additional protective outer layer seals the floor to make it stain and scrape resistance while filling in old cracks and scratches, revolutionizing its shine and protecting it from bacteria and dirt.

Schedule your floor assessment to make your luxury vinyl tiles look luxurious once again

Whatever your needs, we offer a customized care plan to suit you. From a once-off resilient floor makeover to an ongoing care plan, you'll find the perfect solution to keep your LVT floors beautiful as ever.

Schedule your floor assessment today to discuss your needs and what service best suits your floor.

 

---

About Corporate Care – A sustainability company

Corporate Care exists to improve the appearance, performance, and longevity of every surface in the commercial buildings you manage – reducing capital expenditures, stress, and management burden on facility managers from coast to coast.

As true surface care experts, we understand the unique properties and cleaning protocols every surface needs (or doesn’t) to look amazing and comply with manufacturer warranties. We’re here to support your existing janitorial crew with cadenced deep restorative cleaning and tailored maintenance protocols – performed by IICRC®-certified cleaning technicians.

We are firm believers in restoration over replacement. Let’s reduce waste together!