About That Floor.
 We have been amazed at the number of comments and questions we’ve gotten about our floor. Interestingly, Anne really didn’t like the floor when we first bought our home. It’s quite a contrast from hardwood floors! But then we found our dishes!!! As previously reported, we spotted our dishes in an antique shop in Portland soon after we bought our home. Anne said, “They match our floor,” and we bought them. That purchase turned the tide. We began decorating around the black, and Anne now loves the floor. Gary always did. |
Assumably, our floor is Armstrong vinyl composition tile, the kind they’ve been making forever. You can see a picture of our dining/living room flooring to the left. Compare our close-up picture with this Armstrong product. We first thought the floor was original. However, the previous owners of our home told us they had the floor installed to replace worn out wall- to- wall carpeting which was also not original. As a side note, we may love the floor but we have not been pleased with the heavy chemical smell of the Armstrong floor care products which came with the house. A lucky accident with Murphy’ s Oil Soap is giving us hope that this product touted for use on wood may actually work as both a cleaner and a polisher for our floor when used in higher concentrations. Does anyone have ideas for “green” cleaning products that might be even better for this type of floor? |
April 23rd, 2008 at 2:29 pm
I found your blog on google and read a few of your other posts. I just added you to my Google News Reader. Keep up the good work. Look forward to reading more from you in the future.
Stacey Derbinshire
April 25th, 2008 at 11:27 pm
I have the Armstrong congoleum floors and have had very good luck just cold mopping them with Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap.
I use the Armstrong wax, but I am sensitive to their Clean and Brite cleaner. So far Dr. Bronner’s has worked very well for me with out dulling.
June 5th, 2008 at 9:49 am
I second the recommmendation for Dr. Bronner’s.
p.s. great MCM crib!
June 6th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
Kay & Eichler,
Thanks for the Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap recommendation.
We’ll give it a try.
Anne & Gary
July 9th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
Excellent. curious to find out how it works for you (although the floors look great as is!)
September 12th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Kay and eichler,
When we checked out Dr. Bonner’s Soap (http://www.drbronner.com/index.html) on the web what we found appeared to be soap for the body.
Is this the same stuff you recommended for our floors, or is there another Dr. Bonner’s product you were refering to?
Thanks
Anne & Gary
September 16th, 2008 at 8:13 am
I have a Method “O” Mop with washable microfiber head and I use their lemon ginger floor cleaner which is completely biodegradeable. I have ceramic tile floors and the Armstrong tiles which you have and it works great on both. It smells wonderful and removes even the gross food my two little boys inevitably spill everywhere.
It requires no dillution and no rinsing- perfect for my hectic life…Good Luck!
PS they carry it at Target.
January 27th, 2009 at 2:51 am
I have the same floors in a B/W checker pattern. The great thing about this stuff is that it’s indestructible; they use it at my local Safeway.
Dr. Bronner’s is indeed a soap for the body; but it’s billed as a kind of everything-in-one soap too; and as green and biodegradable, etc. It’d be worth a try as it probably would not hurt.
My question for my floors is sealant; how often should one re-seal, and with what? Not only for the sake of the tiles, but to seal the tiny seams between tiles. I’m not fond of the overly-glossy sealant they use at Safeway, but then again, why am I looking at Safeway for residential decorating tips?
January 28th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
It would be nice if we had an answer to your question about sealants, but unfortunately we don’t.
For now we’ve given up on trying to figure out proper floor care. We’ve decided to hire a professional to come in and do it right. That will free us up to work on the rest of the house.
There is so much to do, and only so much time to get it done. Besides, the other stuff is more fun.
September 19th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
We recently installed the same Armstrong VCT in the kitchen of our 1957 MCM home. We had some “Rejuvenate” floor cleaner left over that we’ve used on our hardwoods. It really made the Armstrong tile shiny and black. I do think I’ll try the Dr. Bronner’s though since it is so highly suggest by everyone here. By the way, love the house! I’ll keep an eye on the site.
October 7th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
we installed black vct in our 1950’s house and had it professionally waxed and buffed by a commercial company that does supermarkets and other high traffic vct areas. It was $150 and we redo it every 2 years. Seals it great and makes it super shiny. The company recommended that we just clean the floors with a little bit of dish soap (like Palmolive) and warm water.
It works out amazing! We love it.