It goes without saying that proper care and maintenance is critical to ensuring a long and beautiful life with your flooring. Do your research, read the manufacturer’s recommendations, and understand that different flooring types will have different needs. Using the wrong cleaners can lead to real problems, which brings us to our first ever installment of… *drumroll*     We recently received this email from a customer:  

Dear Floors To Your Home,

My sister uses bleach in her water to clean the floors. I have told her many times not to use bleach on the wood-look floors. Well, she used the same mop on all floors, so now my vinyl flooring has started shedding! It looks like black plastic stuff. I need something to put on the resilient plank floors to stop the shedding and protect it from further damage. Can you recommend something I can use??

Thankfully Yours,

A Woman In Floor Trouble

Dear A Woman In Floor Trouble,

Bleach is a nasty customer for flooring. With its antibacterial properties it’s easy to see why your sister would see it as an ideal floor cleaner. However, as you’ve learned the hard way, the chemical’s harsh properties can cause serious damage.

Unfortunately, it sounds as if the bleach has eroded the vinyl’s wear layer to the point where it’s begun to flake off. There’s good news and there’s bad news; let’s pull the bandage off and start with the bad news: this kind of damage is irreparable, and there are no coatings or sealers that will solve your problem.

So, what’s the good news? You’ve got plank flooring, which means you can replace individual damaged planks instead of having to tear up your entire floor. This can be a DIY job or a professional endeavor. Either way, we suggest letting your sister foot the bill. 

Keep your chin up, A Woman In Floor Trouble. Better flooring days are just over the horizon.   

Do you have questions about how to care for floors? This post from our blog covers care for vinyl floors, this post covers laminate maintenance, and this post covers how to care for your hardwood floors. And, of course, our trained flooring experts are standing by to help! Call 1-800-804-5251 or click on FloorsToYourHome.com today.