Slippery vinyl floor

[Guv Bob]

I don't know how it got this way but an area of the vinyl kitchen floor is slicker'n snail snot. I have cleaned with various floor cleaners,

409 and other household cleaners, and it is still slick. My first thought was somebody sprayed it with furniture polish, but that's not it. My guess is it must be from some piece of food that fell and got stomped on before someone saw it.

Anyway, this must be a common problem. Anyway, outside of scuffing it with sandpaper, can anyone recommend a cleaner made for this?

I remember in school, when the maintenance people would mop and wax the stage in the auditorium, some folks would shake up a bottle of diet soda, spray t on the floor and then mop it up. Evidently something in the drink cut the wax. They used diet to avoid the sugar being sticky.

[Moe DeLoughan]

Usually washing with a fairly strong ammonia/water solution will take care of this. Straight ammonia will strip the wax/applied floor finish right off the flooring.

[nestork]

I would drip some water onto the floor in the slick area and use a flashlight laid flat on the floor to see if the water beads up when you try to spread it with your fingers. If so, then whatever it is on the floor isn't soluble in water.

If the water can be spread out over the slick area, then whatever is on the floor is soluble in water.

Depending on the results you get, I'd use mineral spirits, or just plain soapy water to clean the floor.

If neither of those work, then try full strength bleach on an inconspicuous area of your sheet vinyl floor with a Q-tip first to confirm it doesn't hurt the floor. I use bleach on my sheet vinyl bathroom floors all the time, and it doesn't hurt the flooring. If you confirm it doesn't hurt the flooring, try full strength bleach in the slick area. Bleach breaks up large organic molecules into small pieces which are more readily soluble in water.

[Guv Bob]

Thanks M&N. Will try these tonight.

This morning I noticed that it was really slippery when wearing house shoes with rubber soles. Looking at the soles they had what looked like white powder. I wiped them off with a wet paper towel, dried and then the floor was not slippery. Then walked over the whole house and no powder came off on the shoes again. Then later on, walked back in the kitchen and it was slippery only in that area again, and power was back on the shoes.

This sounds really simple to figure out, but I have not been able to find out where the powder is coming from. First thought as talcum powder, but that's not it. I'm wondering if there is some kind of dust or power falling from the ceilings.... hope not, that would not be good.

Anyway onward and upward, as they say.