Lino Floor Cleaning & Polishing

Lino floor cleaning Birmingham

Lino, or Linoleum to use its full name, is a man-made floor type usually made from linseed oil (linoxyn) and compressed pine rosin, cork dust, wood flour and mineral fillers. This mixture is then applied to some sort of canvas backing. If you have ever seen damaged or worn linoleum you may have noticed the canvas fibres poking through. Lino flooring is a popular alternative to natural stone or tiled floors due to it’s cheaper cost and outstanding durability, although some variations of lino do differ in their durability.

One of the advantages of linoleum as a flooring material is that its colour runs right the way through the material, so chips and scratches are far more easily disguised. For this reason, linoleum is popular in commercial and public buildings such as schools and office. Another advantage of linoleum is that it offers a flexible surface, so in older buildings where uneven flooring may have caused tiles or harder surfaces to crack, linoleum offers a great solution.

When should I clean a lino floor?

Whilst linoleum is popular due to its tough and damage resistant qualities, it does come with its fair share of challenges. Sometimes an experienced hand is required to restore it and ensure it remains looking great. If the surface of your lino has become dull, flat or faded, a steam cleaner should never be used to attempt to restore it. Steam cleaning has the potential to completely destroy lino, melting its surface and even writing off the entire floor. Never work with a cleaning company who does not know the most appropriate cleaning solution for your floor type. If in doubt, speak with one of our friendly team. We’ve worked on hundreds of floors over the years and only ever use the safest and most appropriate cleaning solutions.

Removing rubber marks from lino flooring

Why would anyone resort to steam cleaning lino flooring? Well one issue with linoleum is that it can pick up scuffs from rubber soled shoes surprisingly easily. Many owners think that they can simply pick up a scourer and scrub away to remove these marks. Sometimes this works, but more often than not it requires such a high degree of scrubbing the surface of the linoleum will be damaged in the process. As we’ve noted, steam cleaning is not the answer either. A careful and methodical approach is required to remove marks from lino floor, using specially formulated solutions and tried-and-tested techniques. This is exactly what the team at Tile & Stone Medic specialise in, having both patience and the experience required to achieve great restoration results.

Professional lino floor edge cleaning

Another common problem with lino is the appearance of gaps either at the edge of the floor or in between the individual pieces of lino. This can happen for a number of reasons. Extreme changes in temperature can cause shrinkage, which pulls at the seams of the floor and creates these spaces. In other situations the problem lies with the company who initially laid the flooring, perhaps not being thorough enough in avoiding air gaps during the process. However they were caused, these gaps always attract muck and dirt which make the floor tough to keep clean without professional-grade gear.

Resealing lino flooring

Many man-made floor types like Lino have a shine to their appearance when they are initially installed. This shine looks great, it makes spaces brighter and help a room feel cleaner and less cluttered. This shine can be quickly lost, however, if the floor is not properly maintained. A dull or lifeless looking floor is perhaps the most common issue with lino. Fortunately this is a straightforward fix for an experienced cleaning company like Tile & Stone Medic. Our step by step linoleum cleaning process takes aim at restoring the shine and eliminating dirt and bacteria:

How to care for linoleum flooring

We adjust our cleaning process for your specific floor, but this is often the plan we start with:

• Clean up surface dirt using vacuuming or dry mopping
• Mopping of the floor using specially formulated solutions for linoleum
• Solutions are worked into the floor to loosen engrained dirt
• The dirt can then be washed away
• If the floor is exceptionally dirty this process can be repeated
• The floor is then allowed to dry
• Finally, the floor is polished to restore its shine
• If you need a little professional help restoring your linoleum floor then reach out to the team at
• Tile & Stone Medic today. Our punctual and polite engineers arrive on time and work quickly and quietly to deliver better restoration results without disturbing you or your environment.