Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Kitchen flooring material: ?anyone used ceramic tile?

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

> On Mar 12, 2018, at 1:01 PM, Diana Carroll <dianaecarroll [at] gmail.com> 
> wrote:
> 
> Sharon, can you say more about this:
> 
> "We didn’t know that Marmoleum should only be damp mopped “ I didn't know 
> this and I have marmoleum and we also have it in the common house. Is there 
> some other kind of mopping other than "damp”?

“Damp” means barely wet. Wring out the mop as completely as you can. Most 
people wet mop and believe that slopping on the water is the best way to mop. 
This is true for the basement concrete floor. But for wood products like 
Marmoleum, it means the water soaks into seams, nicks in the surface, etc., and 
disintegrates the surface. 

An analogy would be a naturally finished wooden table top. You wipe wooden 
tabletops with barely damp sponges or cloths. You don’t pour a bucket of water 
on them and slosh it around for 10-20 minutes.

Marmoleum is also applied with a water-based glue beneath it that will be 
disintegrated by moisture. We had problems with the moisture from the basement 
disintegrating the water-based glue on our cork flooring, too. Marmoleum is a 
sustainable product. It breaths and changes with the environment. 

The instructions from Forbo say to let the damp sit a minute to soak the 
dirt/debris, but personally, this makes me nervous. It’s too easy to use more 
water than necessary so letting it sit means even more penetration.

Forbo also recommends their cleaning product. Our vintage floor guy said it has 
driers that dry the floor faster than just water.

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org