The advent of vinyl tile floors
created a new problem in floor maintenance.
All resilient
floors containing Polyvinyl Chloride contain
a flexing agent known as a plasticizer. Without
this plasticizer, resilient tile would be
as
brittle and unflexible as a potato chip. Unfortunately
for the first six months to a year that a
new
vinyl floor is laid, the plasticizer has a
tendency to migrate surface. This phenomena
of plasticizer
migration occurs to some degree in all new
floors until the floor has “cured” and
the plasticizer goes to its final resting place.
This migration can penetrate into a floor polish
film, making it soft and tacky. The result is
excessive scuffing and even “gluing” down
of furniture. A tile which has laid in a warehouse
for a considerable length of time
is less apt to experience this problem than
a tile fresh from the factory.
There is really very little that can be done
to remedy this. Prior to finishing the floor
a good scrubbing with a butyl cleaner does remove
all the plasticizer which has migrated to the
surface, but it will continue to re-migrate
for several weeks to months until cured.
As long as the customer knows what to expect
from a newly laid floor he can react accordingly.
