A reader wrote to ask how to bring the luster back to her vintage laminate countertops. Paste wax, maybe? To get the answer, I turned to expert Grace Jeffers. She is the writer, design historian and materials expert responsible for restoration of the Ralph Sr. and Sunny Wilson House – including its gorgeous Mondrian-style kitchen, above. Grace wrote back pronto:

Douse them with COUNTERTOP MAGIC.  DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT USE WAX. Plastics do not like wax, they like oil. In the Wilson house I used almonst an entire can of countertop magic for each 4 x 8 panel. Let it soak overnight and then polish with a clean cloth in the a.m.

Grace Jeffers

Thanks, Grace! And reader – oopsy, I lost your email, thanks for your question!

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This is a hot topic: Readers are hearing from floor sales people that they need to polish and buff their newly installed vinyl composite floor tiles like the professionals do in office buildings.

Dotty from Columbus writes:

Dear Pam, as I have come to terms with the sad new about the Fritztile I wanted…and as I have come to the end of the flooring road… I thought I would settle with sheet vinyl.  I was checking out the day on RetroRenovation, I clicked on your kitchen.  I have looked at it hundreds of times and yet failed to look at your flooring.  Okay, around to my question.  I have always wanted Armstrong/Congoleum tile but have been talked out of it by flooring salesmen. It all seems to swarm around the buffing and polishing.  They have recommended buffing 3 times per year by a professional to keep the dirt out of the surface to prevent staining, including stripping?  How do you maintain your flooring and does any of this sound familiar?  Oh, any exactly which product did you decide on? Commercial/Residential?  Thanks from Columbus.  Dotty

And reader Dee writes:

was wondering – can a vct floor be put in kitchen – high traffic – does it have to be buffed and waxed like they are telling me or can I just mop?  what  are the consequences to that?

My experience:

• My floor is Azrock Cortina Autumn Haze -12″ tiles – installed at 90-degrees to each other (important detail!). It is commercial tile, I believe – as are most other brands like this including Armstrong’s Imperial Excelon, the Congoleum tile, etc. In fact, it’s often hard to find online because you must remember to go to the Commercial section.
• See my Fast & Easy Flooring Page for all current flooring recommendations.
• Reader Meredith - whose kitchen is in the lead photo — installed the same floor. She says that she brought in a pro, at least initially: “I’ve already installed the Azrock Cortina Autumn Haze into my kitchen and laundry room.  I absolutely love it!  I had someone come out and put about 5 coats of polish on them so they are really shiny.”
• I have had these kinds of floor twice now. Both times, I simply used an Armstrong floor polish from Home Depot. I cleaned the floor really well – then put on a few thin coats drying well between. In my last house, I had the floor 6 years, it never aged a bit. This floor is looking kind of scratchy – but I didn’t put the polish on for a year, and I really don’t have many coats on. It’s so neutral – gosh, I don’t notice the imperfections a bit.
• I do strip it occasionally — like once a year — which is a real pain — and repeat the process to get the virgin-ish shine again.
• I do not buff my floor. But, I’m kind of interested in doing that sometime, and I am on the lookout for a vintage, estate-sale buffer including the pads. Back in the 50s, they really pushed these on housewives, there seem to be a lot out there.
• As far as “high traffic” goes — these are Commercial floor tiles. Our kitchens do not come anywhere near the traffic levels these tiles are designed for.
• Perhaps the sales people are trying to talk you out of these – because they want you to buy a floor that will wear out and which costs more?

All that said – this is just my opinion. I know that other readers have put in these floors — some have indeed had pro’s come in to polish them up.

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Kitty Mommy Susan, and others, have asked how to clean terrazzo shower bases and walls. Here is a start: Some pages from a great book, Twentieth-Century Building Materials, done by the National Park Service, edited by Thomas C. Jester. It’s out of print and wicked expensive, so I just got a copy from my library a few weeks ago. I try not to show pages from books – but will make an exception for this conservation reason.

If I get a chance soon — or perhaps a reader can pursue this? — I think another route to get a good answer is to go to Crane. The two big makers of terrazzo bases seem to have been Crane and Fiat. And now, Crane owns Fiat. They still sell these today — and they are a BIG RECOMMENDATION of mine! — so they must have cleaning instructions. If anyone gets to them before I do… can you post the answer here? Many thanks, and good cleaning!

Double click for big, readable image:

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After Zep

Before ZEP

How to clean old grout in retro bathroom floor tiles? Sleeping Bee Alice plays the role of Queen of Clean. Thanks, Alice, very impressive. I do want to caution – as I have been doing cleaning research, too — to be very careful about what you use on the glazed tile itself. That glazed finish can come off, even with a scotch brite pad, so treat it very carefully. More on tile cleaning to come.

Read on for Alice’s solution (pun!) —>

Hello Pam,

I’ve made a discovery that perhaps some of your readers could benefit from.  You’ll recall the blue tiles in my bathroom (the ones PSS wanted to duplicate).  I had scrubbed the grout with every cleaner imaginable and then was easily convinced when someone told me that the grout in this bathroom wasn’t actually white, it was “bisque”.  However, just recently a friend asked if she could try a little product on them to see if she could brighten them and voila!, we actually do have white grout!  I have attached the photos so you can see the before and after difference.  One hour and half a bottle of Zep (that’s the name of the product, available at Home Depot) later, and I have a blue and white bathroom – not blue and bisque!

Hope this is useful to your readers.  What a great site RR is…thanks for keeping up the good work.

-Alice

p.s. Lest you think that I am a neat freak or something, since all of my questions to you have been about cleaning, that’s just the phase we are in of our move in process to our mid-century home. Really, it cracks my husband up to think there is a group of people out there that might have the impression that I’m all about cleaning

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