Do a search on Debbie Travis. I have one of her books which tells the steps to painting on vinyl flooring. But, she claims it is a temporary fix.

Gayle

I like to be adventurous with paint, but think I'd be very leery of a project like this. I did find some instructions when I googled 'paint vinyl floor', but still wouldn't trust it. Might end up being a worse nightmare than just the grout that bothers you now.

Structurally, the floor honestly does not look that bad. How about a good spruce up till you can afford to replace it? We have a rental house that has an older vinyl floor, still in great shape. Between tenants I use an electric scrubber, it has two 5" or so brush heads that rotate. (I've seen these at local 'rent-it' stores.) Really gets the built in grime cleaned up well. What I do is damp mop first, just to get the dirt loosened a bit. Then I spread a thin layer (no puddles) of cleaning solution with water on the floor and let sit for about 10 minutes. Then run the scrubber over it. Then I use a shop vac to vacuum up the cruddy water, so I'm not rubbing dirt over the floor. Do this a couple times and floor will be sparking clean. Then I seal it with wax (or if your floor is 'no wax' you can get a finish coat for that type as well). Once the finish/wax coat is on, it's much easier to maintain.

Thanks for your help and suggestions. I think I will change to title and "how to CLEAN and old vinyl floor!" I think that is the best idea for now. What about TSP, and scrubbing with that? What cleaning solution do you recommend. Our guess is that this floor is at least 20 years old, and probably closer to 30. I don't think 'no wax' was invented yet!

Hi manor,
TSP might be a bit harsh for the floor (mixed in too strong a dose it will remove paint & finishes from woodwork, etc.) I like Soilax but the stuff is next to impossible to find. It cleans so well, I bought a case of it when it was getting harder to find on shelves, because I use it for cleaning between tenants. Next closest product would be Dirtex (made by the TSP folks) but I don't know how well it works on vinyl. (Although it takes grime off walls like you wouldn't believe!) I see they make a liquid form if that would be easier.

If you have a flooring store near you, check them out. You can get strippers, etc. for vinyl floors, use that to scrub, get any old wax off, dirt, etc. and they also sell the top coat/wax/sealer. For heavy duty cleaning, two manufacturers vinyl floor care products I've used and like are Mannington and Tarkett.

Here is a link that might be useful: Liquid Dirtex

or spic n span diluted which is a mild form of tsp - I bet that solution and a magic eraser would do that floor wonders - try it in a small area first -

You could end with a wax - again try that in a small area first to see if you like the results

I agree paint to me seems risky - it will be obvious even if it does provide coverage.

Posted by manor:Our guess is that this floor is at least 20 years old, and probably closer to 30. I don't think 'no wax' was invented yet!
++++

No, it has been around a lot longer than that. No-wax flooring was invented by Congoleum in 1962.

Your floor is not linoleum. If it was linoleum I would recommend trying to paint it since the paint job would hold up for a while before you got around to replacing it.

You have vinyl flooring, and it looks like the no-wax variety. Paint is not going to adhere well, and the amount of labor you would have to put into preping it before painting would not make it worth it in the long run. Plus you would need many, many coats of paint, especially in the high traffic area. Not worth it.

Since this flooring is in an entrance way, I suspect it may have become damaged and dull over the years, and the PO may have put down a wax or something to try to restore it.

A good scrubbing with a machine and a commercial cleaner will make it look better. Then put down a no-wax floor retore product. This may prove to be satifactory until you can do what you want with the floor.

If you were willing to go through the expense and work to paint it, would it be out of the question to put down those self stick tiles over it and live with it that way until you get around to tearing everything out and refinishing the wood floor?

I wanted a brick color in my old house in a Southwest theme(1970's mobile dying a quick death). The old vinyl was pretty wrecked, burned stains on only the surface, etc. So I bought a couple of gallons of floor and deck enamel. It worked for several years before chipping. Maybe if you primed it first with a primer made for plastics.

The best thing to clean that floor would be an italian vapor cleaner. My new house has a grosser vinyl floor than you can imagine. It is very early no-wax, but someone waxed it. And it's very deeply textured. And then it wasn't washed for like 28 years. I am not joking.

This is what I used to clean it (and it still wasn't easy going, removing that wax)

That's Rocky 3000, also known as VC 3000 or VX 3000. Highly recommended. Don't bother with a Shark steamer or the like.

By the way, your staircase looks AWESOME. Reminds me of my family home. Very nice job!