looks like they are steam cleaning a section of vinyl on qvc with the Haan cleaner...

I do know the glue they used on our vinyl is a water based glue.

We put down those squares once and it did not smell. What smelled was the primer we had to put on the floor. But at that time it was a raw floor in the house we had just built.

Chris

I have a long unused steam cleaner which served well to clean bird cages when I had 16 parrots in big cages. Dried poop is hard to remove, and important for birdy health to keep things not just clean but sanitized.

If you have an issue with bacteria or infections, you might need a steam cleaner. But for my vinyl and for the porcelain tile too, I use a Clorox ReadiMop. Swiffer makes a similar product too. Change out the cleaning pads often and it will clean like a champ.

A plain surface on the vinyl will be easier to clean than a deeply textured surface.

I do plan on a low gloss - I don't like glossy on floors, counters... I was wondering last wk about one of those hand held steam cleaners for bathrooms etc - reviews i read on them weren't so good tho. maybe i'll try one of those down the road tho. I need things easy to clean!

it's good to hear those swifter things work good on the floors tho. I'm so looking forward to the day I can just run one of those around on the floor!
i was thinking maybe those steamers would be good every so often for a deep clean. they said (showed) you could use it on the mattress, carpet etc to steam kill those body bugs - can't think of the name of them... icky to think they are all around us. no way to prove it really works for that tho.
hopefully, I won't have any carpet but the area rugs.

I think the steamer would probably be ok on sheet vinyl - but if the steam gets around the edges of the tiles (which it'd have to) I'm not sure that would be a very good thing... will have to ask the mfg if I end up with vinyl tiles.

"If you have an issue with bacteria or infections, you might need a steam cleaner."

I usually don't - but I do have a compromised immune system - so maybe it's something I'll check out down the road for occasional cleanings - depending on what flooring I end up with. I want the minimum texture - I think that makes it harder to clean also. I'll have to check out that clorox redimop. That sounds like it'd be a good germ killer.

moccasinlanding - I'd love to have terra cotta looking tile - unfortunately it wouldn't go with the other stuff I've picked out. not to say I won't totally revise it before i get closer to the actual change. that's about a yr away.