Vinyl, LVT and safety flooring are hard-wearing, but they collect layers. Mop residue, old floor polish and traffic soil build up until the surface looks grey and patchy no matter how often it is mopped.
The fix is usually mechanical: strip the old layers back, clean the surface properly, then reseal if the floor benefits from it.
The short version
- Dullness is usually residue build-up, not wear
- Stripping removes old polish and locked-in soil
- Sealing or polishing afterwards is optional and depends on use
- Safety flooring needs its own approach to keep slip resistance
- Over-mopping with detergent is the main cause of build-up
Why mopping stops working
Standard mopping spreads a thin film of dirty detergent solution across the floor and leaves most of it there to dry. Repeated weekly, that film builds into a dull grey layer that no amount of further mopping will lift, because you are cleaning the residue with more residue.
Strip, clean and reseal
A rotary machine with the right pad and stripping solution takes the old layers off. The floor is then rinsed and dried, and — depending on the setting — either left clean and matte or sealed with a floor polish that gives sheen and a sacrificial protective layer.
Commercially, that sacrificial layer is the point: traffic damages the polish rather than the vinyl.
Safety flooring is different
Slip-resistant flooring has aggregate in the surface. Sealing it with a standard polish fills the texture and reduces the slip resistance it was specified for — which matters in kitchens, care settings and washrooms. It needs deep cleaning that clears the aggregate rather than coating it.