If your vinyl floor looks dull a week after every clean, mopping isn’t the problem. The sealer is.
What strip and seal means
Commercial vinyl isn’t cleaned to shine, it’s sealed, with several coats of a polymer finish that protects the vinyl underneath and provides the gloss. That sealer wears, yellows and traps dirt over time.
Strip and seal removes the old sealer entirely, cleans back to bare vinyl, and applies fresh coats.
How to tell your floor needs it
- Looks dull or cloudy within days of a clean
- Yellowed, particularly at the edges and under furniture
- Visible traffic lanes that don’t respond to mopping
- Black scuff marks that won’t lift
- Patchy gloss, shiny in some areas, flat in others
- Dirt appears trapped in the surface rather than on it
The distinguishing test: if a wet mop makes it look good and it goes dull again once dry, that’s a sealer problem, not a cleaning problem.
How often
| Traffic level | Frequency |
|---|---|
| Light (small office) | Every 24 months |
| Moderate (general commercial) | Every 12–18 months |
| Heavy (retail, medical, education) | Every 12 months |
| Very heavy (entries, corridors) | Every 6–12 months |
Between strips, regular buffing or burnishing maintains the finish and extends the interval considerably, often by a year. A floor that’s buffed monthly needs stripping half as often as one that isn’t.
The process
- Furniture moved and the area isolated
- Stripper applied, left to dwell. This is chemical work, not scrubbing
- Machine scrubbed to lift the old sealer
- Slurry removed by wet vacuum
- Edges and corners hand-detailed, where old sealer builds up thickest
- Neutralised and rinsed, critical, because residual stripper stops new sealer bonding
- Floor dried completely
- Sealer applied, typically 3–5 thin coats
- Cure time between coats and before traffic
What it costs
| Basis | Range |
|---|---|
| Per m² | $12 – $22 |
| Small area minimum | $400 – $600 |
Cost drivers: how many coats of old sealer are on there, edge and corner detail, furniture moving, and how many new coats you want.
Timing it around your business
The floor needs to stay off-limits while it cures. Typical schedule:
- Friday evening: furniture out, strip, scrub, neutralise
- Saturday: dry, then first coats
- Sunday: remaining coats and cure
- Monday: furniture back, open as normal
Most commercial clients lose no trading time at all. Confirm the cure window with your contractor before booking, it varies by product and humidity.
Strip and seal vs. scrub and recoat
A cheaper middle option worth knowing about.
Scrub and recoat removes only the top layer of sealer and applies fresh coats over the remainder. Roughly half the cost, half the disruption. Works when the sealer is worn but not yellowed or contaminated.
Rule of thumb: scrub and recoat every 6–12 months, full strip and seal every second or third time. That schedule keeps the floor looking consistently good for less total cost than stripping every year.
When not to do it
- Floors that aren’t sealed. Some modern vinyls have a factory finish that must not be sealed. Check before anyone applies anything.
- Floors past their life. If the vinyl itself is worn through to the backing, sealing won’t fix it.
- Safety flooring. Slip-resistant vinyl in wet areas is generally not sealed, sealing it removes the slip resistance, which is the whole point of it.
Get the floor type confirmed before booking. Sealing a floor that shouldn’t be sealed is an expensive mistake to reverse.