How to clean up kerosene spill from vinyl floor?
Question:My cat knocked over a bottle of lamp oil (kerosene) and it's all over my vinyl kitchen floor. Water is not working to clean it up, and I'm afraid to use anything else for fear of a nasty chemical reaction. Any suggestions from people who understand chemistry and cleaning? Thanks!
Answers:
Any soap-based cleaner will work fine. Start with a bit of dishwashing liquid soap like Dawn in a bucket of hot water and mop, mop, and wipe.
Kerosene is a what's called a non-polar molecule, water is a polar molecule, they don't mix well together. But adding soap changes that Soap is a long molecule that's polar on one end and nonpoler on the other so it mixes well with both and as such, causes both to mix together.
Vinyl is also non-polar so the kerosene is somewhat soluable within it. Or at least the kerosene forms a strong surface bond with the vinyl surface. It will somewhat soften the Vinyl surface but won't disolve or damage it, at least if removed, so keep heels off the vinyl for a week or two.
You apply some soapy water, remove it, then reapply-remove several times over in order to draw out the most kerosene. Use small amounts so you don't spend all afternoon mopping it up. .
Think of it as removing half of the remaining kerosene with every mopping, as a rule of thumb for number of times to mop. Hotter water is better.
Wring the mop into the sink so you're not recycling the old kerosene in the bucket.
And if a faint kerosene odor still persists then try, after drying, throwing down some sawdust on the floor and sweeping it up.
Run a fan over the floor and out a window and any residue will soon evaporate.
And lastly leaving a bottle of lamp oil where a known-existing cat can knock it over is reckless.
soap and water
Hopefully you haven't suffered permanent damage. Vinyl is a oil based product as is kerosene. Kerosene can dissolve, kill the finish or mar the surface of a vinyl floor. Use rubber gloves. Get some rags and wipe up as much as possible. Then, a good detergent mixed with water should be used. I advise scrubbing the floor with a brush. Mop and rinse and mop. Repeat until the kerosene smell is completely gone and there is no trace left. Dispose of the rags safely (they will be a fire hazard).
Good luck
PS: Most vinyl floors are "resistant" to kerosene. So, you should be ok with the spill. Did not mean to cause you alarm.
washing up liquid and warm water
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