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Sweeping Day: Oilcloth

OILCLOTH AND LINOLEUM To Clean Oilcloth. - Oilcloth should not be scrubbed with a stiff brush or mop, or saturated with water, nor should sal soda or other strong washing compounds be used upon it. The surface is nothing but paint, and if it becomes soaked, especially with water containing strong soapsuds or washing compounds, it crumbles and quickly decays.

To use a large sponge with lukewarm water containing skim milk is the best way to wash oilcloth. A very little hard white or yellow soap may be used if necessary. A sponge is excellent, since it leaves no lint, and does not admit of scrubbing the floor hard enough to crack or peel off the surface.

After removing the dirt with skim milk and water, go over it a second time, rinsing with a sponge wrung out of clear warm water, and dry enough to take up nearly all of the moisture and admit of the floor drying quickly.

Or rub it over with a dry woolen cloth.

Finally go over the surface with a rag dipped in boiled linseed oil or crude petroleum oil. This is very cheap, costing only 8 or 10 cents a quart, and a cloth dipped in it will take up enough oil to go over the floor several times. After the cloth has been once saturated it will require but a small quantity of oil each time afterwards.

Or use buttermilk to wash the oilcloth. Afterwards rinse with a sponge dipped in clear water.

Table Oilcloths. - The thin oilcloths used on kitchen tables, shelves, etc., may be cleaned in the same manner as the floor oilcloth. Do not use either soap or hot water, but moisten the rag slightly in kerosene. Rub the oilcloth until it is perfectly clean, wring the cloth out of hot water, and dip again in kerosene when necessary.

Afterwards rub dry with a flannel cloth.

Or wash with skimmed sweet milk or buttermilk, and rinse with a sponge and clear water.

Polish with a little linseed oil or a cloth slightly dampened with new milk.

To Wax Oilcloths and Linoleums. -First wash the floor as above and apply a thin coating of wax with a flannel cloth.

Or use a floor oil mixed with wax.

This gives a hard, smooth surface, which is easily wiped up and kept clean.

To Remove Spots on Oilcloth. - Anything hot placed on oilcloth turns it white. To remove these spots rub with alcohol and polish with a dry cloth.

To Brighten Oilcloth. -Put a little salt in the water in which oilcloth is washed. This will brighten and freshen the colors with which it is painted.