Surfacing material requires a specialist

Q. Some 15 years ago we were talked into using a fairly new product called Torginol in two bathrooms: floors, wainscoting, tub/shower enclosure, and counters. The Torginol now is stained and lusterless. Also, it is peeling in the showers. In as much as there no longer is a Toginal specialist around here, no one cn advise us on what to do apart from tearing it all out and starting over again. What would you do? Barbara Rosentreter Ashland, Ore.

A. Torginol is a seamless material which can be applied to walls and floors by specially trained factory franchise agents.

For advice from the horse's mouth write to the Torginol Division, Peterson Chemical Corporation, PO Box 726, Sheboygan, Wis. 53081. Tell the company you sotry and ask for its advice. Perhaps there is an expert at no great distance from you who can help.

After 15 years almost any resilient material will show its age, especially when it is subjected to the hard, wet wear of a bathroom environment.

All materials and processes have their assets and liabilities. Manufacturers will recommend how to use or apply their product and usually where or how not to use it.

While I am not talking about Torginol in these comments, your experience raises some basic questions:

* Some homeowners can be "talked into" the use of products by someone who needs to pay his grocery bill.

* Some new products on the market shelves have exaggerated claims but little record to back them up.

Readers may be interested in reading the next chapter in your story after you've heard from the company in Wisconsin.