Because floors can make or break the aesthetic of a room, it’s essential to maintain them. The greatest threat to the life and beauty of any flooring is dirt. Each kind of flooring has its own specific care needs. Below are several common floor types and how to maintain them.
How to Take Care of the Carpet
The first way to care for a carpet is to prevent it from getting dirty by not eating or drinking in carpeted rooms, removing dirty footwear before stepping into the room, and training any house pets to stay off the carpet. However, dirt happens. In homes with pets and children, it’s a good idea to vacuum daily.
About once a year, or more often if you have pets and children- and less if you live alone- shampoo your carpets or apply polyurea coating for your garage flooring. You can rent a machine or hire a professional. You must remove all furniture and other items before shampooing and wait to return them until the carpet has dried completely, and you have vacuumed it again.
How to Take Care of Linoleum and Vinyl
Any grit will scratch the shiny surface of linoleum and vinyl, allowing moisture to soak into the flooring. Sweep or dry mop daily and wash weekly. Before you wash, dry clean it thoroughly. Then, use a mild cleaner like dish soap diluted in warm water to wash the floors. Wring out your rag or mop well, so that very little water is left behind. Dry the floor with a towel if you’re industrious or turn on some fans and let it dry before walking on it and replacing rugs and furniture.
To keep your linoleum floors shiny, you will need to wash and then polish them with linoleum floor polish every time they begin to look dull and worn. However, do not polish vinyl flooring, as this destroys the protective coating applied by the manufacturer.
How to Take Care of Hardwood
Real hardwood flooring requires special care. Instead of using a regular broom, use a microfiber cloth to dust it daily. Once a week, after dusting the hardwood, vacuum it with the hard floor attachment, being careful to not scratch the floor. Once a month, damp mop your floors. Use a flat mop and dampen it slightly, so that the floor dries within minutes of being wiped. For waxed hardwood floors, use a cleaning compound that both cleans and waxes. Floors sealed with polyurethane should be cleaned with vinegar water or just plain water.
Every couple of months, buff your hardwood floors to keep them looking shiny. You will also need to get them resurfaced every few years to protect the beautiful wood that’s underneath. At this time, you may notice some boards that are looking loose and need replacing. Flooring experts suggest that the expected price to replace floorboards is based on the type of hardwood used for your floor. Replacing the occasional board regularly saves having to replace it all later.
How to Take Care of Tile
Tile floors are the best dry mop with a flat microfibre mop. They should be washed at least weekly, if not more often in high traffic areas. Like other floors, use only mild cleaners and avoid bleach and ammonia. Allow floors to dry before walking on them.
When cleaning tile floors, take care to clean the grout as dirt tends to settle in these cracks. It’s a good idea to apply a sealant to the grout, so that dirt and moisture don’t soak into it, weakening the grout and flooring over time.
How to Take Care of Marble
Marble flooring is also a more sensitive flooring as it is porous and scratches easily. Soft or microfibre cloths are the best tools for dusting it. Marble floors should be dusted according to use. If it’s a high traffic area in a multi-person home, dust daily.
To clean marble floors, dust then mops them with plain water. For more thorough cleaning, use dish soap, and water. Diluted ammonia can be used on marble floors. However, it can bleach marble, so for dark marble floors, acetone is a better solution. For oil spills and tough stains, sprinkle cornstarch on the affected area and allow the cornstarch to absorb the liquid.
You need to clean your floors regularly to maintain their life and beauty. Use gentle cleaners and allow floors to dry before using them again. This will ensure that your floors will serve you for many years to come.
