There’s nothing better than entering a room with shiny, glistening floors. But the sad reality is that most of our floors are a complete mess, filled with dirt and grime.
In order to ensure your floors remain spotless and shiny, it’s necessary to use the proper cleaners; but real question is knowing which one to use.
Make no mistake, taking a trip to your local store for cleaning supplies an often end up confusing you even further. There are currently entirely too many floor cleaning products on the shelves, but this guide will help you make the right choice.
Best Ways To Clean Linoleum Floors
This awesome old-school style flooring is antibacterial, non-allergenic and made of organic materials. The great thing about this type of flooring is that it makes cleaning it very easy. All that really needs to be done is to mop with a damp mop every couple of days; just be sure not to use too much water or wet the mop.
If the floor’s more on the dirty side and needs a good scrubbing, be sure to use a cleaning solution with a neutral pH. An example would be putting some ordinary dish washing detergent into the mop bucket and lightly cleaning the floor with a damp mop.
WHAT NOT TO USE: Be sure not to use a lot of water, hot water, and cleaning products with a lot of alkaline or abrasive products.
Best Ways To Clean Vinyl Floors
Vinyl floors are great because of their composition and looks. They’re quite soft to walk on and have a wide array of patterns, colours and textures; from wood to marble and everything in-between.
Another cool aspect of this flooring is that due to it’s coating of clear vinyl or urethane layers, all it really takes to keep it clean is a good vacuuming to keep out the dirt, grime and dust from the crevices of the tile.
To effectively clean this type of flooring, it can be done in a few ways. The first is to use a damp (not wet) mop, second is to use a cleaner with ammonia and lastly would be to use a surfactant for the dirtier floors you encounter.
WHAT NOT TO USE: Be sure not to use any cleaners with soap, paste wax or abrasive products
Best Ways To Clean Hardwood Floors
Hardwood flooring is another relatively easy one to clean. Just try as best you can to keep it clean of sand and grit (to avoid scratches) and also try to quickly wipe up any liquid that may spill. Aside from that, you’d want to try to vacuum or sweep the hardwood flooring at least once a week. Should the flooring happen to be on the dirtier side, be sure to use a cleaning product with a neutral pH and a damp mop to get it back looking spic-and-span.
WHAT NOT AVOID: Whatever you do, don’t leave any amount of water on the floor. Always wipe it up as quickly as possible.
Best Ways To Clean Laminate Floors
Laminates are similar to hardwood floors but are comprised of a blend of multiple fibreboard layers. They’re also a lot cheaper to purchase and easy to care for.
The way you care for this particular type of flooring is through vacuuming, damp mopping, sweeping/dusting and for tougher dirt build-up, use a diluted vinegar solution. Any stains you encounter can be dealt with using a nail polish remover.
WHAT NOT AVOID: try to stay away from soap based detergents and abrasive cleaners that can leave scratches behind.
Best Ways To Clean Stone Floors
Due to how easily these types of floors stain, it’s necessary you engage in a daily regimen of sweeping, wiping standing liquids and mopping with a damp mop. Now I know doing this on a daily basis can seem annoying but not doing it will leave your floors looking rather dull and lacklustre.
WHAT NOT AVOID: Avoid using chemically treated mops and alkaline products
Best Ways To Clean Tile Floors
One of the issues with tile flooring is how easily it can lose it’s shine. So how do we deal with it? Simple. Vacuum, mop (damp or wet) and sweep regularly and be sure to use a neutral pH cleaning product. Having a daily maintenance cleaning is always best.
WHAT NOT AVOID: should any liquid spill onto the floor, don’t leave it there! Wipe it up as soon as possible.
Best Ways To Clean Terrazzo Floors
Aside from the typical sweeping and damp mopping, this natural stone flooring requires professional cleaning products as it stains and loses it’s shine rather easily.
Best Ways To Clean Concrete Floors
With concrete floors, you can sweep, mop and ideally wash the with a decent amount of water and soap; give it a good scrub.