How to Care for a Floor

Clean slate floor

Replacing a floor can be expensive and unnecessary. If a floor is well-cared for, it can hold up, depending on the material, for more than a lifetime. Less expensive floors can also stay in shape longer if they are taken care of. The trick with any floor is to keep it clean. Dirt and grit are the agents of destruction; they act like sandpaper to degrade surface finishes or to saw through carpet fibers. So the first steps are to place floor mats at every exterior door of the home and to ask people entering to remove their shoes. Provide an attractive place to sit and remove shoes when possible, as well as shoe storage.

Things You'll Need

• Vacuum cleaner (without a beater bar)
• Standard vacuum cleaner
• Bucket, mop and water
• Nonabrasive cleanser
• Towels
• Rags
• Soft bristle brushes
• Old toothbrushes (softer type)
• Sponge
• Gloves
• Grout cleanser (optional)
• Acetone (optional)
• Wax/sealer remover (optional)
• Steamer
• White vinegar
• Spray bottle
• Dust mop
• Distilled water

Instructions

Caring for Floors

1. Vacuum all hard-surfaced floors thoroughly with a straight-suction vacuum cleaner. The beater bar on vacuum cleaners should not be used as it will brush grit across the surface of the floor, leaving tiny scratches that can degrade the finish.

2. Vacuum all carpets using the type of vacuum cleaner recommended for your rug. Some rug manufacturers suggest specific types of cleaning to keep their products in good shape. (Some Berber-type rugs develop a fuzzy look if a beater-bar-type vacuum is used.) If you don't know what kind of carpet is installed, try to obtain a small sample from a closet corner, and visit a floor supplier in your area to have it identified. If your rug is an antique surface rug, contact a local rug dealer to inquire how to clean the regular surface dirt from the rug in between sending it out for cleaning and repair.

3. Mop all non-wood hard floors using a nonabrasive or surface-specific (such as with stone) cleanser. Rinse with clean water and dry the floor immediately. Hardwood floors can be lightly damp-mopped if they are dried immediately so that no liquid remains on the surface.

4. Use soft nylon bristle brushes and old tooth brushes to clean corners and along the edges of walls for hard-surfaced floors. Use a sponge to pick up the debris. Try to remove as much dirt as possible so that it doesn't accumulate. This will also allow for a close inspection of the floor surface periodically to check for any problems. Some floor edges periodically need new caulk. Sealers and waxes tend to build up along edges, making floors look continually dirty.

5. Scrub grout lines with grout cleanser and a soft bristle brush. Remove any loose grout as this can become an abrasive and scratch the floor surface.

6. Use acetone or another wax remover specific to the type of hard flooring if you intend to reseal the flooring.

7. Steam to remove deep stains on hard surface floors (not for wood floors). Neutralize micro-organisms using 50/50 white vinegar and water in a spray bottle. This mixture can be used on laminate floors and most carpets to neutralize and remove pet odors.

8. Dust and mop stone and hardwood floors daily or more often, depending on the traffic (for example, if you have children constantly tracking in dirt).

9. Use distilled water when you do a final rinse on laminate, vinyl, linoleum, tile and stone floors. Distilled water will not create mineral deposits. Dry all hard surface floors immediately for the best results (for no water spots).

Tips & Warnings

• Ask other people in the household to remove their shoes when entering the house.

• Invite children to be "towel feet" and drag towels around with their feet to dry the floor when it is being mopped.

• Some chemical products should only be handled while wearing gloves.

References

• John Lewis---Care of Flooring Care Guide