Cleaning floors effectively is possible, there are thousands of products on the market from disinfectants and fragrances, to stain and grease removers. Something to keep in mind is that all floors are different, the diversity of materials shows us not only variety in colors, but in properties that at a chemical level can vary, so using the same product to clean marble and wood may not help much.
Keeping floors in good condition is not an impossible task. With a good arsenal of maintenance and cleaning tricks, you’ll find that keeping your floors sparkling clean is an easy goal to achieve, even if they’re made of cement or some other highly porous material.
Here are some cleaning tips for floors of different materials that will help you to maintain the cleanliness and take care of the good quality of the floor.
How to Clean Cobblestone Floors
The maintenance and cleaning of stone flooring, cement, brick and similar floors requires special techniques. Cobblestone, clay and brick floors:
- Clay, brick or cobblestone floors can be kept in perfect condition on a daily basis. The first thing is to avoid hard impacts or irregular traffic, i.e., unbalanced weights on the bricks.
- On a regular basis, might be every three days, we must vacuum to remove dust and dirt trapped between the pores of the bricks.
- Then, we will go over it with a damp cloth, to remove lint, loose hair and other dirt that may have been caught between the textures of the brick.
- A trick to maintain the shine of brick, mud and cobblestone floors is to use warm water with a special addition: fabric softener.
- Once a year, and no more regularly, you can remove the old wax and apply new wax.
- Avoid the use of kerosene, acid cleaners and wax removers, turpentine or aggressive cleaners, as this will only cause the floor to lose its shine, indelible stains to appear in the area that is not well sealed, and you will be risking health hazards.
How to clean non-slip floors
Non-slip floors are installed in places such as workspaces, outdoor areas, kitchens or bathrooms due to their high level of anti-fall safety. This characteristic depends on the material of these floors, generally made of rough or very porous materials.
What is a benefit for the safety of customers or workers is a problem for cleaning: this type of flooring accumulates a lot of dirt, especially in work areas or industrial spaces, and due to their own characteristics it is not very easy to clean them.
- Broom, mop and mop are the usual items for cleaning floors. However, in the case of non-slip floors, the use of a vacuum cleaner is always recommended, since it has a greater capacity to prevent the accumulation of dirt and it is easier to remove encrusted debris.
- This type of pavements usually suffers a lot if abrasive cleaning products are used, the use of soap with neutral pH is ideal to disinfect without damaging the material. Alcohol and bleach with hot water are also effective for cleaning non-slip floors.
How to clean natural stone
In order to clean natural stone floors, it is important that we know some details about its properties. This is what will help us to carry out its maintenance while reducing the level of risk in the process.
- Use a large container and add a gallon of warm water, add half a cup of muriatic acid. It is important that you protect yourself by wearing a mask and gloves.
- Add 100 grams of baking soda to the quarry stone cleaning solution.
- Use a cleaning cloth and pass the mixture over the surface, you can let it sit for a few minutes and then rinse with plenty of water and let it dry in the open air.
- If the stone floor is waxed, you can change the wax once a year. Use mild, water-based products, at most a solvent to remove the wax, as other products (oil and acid) will stain the stone.
Keeping floors clean, in good condition and appearance seems complicated, but it is not when you have some useful tips that experience has left over the years. We have gathered all the cleaning tips for each type of floor, so you can choose the one that suits you best according to the floor of your home.