Tips For Cleaning Floors:
Feel Good About Clean

Wood floor with cleaning caddy, and floor mop.

Tips for cleaning floors. I love walking into a room with clean and shiny floors. Who doesn't? But cleaning floors? Not so much. 

Our floors are a potluck of dirt, germs, and grime. Cleaning floors using the right cleaners for a floor's surface is critical.

But how do you know what you should use on them? There is a confusing array of floor cleaning products on grocery store shelves. To determine the best solution for cleaning floors in your home, this guide can help.

Tips For Cleaning Floors: Love that Linoleum

This retro-cool flooring is made from organic materials (i.e., linseed oil, plus many additives including cork, pine resin, and minerals) and is antibacterial and non-allergenic. 

As a result, this is easy-peasy stuff. Damp-mop every few days or so. (Gentle reminder here: Damp-mopping is not wet mopping.) Too much water exposure can make your linoleum floor brittle.

For really dirty jobs, when a more in-depth cleaning is required, use a neutral Ph cleaner, such as a few squirts of liquid dish soap in your mop bucket, and lightly go over the floor's surface.

CLEANING DON'TS: Hot water, strong alkaline cleaners, such as ammonia, bleach, or hydrogen peroxide, anything abrasive. 

Maintaining a Vinyl Floor

Tiles or sheets of vinyl are soft to walk on and are available in many colors and patterns - some designed to look like granite, marble, wood, and other natural materials.

All vinyl floors are coated with clear vinyl or urethane layers, making them relatively easy to keep clean and bright - as long as you keep daily dirt out of surface crevices, that is. Vacuum regularly to keep dust and grit from becoming ground in. 

Clean regularly by damp-mopping with water only. When a deeper clean is needed, a cleaner with a surfactant will provide the muscle you need to get your floor clean. Or clean with ammonia and water, which also works well for a cork floor with a urethane finish. 

CLEANING DON'TS: Anything soapy, such as mop-and-shine products, abrasive cleaners, paste wax.

Tips For Cleaning Floors: Hardwood

Warm, durable hardwood floors are easy to clean. Be sure to wipe up any liquid on the floor's surface promptly. 

The only other consideration is keeping grit and sand off the surface to keep scratches minimum.

Weekly, give the floor a thorough vacuuming. For a deeper clean, choose a wood floor cleaning product with a neutral pH. Wring the mop almost dry before mopping.

CLEANING DON'TS: Standing water is the biggest threat to your hardwood floor's longevity.

Keep Laminates Lovely

Laminates are hard materials consisting of two or more layers bonded together: a hard, thick base made of chipboard or similar material encased in a plastic laminate to get the look of hardwood without the cost and care.

Keep laminate floors clean by regularly vacuuming, dust-mopping, or wiping them with a damp (not wet) cloth. For tough dirt and grime, use a diluted vinegar solution. Buff away stubborn stains with undiluted acetone nail polish remover.

CLEANING DON'TS: soap-based detergents (they'll make the floor slippery after cleaning) and abrasive cleaners or tools like steel wool (they can scratch the surface sheen). 

Tips For Cleaning Floors of Natural Stone

Wipe or damp-mop natural stone floors daily to remove dust and tracked-in dirt. Even when sealed, these floors can be easily stained, especially by liquids. Make sure to wipe up spills as they happen throughout the day.

For easier cleanups, hang the floor's damp mop in a nearby closet. Daily wipe downs may seem cumbersome, but if you keep up with the cleaning, they'll continue to look lustrous for years.

CLEANING DON'TS: Dusting sprays or chemically treated mops or cloths; alkaline cleaners such as ammonia; strong soaps and detergents.

Treat Tiles Right

Regularly vacuum and damp-mop to remove dirt, dust, and sand to prevent ground-in grunge from scratching the shiny surface. For a deeper clean, use a neutral pH cleaner to keep the glossy finish intact.

CLEANING DON'TS: Standing moisture can cause damage; mop up any spills as soon as possible. 

Terrazzo 

This polished natural stone also benefits from regular sweeping and damp-mopping, using water and mild detergent.

Since this surface stains easily and the glossy finish tends to wear quickly, professional products tend to be the safest cleaning bet.

Cleaning Concrete Floors

This may be the ideal kitchen flooring. All that you need to do is sweep, vacuum, or damp-mop regularly.



You Might Like These:

  • The refrigerator temperature matters. Not having the proper refrigerator temperature could make you sick. Used correctly, your refrigerator will keep food safe from spoilage and bacteria.

    The Refrigerator Temperature Matters

    The refrigerator temperature matters. Not having the proper refrigerator temperature could make you sick. Used correctly, your refrigerator will keep food safe from spoilage and bacteria.

  • Safe food handling can stop most germs and bacteria from multiplying to levels that can make you and your family ill.These easy food safety tips can help.

    Easy Food Safety Tips

    Safe food handling can stop most germs and bacteria from multiplying to levels that can make you and your family ill.These easy food safety tips can help.

  • 10 Kitchen cleaning rules. The kitchen is the heart of the home. Yet all too often, its arteries get clogged with kid stuff. These kitchen cleaning rules can help clear things up.

    10 Kitchen Cleaning Rules

    10 Kitchen cleaning rules. The kitchen is the heart of the home. Yet all too often, its arteries get clogged with kid stuff. These kitchen cleaning rules can help clear things up.

  • Easy oven cleaning tips. A holiday pie or cheesy lasagna meltdown can turn your oven into a smoky, burnt, ooze-encrusted mess. The solution? These oven cleaning tips can help remove the unsightly mess.

    Easy Oven Cleaning Tips

    Easy oven cleaning tips. A holiday pie or cheesy lasagna meltdown can turn your oven into a smoky, burnt, ooze-encrusted mess. The solution? These oven cleaning tips can help remove the unsightly mess.

  • What does the "sell by"  date on a food label really mean? How long is it good after that date? Here's help for deciphering a food label.

    Deciphering A Food Label

    What does the "sell by" date on a food label really mean? How long is it good after that date? Here's help for deciphering a food label.

  • Easy kitchen decorating ideas. Amid the congestion of the fridge and the stove, table and chairs, kitchens usually have little space for decorative touches. These decorating ideas can help.

    Easy Kitchen Decorating Ideas

    Easy kitchen decorating ideas. Amid the congestion of the fridge and the stove, table and chairs, kitchens usually have little space for decorative touches. These decorating ideas can help.

  • Used correctly, your refrigerator provides safe food storage. Used incorrectly, it could cause big trouble. These fridge food storage tips can help.

    Fridge Food Storage Tips

    Used correctly, your refrigerator provides safe food storage. Used incorrectly, it could cause big trouble. These fridge food storage tips can help.

  • Cleaning small kitchen appliances. You keep a nice clean house. But how long has it been since you cleaned your coffee maker - or any other small kitchen appliances?

    Cleaning Small Kitchen Appliances

    Cleaning small kitchen appliances. You keep a nice clean house. But how long has it been since you cleaned your coffee maker - or any other small kitchen appliances?



Enjoy this page? Please pay it forward. Here's how...

Would you prefer to share this page with others by linking to it?

  1. Click on the HTML link code below.
  2. Copy and paste it, adding a note of your own, into your blog, a Web page, forums, a blog comment, your Facebook account, or anywhere that someone would find this page valuable.