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A Guide to Long-Term Care for Every type of Flooring from Cork to Natural Stone
The secret to keep and maintaining any flooring is proper cleaning. This includes
regularly sweeping or vacuuming the floor to remove all dirt and debris. If you
must scrub or clean any surface, make sure that you use a cleaner that is specially
formulated for that type of surface. If you are not sure, then contact the flooring
manufacture. It is important to realize that the key to cleaning any floor and especially less
common flooring materials is to read, understand, and follow the manufacturer recommendations.
Floor covering manufacturers, no matter how large or small, all want their products
to last and remain looking as good ten years after they were installed as good as
the day they were installed. Because in essence, how well a flooring material looks
is a testimony to the quality of product that manufacturer produces. In addition, many companies offer warranties, however, if you do not properly maintain
their product will cause the warranty to be voided. To ensure that any flooring material last, you have to use preventative maintenance,
that begins outside. Start by placing breathable floor mats at all entrances and
keep sidewalks, driveways, and parking lots free of dirt, grease, and debris. If
you prevent the debris from entering your home or business, you prevent the damage
it can cause to your floors. There is no way that you can prevent dirt from entering your home or office, but
by using doormats, you can reduce the amount that does enter. By placing mates
both inside and outside your home or office, you can trap dirt and moisture. There
are specially designed mats that will trap both. You can find these mates both
through the Internet and at many home improvement centers. However, if the mates are not kept clean, they can be the source of dirt. Therefore,
keep mats clean by frequently vacuuming them and you may want to pressure-wash them
twice a year, depending on the amount of traffic. In addition, keep extra mats
available for when you care cleaning the soiled and wet mats. Regular sweeping and vacuuming is critical for all types of flooring. By daily
sweeping any flooring surface, you can guarantee that it will look great for years
and it will not require frequent restorative care. For cleaning specialty surfaces including, rubber, ceramic tiles, and even cork
the first, and perhaps most important, thing to do is sweeping and dust mopping.
All types of floors should be dust mopped or vacuumed at least every other day and
every day, depending how heavy the foot traffic as well as the weather. If water
is tracked in or spilled, immediately mop up the water. This will prevent water
stains from occurring. Possible the largest mistake people make with their flooring is the neglect of sweeping
and dust moping. If you remove the grit from the floor, it will not have a chance
to scratched up and wear the flooring. By taking a few minuets daily, you can save
hundreds if not thousands of dollars in restoration work. Other routine cleaning tasks should include damp mopping. This does not mean emptying
a pail of water onto the floor then mopping it up, but rather the use of a damp-almost
dry feeling mop. Many people make the mistake of applying too much water to hardwood
and cork floor coverings. Water should never be used on laminate or engineered
floors. However, floors such as stone, ceramic, and rubber, do require wet cleaning,
which should be done once a week to a few times a month depending on the traffic.
When wet cleaning stones, be very careful with calcareous stones such as marble,
limestone, and onyx, which will quickly dull if acids or high-alkaline cleaners
are used on them. For such stones, use only neutral-pH cleaners. Because of the new protective coating used on most wood floors including cork, damp
mopping can actually extend the life of the finish. Again, damp mopping is not
the same thing as wet mopping. Care has to be taken that moisture does not seep
into the seams between the wood or cork tiles or planks, as this can and will cause
the tiles and planks to swell and warp. When damp mopping, the trick is to use just enough water to clean the floor and
not any more. If you apply too much water, it will seep into the floor before you
mop it up and you've damaged your floors. Another thing, in recent years, many individuals have purchased auto scrubbers to
use on their hardwood flooring. The same principle applies; if you are going to
use an auto scrubber make sure that it does not apply too much water. In addition,
you also want to ensure that you use only soft brushes as medium and hard brushers
will scratch your wood floors, damaging them. To restore their original shine and luster, certain floors will periodically require
an additional coating of finish. How often this will need to be done depends greatly
on the type of floor and how heavy the traffic is on the floor. This can be as
often as a monthly task or as infrequently as every other year. When adding an additional protective coating to most wood floors, its as simple
as light sanding to even out the surface then applying the coat, making sure that
you dust mop, then damp-mop to remove all debris before applying the finish. Then,
allow the finish to completely dry. However, cork floors should not be recoated
unless otherwise stated by the manufacturer as recoating can damage the surface. In addition, other specialty floors, such as rubber cannot tolerate topcoats as
they make these floors lose their oil, which makes the floors become white and brittle. For rubber flooring, it is best to machine-polish the floors, using a soft polishing
brush. If you desire a higher gloss then contact the manufacturer for information
on special polishes that are especially formulated for use on rubber floors. Today, many natural and synthetic stone floors are protected with sealants, which
protect the surfaces from becoming stained. However, not all stone surfaces can
be sealed, such as marble. Therefore, before using any cleaning product, make sure
that it can be used on the type of stone floor you have. Many cleaners will turn
white marble dull and yellow. Therefore, it is vital that you read the manufacturer's
instructions on the cleaner to make sure it can be used on marble. Sealed natural stone floors are protected from staining, but not from abrasion and
wear. Therefore, stone floors, including marble, do require dry polishing, using
a brush and pad or spray buffing in order to maintain their shin and luster. To
guarantee that you do not damage the stone, it is usually best that you hire a professional
to do this unless you have been specially trained. However, usually polishing natural
stone does not have to be done very frequently. The main difference between such floor coverings as wood, cork, and rubber compared
to stone and ceramic floor coverings such as marble, granite, and even synthetic
flooring is that when wood, cork, and rubber wears and scratches, usually you can
mildly sand the area then recoat it. However, stone and ceramic flooring does not
have a protective coating that can be simply sanded away. If stone or ceramic floors
scratch, to remove the mar requires the use of a diamond grinder or an acid polish
as well as a lot of time and skill. Therefore, for owners of stone and ceramic
flooring, it is vital to prevent the stones from becoming scratched. In closing, I will say that there are exceptions to every rule. However, to keep
your floors looking like they did the day they were first installed, it is critical
for you to know the type of floors in your home and or office. This requires you
to read and understand the type of care the manufacturer recommends. I've only touched on a few specialty floor coverings in this article. There is
no limit to the type of floor coverings around the world. I have walked on floors
that are leather, glass, and metal, among other materials and all of them require
special treatment. However, the one thing that all floors have in common, is that
if they are kept clean'this means daily sweeping, or vacuuming, and dust mopping
they will last a very long time.
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