The Most Common Mistakes when Cleaning Floors

On our blog post today we are going to talk about the common mistakes people do when cleaning floors and we are going to suggest some ways that you can clean and maintain the floors of your house. 

There are many different types of floors such as hardwood, laminate, vinyl, tile, bamboos, cork, wood, engineered wood, carpet, linoleum, marble, stone, and polished concrete.

More than style, flooring material correspond with the necessities of each area of the house. Porcelain tiles and vinyl, for example, are good options for moisture and high-traffic areas such as kitchen, bathroom, and laundry room.

On the other hand, wood flooring is very popular in “social” areas such as living room and dining room.

When it comes to cleaning, I have learned that most of us commit the same mistake – We treat floors equally!

Zesty Maids, being a professional house cleaning, we search for the best method to clean and maintain floors. That being said, we spoke with the expert in floor restoration, David Bizaillion, who shared four of the most common mistakes most people do when cleaning floors.

4 Common Mistakes when Cleaning Floors

• Dirty water: the mistake number #1 is using dirty water when cleaning floors.

Yes! When mopping the floors, most people tend to reuse the same water for the entire house, as moving dirt or cleaning products from one room to another without considering the damages they can cause to different flooring materials.

Therefore, when using wet mops, we recommend changing the water often, keeping it as clean as possible, and being careful with the different types of floors.

• Soap in excess: contrary to what we think, too much soap won’t make floor cleaner.

Bizaillion says that people tend to add soap in the water as it starts to get dirty. Soap in excess, if not removed fast, or properly, will stick to the floor. In other words, if you don’t remove it completely, the soap will retain and accumulate dust on the floor.

• Improper use of equipment: choose equipment that not only fit with the type of the floor, but also will remove the dirty properly.

“Some sweeper mops clean the center of the tile, but pushes all the dirt to the grout, so they are not cleaning the grout, causing them to get dirty faster” (Bizaillion). 

• Use of acidic products: another very common mistake is using acidic products such as vinegar water to clean natural stone wood floors.

Bizaillion explains that vinegar can damage any natural stone that has calcium in it such as terrazzo, marble, and travertine. “It won’t hurt granite, slate, ceramic, but it will hurt stones calcium based”.

Now that you have learned some of the most common mistakes, we would like to share some important actions that will help you to clean and maintain your floors.

Effective ways of cleaning and maintaining floors

1. Don’t use anything too aggressive.
2. Avoid dragging furniture on the floor.
3. Keep a rug underneath moving chairs.
4. Do more spot cleaning.
5. Avoid spills and when they occur, clean as fast as possible.
6. Remove water, soap, or products as quickly as possible when cleaning (don’t let them dry because it will be harder to remove them).

That’s all we have for today. Let us know if you guys have any questions or share some experience with floor cleaning. We would love to hear from you.

Zesty Maids is a professional commercial and residential cleaning company. Check out our weekly blog and check out our website to learn about our services. 

Featured Photo Credit: Pixabay from Pexels, and Anete Lusina from Pexels