Floors are a part of our home that is most prone to becoming damaged. They are meant to be stepped on and walked on. You might spill something by accident or your kids can play with their toy cars and leave marks. Whether your floors are new or old, there are ways to maintain them to last longer. Let’s mention some of them.
Have a cleaning routine
You probably don’t let the garbage clutter in the basket or dishes pile up in the dishwasher. You shouldn’t let that happen with your floor either. You should have your mini-routine when it comes to floor maintenance as well. Clean the floors thoroughly once a week or once a month if there is no need for a frequent cleaning like in the case of floors covered with carpets. Some areas of your home that are busier than others, like the stairs, bathroom floor, or hallway should be cleaned every day to not let the dirt accumulate and become harder to clean. By breaking your routine into smaller parts you will make the job easier and you will be more efficient. It might seem like too much for someone but you will be thankful to see after some time that it takes so little to always have clean floors.
Clean up the spills right away
It might happen to anybody to spill something on the floor and leave it there because they’re in a hurry to get on time to work or because they’re just doing something else at the moment. This will be a lot harder to clean later when it gets dry and stuck to the surface, so you’re not doing yourself a favor. You can even damage the surface by trying to remove the stain later. It is better and easier to wipe the spill right away and leave it to dry naturally. It takes only a couple of minutes and it will spare the additional time you would spend doing it in the future.
Pay extra attention to hallways
If you don’t already have a shelf or a closet for your shoes in the hallway, make sure you get one. There should be a nice habit of disposing of your shoes to the right place and not leaving them on the floor. That way, you keep them cleaner and they will last longer, and also, your floor won’t take all the dirt that your shoes pick up outside. Needless to say, you shouldn’t enter the other parts of your house with your shoes on to avoid distributing the dirt all over the house and making it harder to maintain everything clean. This is especially important for people who suffer from allergies or have small kids.
Pay attention to sensitive surfaces
By sensitive surfaces, we mean for example natural wood. This is a beautiful asset of your home and it would be a shame to ruin it. To maintain this surface clean and in good shape, you should avoid harsh cleaners with acidic ingredients. They can make your wooden floor look faded because they remove the color and shine gradually. Natural cleaners are much better and more neutral. We will mention some of them later.
Use anti-fatigue mats for long cleaning sessions
People usually don’t come up with this idea but if you have longer cleaning sessions where you have to stand for a longer time or even kneel, your posture is not good and it would be good if you had this in your home. Anti-fatigue mats are useful, come in different colors and designs and can benefit your posture and remove the feet and backache.
Avoid harsh chemicals when cleaning the floor
Harsh chemicals don’t only affect your floor surfaces, but also your health. Ammonia and bleach are too harsh for any surface and can discolor it, it’s a matter of time. Make sure you inform about the type of cleansers that are suitable for that specific surface you want to clean. The manufacturer always knows the best, so follow their advice.
Clean your carpet professionally
Your carpet will become full of germs, dirt, and grime eventually. It can be very tedious to clean it yourself, and you might not even remove all the dirt. The best thing you can do is to clean it professionally once a year. It wouldn’t cost too much and wouldn’t be too frequent. Just make a reminder and don’t postpone it.
Clean the bathroom after showering
A bathroom is a place where cleanliness is especially important since you maintain your hygiene there. You don’t want a dirty and wet floor there. All the spills should be wept immediately and this usually occurs after a shower. Once a week you can have a deep cleaning to make it perfectly clean.
Use natural products for cleaning floors
Baking soda is an efficient product when it comes to whitening and cleaning. It is not too harsh and it is very efficient when it comes to eliminating weird odors. It can even be used for your carpets between two professional cleaning sessions. This is important for people with pets because weird smells can sometimes stick to your carpet if your dog lies there every day. A solution with water and baking soda will freshen up your floors and carpets. Another good natural cleaning product is lemon, which has a very good whitening effect and can be used to remove stains from your floor surfaces. Other than that, it’s antiseptic, so it’s good for a fresh and anti-bacterial effect. You can mix it with vinegar and obtain even better results and avoid using harsh products daily.
Air dry your floor
To avoid double work of cleaning and wiping thoroughly afterward, you can just air dry your floors. This is an excellent way of letting some fresh air enter your house and also make the smell of the chemicals go away in case you use them. In case you use natural products we mentioned in the previous paragraph, well vinegar can smell too strong sometimes and it will be good to ventilate after using it. Some 10 minutes of ventilating is ideal and the floors will be dry very fast.
Maintaining a house can be exhausting sometimes. All that regular dusting, wiping, cleaning and all of a sudden there’s another spill or stain. Don’t make floor cleaning tedious and difficult. Use these valuable tips to make it more pleasant and easy. Make a routine and stick to it, use suitable products, take care of your posture with anti-fatigue mats and enjoy your clean and fresh home.
Categories: Tips And Advice Stuff
