7 Common Floor Cleaning Mistakes You Should Avoid

Keeping your floors clean and spotless is an important task in every home especially since it takes the most beating among the many parts of your home structure. It is being walked on not only by the owners of the home but also guests from all over. Just imagine how your floors can get during rainy periods! Unless your guests have shoe covers on, then expect mud, dirt, slime and grime on your floors.

You may think that cleaning your floors is easy. However, there is no foolproof method of cleaning your floors. You have to avoid these 7 common floor cleaning mistakes to ensure quality life of your floors:

Cleaning Mistakes To Avoid
1. Taking too long to clean
Floors are susceptible to spills – juice, water, coffee and many others. Spills on the floor must be wiped or cleaned as they happen. If it will take you too long to clean the spills on the floor, the possibility of getting stains that will be even harder to remove or clean, is very likely. You would then be spending more time getting them off when spills have settled and hardened.

Also, when spills are from food or drinks, if you put off cleaning them immediately, they can attract bugs like ants and roaches. That would add more work on your part as you would have to exterminate the bugs on top of taking out hard-to-remove stains.

2. Using the wrong floor cleaning products
You probably think that floor cleaning products are all the same – they’re not. Just as floors have different types, cleaning products also differ depending on the type of floor that you need to clean. A vital thing that you need to do is to get to know your floor. Is it made of hardwood, tiles, carpet, vinyl or laminated wood? You cannot use a cleaning solution for tiles on your hardwood floors as there
can be substances that can damage the wood.

3. Using Too Much Water
Water seems to be the perfect cleaning solution for your floors. It could be the best way to prep your floors for deep cleaning as you need to get your floors wet first for your cleaning solutions and substances to work. But too much water can seep into your flooring and cause irreparable water damage especially if you do it regularly. To avoid this, just use enough water and mop your floors dryafter mopping it with water.

4. Using Too Much Soap

What could work well with water in cleaning your floors is soap. There are soaps with substances that are gentle enough not to damage your floors. But, can you sometimes see residues or marks even after you have cleaned your floor dry? These can be caused by using too much soap. If this is the case and this is what you regularly do, then you can actually cause damage to your floors. Just
use enough and rinse with just the right volume of water then mop the floors dry.

5. Scrubbing your floors aggressively
While it can give you comfort that dirt and dust can be removed if you use an abrasive scrub to clean your floor and do it aggressively, it can also damage its texture and remove the original finish or shine. This will ruin the overlook of your floor and that’s something you wouldn’t want yourself or your guests to see.

There are already new and gentle scrubs available in the market that you can use so you can maintain the look of your floor as you clean it.

6. Not buying a high-quality vacuum cleaner
You might think that you don’t need a vacuum cleaner since you are not into professional cleaning. And, you might also think that if you need deep cleaning for your floors, you can just call for those who do professional cleaning services. Of course, you still have to do your regular cleaning in between. But should you just be satisfied with mopping or those regular brooms? You have to remember that having a high-quality vacuum handy can save you time and effort in doing your
regular floor cleaning.

7.Not preparing the floor for cleaning 

This step in cleaning the floors is often skipped. You have to clear the surface so you can cover all spaces – beneath and behind the couch, under the tables and other furniture. Then, you do the
dusting from the top down to the floor.

Once you get to the floor, you have to do dusting first with a broom before you mop it with water and other cleaning solutions.

Cleaning Floors is Essential
Some homeowners disregard the need for cleaning the floors. Others are thinking that they could just leave or skip that step and do a simple dusting and mopping. You have to remember that apart from keeping it clean, it also helps prevent further damage that may entail a bigger cost for renovation. That will only work if you have enough in your coffers to invest in a major renovation to replace your flooring.

If you do not have that luxury, then it’s best to avoid making these common cleaning mistakes. You will be able to keep your floors looking in its best condition as the time they were originally installed.