Floor Cleaning & Maintenance: Beyond Vacuums and Brooms

Weekly vacuuming or sweeping comprises the vast majority of flooring maintenance, but these chores alone aren’t enough to properly maintain your floors. Even people who strictly enforce a no-shoes, no-pet policy for their carpets will need additional carpet cleaning. Some additional maintenance, like wood refinishing, needs to be done only once a decade or so…but it still needs to be done. And don’t forget the best type of maintenance is preventative. So here’s what you need to know and do on top of your weekly vacuum or broom treatment.

Flooring First-Aid

This is one of the easiest and most effective ways to assure a long, healthy life for your floor. Different stains require different cleaning solutions. For carpet specifically, vomit is best treated with baking soda and water, then ammonia and water. For blood, you want mild detergent, vinegar, and water. For wine, you might try water and table salt. Conduct some online research and/or determine recommendations from your manufacturer. Put a chart in your flooring first-aid closet, along plenty of clean, dry rags and common cleaning solutions. Next, keep spare carpet runs or wood or laminate floor boards, so you have an inventory of flooring patches should the worst happen. A flooring first-aid closet and quick, knowledgeable action can save your floor in any number of circumstances.

Area Rugs: Floor Mats for Your Floor?

You wouldn’t leave the new upholstery in your car to the abuse of shoes and the dirt caked into the soles. So, why leave your shiny new floors out in the open, when a beautiful area rug will cover the most trafficked sections of your floor. The right color and decorating scheme can still let your new floor create an effective border. Whether carpet, hardwood, or other flooring material, few areas won’t accommodate some type of area rug or floor covering.

Down on the Floor, Up in the Air

This is especially true for homes with evaporative, or swamp, coolers. Although this form of air conditioning is cheaper to install and operate, the evaporation humidifies the resulting air. And humidity and most floors don’t mix. Carpet will pick up dirt and grime faster; bad odors will linger longer. Laminate will swell, although many are designed to withstand high humidity levels. What you really need to watch is your wood flooring. Boards can warp in any number of ways in the presence of moisture. Plus, it’s never a bad idea to evaluate your indoor air. High humidity levels may also accelerate corrosion in electronic equipment and major appliances.

Professional Assistance: From Carpet Cleaning to Wood Refinishing

From time to time, it can be beneficial or even necessary to call in the pros to help with your flooring maintenance. For example, even the most diligently maintained carpets need a deep cleaning every 1-2 years to remove sharp-edged grime that can cut up your carpet fibers. Professional carpet cleaners can efficiently and reliably deliver a pristinely clean carpet with a longer life expectancy.

As it ages, wood flooring generally needs refinishing. Stripping the wood sealant, cleaning and sanding panels, and reapplying a finishing sealant can work wonders for faded or worn wood floors. The process isn’t cheap. According to data collected by ServiceMagic, the average cost of refinishing a wood floor is $1,700. But the result can also mean doubling or tripling the lifetime of your floor.