Tips for Cleaning Tile Floors
Cleaning tile floors isn’t the easiest job to do, but once you are done you will be glad you took the time to do this chore; your floors will look beautiful. To clean tile floors you need to use the correct method. It is necessary to clean the tile and gout, without damaging the grout and surface of the floor.
For properly cleaning tile floors you will need to choose the correct method, plus it will take some time and effort to remove all of the grime and stains so that your floors are as beautiful as possible.
- Before you begin cleaning your floor you will need to gather some items. You will need some hot water, sponges, and a couple of large buckets, a mop, baking soda and vinegar, as well as a vacuum cleaner.
- After gathering your cleaning supplies the first thing you will want to do is remove all of the surface dirt; to do this you will need to sweep all of the dirt that you can pickup with the broom and remove it to the trash.
- Next you will need to use a vacuum with an attachment to remove the dirt from the baseboards, and other areas that you couldn’t reach with the broom. Use the lowest setting on the vacuum to clean the surface of the tile.
- Once you have removed all of the surface dirt from the tile, the next step in cleaning tile is to mix the hot water and vinegar. You will need to use equal parts of the vinegar and water in a bucket.
- Now take a second bucket and fill it with hot water; this water will be used to rinse the floor.
- Place the mop in the cleaning mixture and let it set for a few moments before ringing it out. Now mop the floor using side to side, as well as up and down motion. This will help get the dirt out from in between the grouting and design areas.
- If you are still unable to remove stains from the tile you can make a paste out of baking soda and water. Use this with a scrub brush to clean the stained area, but you will need to make sure that you rinse it away completely.
- Now you will need to place the mop in the clean water and ring it out, rinsing the floor with the clean water. Let the floor dry completely before walking on it.
Another method of cleaning tile floors is to use a steam cleaner; this is a wonderful way to clean dirt from between tiles and other hard to reach areas.
When cleaning the floor you will not want to get the grout too wet, if necessary soak up any excess water with a dry sponge or towel. When you saturate the grout while cleaning tile floors, it could cause it to break down, which will shorten the life of your tile floor.
If you are using a rag mop for cleaning tile floors, it is a good idea to wear rubber gloves to keep from drying out your hands or getting rashes. Some people are very sensitive to vinegar and will develop rashes when putting their hands in the cleaning solution.
Although there are commercial products that are meant for cleaning tile floors, these cleaners tend to breakdown the grout so you will not want to use these too often. In addition, any of these cleaning solutions should be kept completely away from children.
All it takes is a little effort when cleaning tile floors to get some great results.