Cleaning Stone Floors
Tuesday, October 11th, 2011By Steve Cooper
Unwelcome guests may be entering your home and damaging your stone floors. Small stones, tiny pebbles, sand and stone-hard grit sneak into your home on the bottom of shoes. These little invaders are your floor’s No. 1 enemies because they can easily scratch and mar elegant-looking stone.
Protect against such attacks by putting up defenses outside your front door. Put down industrial-strength mats with tough ribbing, which encourage visitors to scuff dirt from their shoes before crossing the threshold. Purchase mats that are 4 to 6 feet long, allowing guests ample opportunity to leave grit behind before they enter. Typical 2×3-foot doormats are too lightweight to handle the job. Put them at all entry doors and add a smaller mat inside as an added precaution. The best mats will also absorb significant amounts of water, so that isn’t tracked into your home either.
Having kept most of the worst outside, you also need to keep a close eye on the inside entrance area. Wet mop this area whenever dust, dirt, pebbles or stones collect on the floor. Mopping frequency depends on the amount of foot traffic and how well shoes are cleaned off at the entry. Tackling this as a once-a-week task is common.
When mopping, use a microfiber mop, instead of rayon. The newer material does a much more effective job taking up grit and water. Neutral pH cleaners are recommended for most stone because they will not harm the stone sealer. Remove as much of the water as possible to avoid streaking and clouding. Never use acidic cleaners containing lemon juice, vinegar or ammonia. Also avoid abrasive cleaners. All these may damage stone, particularly the softer varieties such as marble and limestone.
For more information on flooring visit the World Floor Covering Association’s Consumer Carpet & Flooring Guide.
No one wants flooring that is dull, scratched, stained, mottled, scarred, pitted and ruined. But these are common problems. How can they be avoided?
Imagine a 10 Commandments of Tile Flooring Cleaning have come down from on high. Here’s what they might say:
The cherry wood flooring in your living and dining room looks fabulous. Problem is, the floor in the kitchen is looking a little sad. What to do?
Though there are many home improvement projects that the average homeowner can tackle, refinishing your wood floors should be removed from the list in most cases. Putting life back into hardwood flooring can challenge the skill and experience of most DIYers.