Floor Talk!

New carpeting can be elaborate and elegant, cool and contemporary or tasteful and traditional. It’s one of America’s most popular floor covering choices, enhances virtually any room and it can add value to your residence. Keeping that feeling, and your carpet in beautiful condition, is a challenge if you don’t know the proper steps of maintenance. And that’s why we created this section. We want you to know that, with the care guidelines below, your new carpet can stay attractive for many years, and many bare-foot crossings, to come.

DO’s

• Place walk-off mats wherever there are entrances to your home from high-soil areas like backyards, garages and so on. A few dollars invested in these mats can prevent a lot of dirt and grime from being tracked across your beautiful new carpet.
• Buy a quality vacuum and use it regularly. There have been significant improvements to vacuum cleaners in the past few years, making them easier to use, and better at doing their job. They’ve gotten lighter in weight, stronger in suction and loaded with convenience features. A good vacuum cleaner can be your carpet’s best friend so vacuum as often as you want! Thorough vacuuming removes loose dirt and dust from the fibers. Over time these particles dull your carpet’s appearance; frequent vacuuming maintains the beauty of your floor covering and extends its life.
  

• Use a machine with a good beater bar and maximum suction. High traffic areas may need more vacuuming more often. Also, get attached to using the cleaner’s attachments. They make it easier to clean the tight spots – along walls and up and down the stairs. Be sure to set your vacuum settings to the proper carpet height.

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Because of the success of What Feeding the Bears and Ruining Your Hardwood Floors has in Common, today will begin a series of maintenance guides for all types of floor covering. Stay tuned for more!

Tile Maintenance

Sooner or later, time and traffic, life and living, will take its toll on any floor covering. Ceramic tile is no exception. But take heart, keeping your tile as clean and beautiful as its first days in your home just takes know-how. In fact, understanding the best methods to care for your ceramic flooring will help maintain its beauty and keep it close to its original condition. Plus, knowing what’s expected of you regarding upkeep can be a determining factor in which type of ceramic tile to purchase. Knowing how to care for and maintain your ceramic floor will help keep your investment beautiful, durable and a source of pride for years to come.

§ It’s important to sweep a tile floor regularly. Dirt can adhere to the surface of tile, particularly styles with a textured surface. Regular sweeping loosens and removes most of this dirt. Vacuum attachments are useful to collect dirt along edges or in between tiles.

§ Use walk-off mats at all exterior entrances. This helps to minimize and contain dirt being tracked in at entryways.

§ Remember to shake the mats often to remove the dirt. If the dirt is not removed, it will be tracked back in and may scratch the floors. This reduces the amount of dirt being tracked across the tile floor, and reduces the wear to the finished surface. Also, be aware that black rubber mats can stain floors.

§ Ceramic tile floors should be damp-mopped regularly using the manufacturer’s recommended grout and tile cleaners. For heavier soil, you can spot clean the floor with a sponge or clean cloth using the recommended cleaners. Rinse well and wipe dry for more shine.

§ Textured tiles may require mild scrubbing with a soft brush or electric polisher/scrubber. After cleaning with a mild detergent rinse thoroughly with clean, warm water to help remove any leftover residue. If needed, wipe dry with a clean towel to remove any film.

§ For soft water situations you may need to use an all-purpose cleaner. Apply to the floor, let stand for 3 - 5 minutes, lightly scrub with a sponge, rinse well and you’re home free – dirt free too.

§ Use cleaning products available from your local grocery store or flooring retailer for heavier cleaning tasks. Products are available that can be used to remove soap scum, hard water deposits, and mildew stains.

§ Consult the cleaning product’s instructions to make sure the cleaning product is compatible with your type of tile. The wrong type cleaning product can do more damage than good.

§ After cleaning, rinse well and wipe dry. This is important for optimum shine and maximum pride.

§ Avoid using steel wool, scouring powders, or other abrasives. These can scratch the finish of the tile. Also, do not use vinegar as it is an acid.

§ Don’t use bleach or ammonia based cleaners. These products can permanently discolor your grout if used too often.

§ Do not clean glazed tile with oil-based cleaners. This can leave a hazy film on the tile.

§ Try to clean up spills as quickly as possible. This is important so that the grout or tile doesn’t become stained.

§ Tile can crack under extreme force or pressure. While ceramic tile is considered very durable, it’s not indestructible and may crack or chip under extreme force.

§ Take the proper precautions when moving heavy objects across your tile floor. Get a small army to help you move that grand piano. Once the damage is done, it cannot be repaired.

§ Cover furniture and table legs with protectors. This will guard your floor against damage.

§ Keep extra tiles after the installation. Keep in mind that if a repair is necessary in the future, the replacement product may be a slightly different dye lot and/or texture than the initial installation. However, the good news is that, with time and usage, the repair will blend in with the original product.

§ Areas exposed to water need to be caulked on a regular basis. Once the tile has been laid and grouted, it’s your responsibility to maintain areas exposed to water by caulking. Caulking will prevent expensive subsurface damage, as well as keep the tiled areas looking their best. Depending on your lifestyle, sealing new tile and grout may be an option.

§ Seal your grout for added protection. After the installation process is complete and the grout has had ample time to cure, sealing the grout and tile can provide protection from dirt and spills by slowing down the staining process. Please note that sealing is not required on glazed tiles.

§ Grout colorants are available for stained, damaged or undesired colored grout. Today there are also innovative grout colorants you should be aware of. These products can transform the original color of grout and in some cases can act as a form of sealant. Please be aware that non-epoxy grout joints should be treated with a silicone sealer.

§ Consult the manufacturers’ recommendations. For more maintenance information specific to your ceramic tile flooring, remember to ask a professional or the manufacturer.

For more information on how to clean ceramic tile, click here.

Choosing the right grout color can change the way your whole tile project looks. The grout color helps tie in each tile to appear as one complete floor. The function of grout is to protect the edges of the tile from being chipped or cracked. When trying to choose a grout color, it is helpful to look at the sample on all four corners of the tile, preferably in the space where the tile will be installed. It is also helpful to place several different colors near the sample you are considering. This can easily help rule out some colors while making some colors a clearer choice.

When choosing a grout color, there are several different approaches you can take.

Blend - Choosing a grout color that compliments or almost matches the tile will make the floor look more even and uniform overall. In this case, the grout almost disappears. The way I look at it is, you paid for the tile and not the grout, so let the tile stand out instead of the grout. Don’t worry if the color doesn’t match exactly. As long as it blends and is in the same family, you are ok.

Contrast - Contrasting grout is sometimes a desired look, but will make the floor appeared more checkerboard. This is unavoidable when intentionally choosing a checkerboard pattern tile. When using a multicolored mosaic tile, you can’t possibly choose one color. In this case, a contrasting grout can simply serve as a neutral background. Choosing a specific color could change the overall color appearance of the mosaic.

Accent -With today’s popular styles of tile, they are no longer a solid color. This can make choosing grout a little bit more challenging. Often, these tiles have a lot of range of color. In this case, any color grout that matches or blends with the family of colors in the tile will look great. Sometimes, there will be a more solid color along the edges of the tile. In this case, you can choose to highlight or accent that color by choosing a grout color similar to the color along the edge. This will make that border more visible. Most of the time, it is more desirable to choose a color with in the color ranges of the tile rather than the color on the edge of the tile.

Another way to accent with grout is to intentionally use a color that is not in the floor tile, but perhaps the wall color. For example, a black and white checkerboard floor can have a deep red grout to compliment red walls or red accents in the room.

Things to consider:

• White grout can be bleached and should mostly be used only with pure white tiles
• Light colored grouts should be sealed in heavy traffic areas
• Darker colored grout hides more dirt
• Dark grout can fade from sunlight and harsh cleaners
• Sealing grout can help protect the color as well as provide protection from mold and mildew
• Epoxy grout keeps stains from penetrating the grout, more so than a sealer and does not need to be reapplied. It’s great for countertops.
• Faded or discolored grout is not ruined. It can be re-stained.
• Different grouts are needed for different jobs. Unsanded grout is used for smaller grout joints such as natural stone joints. Sanded grout is used for normal and larger grout joints. Mexican tile or Saltillo has special grout for it’s larger than normal grout joints. Your flooring professional will guide you on what to use. For DIY projects, check the back of the bag for more specific instructions.
• Areas where a tiled surface meets a perpendicular surface should be caulked and not grouted. This may require you (not the tile setter) to recaulk annually in areas like the where the wall tile meets the bath tub or where the countertop meets the backsplash.
• It is always a good idea to keep grout from the original installation in case of repair. Grout from a later batch might not match exactly. If a repair happens and your new grout doesn’t match, remember you always have the option of staining the whole floor to a uniform color.

How important is it to clean your hardwood floors with the proper cleaning agent? I assumed that every flooring salesperson made this information abundantly clear at the point of sale, that every client listened and followed their instructions diligently. Then I got my reality check - on the Internet. After a little web surfing on how to clean hardwood floors I found discussion after discussion that proved my fear that countless hardwood flooring crimes were being committed. At first, I thought, “How could people do this?!?” Then, I came to terms with a few simple realities.

Take this True/False quiz to test your knowledge. I’ll bet you are not alone. Below are the answers and my theories on why these are common misconceptions.

1. I should mop my hardwood floors at least once or twice a week regardless if I have spills or scuffs with a liquid cleaner.

Answer: False. One of the main benefits of hardwood flooring is that they are low maintenance floors that require only a little more maintenance than sweeping on a regular basis to remove dirt. Cleaners are only needed when cleaning spills, removing scuff marks or major cleanings like spring cleaning. Cleaners should be applied with a terry cloth head mop rather than a sponge mop because you don’t want too much liquid applied directly to your floors. Too much liquid can cause your floors to expand and crack. You can and should, however vacuum your floors daily with a vacuum without a beater bar to remove dirt that can scratch your floors. Use a vacuum attachment to access those hard to reach areas. (more…)