How to: Floor Maintenance
- 1). Place ventilated floor mats at entry points, and instruct guests to wipe their feet before entering your home. This way, dirt from their shoes will stay on the mat instead of transferring to your floor and causing scratches. Shake the mats outside when they become dirty. For added protection, take your shoes off after entering your home and instruct guests to do the same. This will prevent shoes from scuffing and/or dirtying a floor.
- 2). Place spiked plastic cups over furniture legs in carpeted rooms, and place fabric-lined cups over furniture legs in rooms with hardwood or tiled floors. The spiked cups will prevent furniture legs from indenting the carpet, and fabric-lined cups will prevent scuffing and scratching.
- 3). Change the filters in heating and air conditioning units frequently to prevent dust and dirt from soiling your floors.
- 4). Vacuum floors regularly. Depending on weather conditions and traffic, this might be necessary every day or only once a week. Choose a vacuum cleaner attachment that will get into all the floor's cracks and crevices.
- 5). Clean up spills as soon as possible with paper towels or a sponge and an all-purpose cleaner. On wood floors, avoid using products with ammonia or oil-based soap, which can dull the finish.
- 6). Deep-clean carpets every year or two to remove any dirt you can't reach with a vacuum cleaner.
- 7). Hang throw rugs on a clothesline, and beat them with a rug beater to force out excess dirt.
- 8). Mop tiled and hardwood floors when they look dingy. Add a few ounces of white vinegar to warm mop water, and mop up dirt and grime. When mopping a hardwood floor, use a minimal amount of water to prevent wood expansion.
- 9). Buff tiled and wood floors with a mechanical floor buffer, and spray buffing solution to renew their shine.
- 10
Refinish wood and tiled floors when they look dull and damaged. Sand wood floors to remove finish and expose bare wood, and then apply several coats of urethane finish, applying along the grain. For tiled floors, use a chemical stripper to remove finish from the floors, followed by several rinses with a mop. Then, apply three to five thin coats of wax, allowing each coat to dry before applying the next. Buff the tiled floor to polish the wax.
