When it comes to hard surface cleaning, you don’t just maintain or restore the quality of materials. There are a variety of flooring materials including stone, wood, resilient, concrete, and others that need specific attention towards their elements. Obviously, there are floor materials that are easier to clean, however, soils on hard surface flooring are more likely to build up progressively, resulting in certain erosions. It’s necessary to clean routinely beyond dusting and damp mopping. In today’s home, hard surface cleaning is playing an increasingly important role for families who want to make sure their homes stay clean. Not just look clean.
Here is some hard surface floor cleaning advice that may surprise you.
- A Floor Sealer And A Floor Finish Are Two Different types of Products.
Some people think sealers and finishes are the same things, however, that is not the case. A sealer has higher solids than a floor finish. A sealer usually leaves behind polymers on the floor after evaporation, while a finish effectively fills pores and smooths out a blemish in resilient tiles.
Sealers are used for setting up a base before you apply a finish, which contains a high solid percentage. A sealed, unfinished floor will have a dull appearance. Remember to seal a floor before applying a finish.
- Floors Do Not Need To Be Sealed After It Has Been Stripped and Refinished.
Actually, some people still insist that a floor should be sealed after stripping. The truth is that it doesn’t need to be sealed, while a resilient flooring needs to be sealed when it is laid down for the first time. It is better to apply two or three coats, turning 90 degrees to each new coat until the final coat. If you did this correctly, the floor will never need to be sealed in the future.
If your floors are poorly stripped and then you seal them, it will leave your floors looking old and dirty. It will make the floor turn to yellow quickly and make the future maintenance harder and more time-consuming.
- Apply A Floor Stripper and Stay For At Least 20 Mins.
When you apply a floor stripper, make sure you follow the cleaning principle of TACT: Time, Agitation, Chemical, and Temperature.
Generally, all strippers need a dwell time. For example, hard surface contact combines for 20 minutes, and you need to use a swing machine with an abrasive pad to effectively remove the floor finish.
- It Still Needs To Be Finished If a Surface Is Considered “No-wax” Flooring.
The reality is that there is no such a thing as a no-wax floor. All resilient flooring needs a finish to prevent the floor from being damaged. Your floors will wear and it will discolor faster and permanently be damaged without a finish.
For most manufacturers, they will apply a protective surface coating as the last step at the factory. This coating is only designed to protect tiles before they are getting ready to be installed. For the first time the flooring is being installed, the resilient floors will require a light scrub. There will be at least three coats of a finish.
- Try Effective Cleaners Made by Yourself.
If you are looking for some economical and green cleaners, then the best way to go by it is to make your own type of cleaners. Try the recipe below:
- 1/3 cup white vinegar (Or fresh lemon juice )
- 1 gallon of warm water
- 2-3 drops essential oils
Simply mix them and put them into a spray bottle and use a mop to wipe the floors gently. If you want to add some alcohol, that’s fine, but do not add too much. You can mix the ingredients equally by adding 5 ounces of white vinegar, rubbing alcohol, and water with 5 drops of essential oil to fill a normal sized spray bottle or pour it into a refillable mop.