Floor Cleaners: Choosing Wisely, Using Responsibly

Homeowners are often fastidious about the shine of their floors, and therefore very particular about using the right floor cleaner for the type of floor they have.

Floor cleaners vary according to the types of floors that they clean. A floor cleaner is not merely the cleaning material, method or the device but the process that combines all these to keep floors clean and hygienic. You have to be careful about what brand you buy, because the nature of the floor cleaner affects the status, the look and longevity of your house.

For different kinds of floor – hard-tiled, laminate or simple wood – the nature of the appropriate floor cleaner will differ. One needs professional advice on floor care and cleaning behavior. Otherwise not only do you lose out on effectiveness, but also risk your floor warranties getting voided.

A hard floor cleaner is the cleaning hardware, and a soft floor cleaner is the cleaning solution. There are many interesting designs of hard floor cleaner now available with flexible handles, and those which combine a vacuum, a washer and a drier together in one handy set. They are quite effective in cleaning different kinds of surface, but routine maintenance requires more than sweeping and vacuuming. It should include protecting the surface finish from moisture and heavy wear, which creates scratches. This maintenance depends as much on the soft floor cleaner as on the equipment used.

You have to be careful while choosing the soft floor cleaner. All-purpose floor cleaners often fail. Warranties by most manufacturers are VOIDED if oil soap and products containing wax floor cleaners are used. Polyurethane-finished and factory pre-finished hardwood floors often have common soft floor cleaner characteristics. But urethane and non-urethane will require different specifically formulated floor cleaner material.

In some cases you don’t need a commercial floor cleaner. White spots from water, for example, can be rubbed out with a fine steel wool and a small amount of mineral spirits. Re-wax and buff as required, for consistency. Oil soaps, improper cleaning products, and other unknown contaminates can cause re-coat failure on floors. Never use a wax-based floor cleaner over surface finishes.

One needs to be extra careful choosing the floor cleaner brand if there is an asthma patient in the family, or one who is allergic to some of the common chemicals found in floor cleaners.

For more information, choose from one of the following links:

Hardwood Flooring | Wood Flooring | Bamboo Flooring