When wiping your floor with cleaning products and other cleaning equipment, you should take caution. It’s because you risk ruining your lovely floor. You should certainly pay attention if you want to clean floors like I do and want to see the effects right away.
I recently asked this question to professionals in floor cleaning. What should I use to mop the floors? The majority of them had varied methods, and others boldly admitted they didn’t mop it at all, thus the answer was shocking. So let’s look more closely at what you should use to mop your floors with.
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What type of cleaning solutions to use for mopping floors?
There are many different types of cleaners that can be used for cleaning floors, but not all are equally effective and safe for use on different surfaces. Before choosing what cleaner to use, you should consider what type of floor you want to clean and what type of surface you want to clean it with.
You should also consider how dirty they are, which can help you determine what type of cleaning agent to use.
Also read about different types of home cleaning solutions.
So, the most common type of floor that we use to clean is, linoleum, it can be cleaned with a variety of different soap types and solutions.
A good rule of thumb is to use a neutral cleaner for everyday dirt and grease. If the floor has stubborn stains then there are more specific cleaners for those types of floors and stains that can be used.
Ceramic tile floors should be cleaned with an alkaline cleaner because they will scratch if an acidic cleaner is used on them.
Marble floors should also be cleaned with an alkaline soap because they will also scratch if acidic soaps are used on them.
In the next section we’ll talk more about the techniques and more general tips with rinsing and mopping floors.
Mopping your floors the right way
I’ve been mopping floors pretty frequently especially now that we have three children. 🙂 There is so much to learn when cleaning floors and I’ll share with you stages that works well for us at home.
There are four stages in cleaning the floor and they are the following:
- Dust first
- Vacuum
- Wash
- Rinse
If you’re wondering if you should vacuum or dust first then check out this article.
General guidelines for mopping different types of floors with cleaning solutions
- Different mops are suited to different floor types and a microfiber mop works well for vinyl and linoleum followed by washing with a PH-neutral cleaner.
- Ceramic and Porcelain tiled floors need washing with soapy water, and sometimes require scrubbing in hard-to-lift grime places. Once clean, rinse off with warm water to eliminate the suds.
- Slate and Marble, require a low PH cleaner and a traditional mop ( the old white mop head) or a steam mop (for slate) works well on this surface.
- Hardwood Floors, to get the floor gleaming use a deep clean Hardwood Floor Cleaner, often sprayed directly onto the floor. Use a dry microfiber mop to finish off.
- Laminate floors, use something like Rejuvenate All-Floors Cleaner and a damp old fashioned mop. Rinse it off with clean water.
- Bamboo Floors. now very popular, use Murphy Oil Soap diluted as per instructions and a microfiber mop.
Floor cleaning and mopping techniques
Many people clean their floors once a week, while others with small children clean them every day. When the kids crawl on the floor you want it to be clean.
Start by removing all excess furniture from the room and prepare the space for vacuuming. Vacuum in all the corners to reach crumbs and dirt until the floor is really clean. You can sweep with a broom, but a broom does not lift the dust like a vacuum cleaner with good suction does.
Then you are ready to wash the floor, depending on your surface use one of the above techniques to get your floor sparkling clean.
Dip the mop into the cleaning bucket and start to mop with a damp mop. Mop across the whole room dipping the mop in the water and wringing it out as you go.
Any grease spots should be scrubbed with a small scrubbing brush to lift the grease. When you have finished tip out the water and fill the bucket with lukewarm water to rinse the floor.
Rinsing the floor
For the rinse change mops use a microfiber mop to rinse over the surface lifting any residual soap suds off, and when this task is completed avoid going to the room till the floor is dry.
Unless the floor becomes wet due to the weather condition, most floors will air dry on their own. You can also try during mid-winter, when the heating will be on and if you don’t think that the floor will dry – place a blow dryer or small micro furnace in the doorway to blow warm air across the room.
The kitchen floor is best cleaned when children are at school, however, if you have a full house just ask them to avoid going to the kitchen for at least half an hour while thorough drying takes place.
Also read about how to solve having sticky kitchen floors even after mopping.
If you have an unsealed stone floor, the only way to get it clean is down on your hands and knees with a scrubbing brush, and this is going to be both fun and hard work. 🙂
It is really important to clean your mops when this process is finished and allow them to air dry if possible. If they are not cleaned all the dirt will be transferred back to the floor the next time you wash it.
In addition, if you want the floor to smell good, mix some eucalyptus oil with water. The smell will linger on the floor for a few days.
If you’re interested in making your home smell good you should check out this article about top strong smelling and longest lasting essential oils.
