Here is our time proven recommendation on the best way to maintain your tile, stone, vinyl and wood floors

November 20, 2016

Here is our time proven recommendation on how to best maintain your tile, stone, vinyl, LVP and wood floors

Using this system you’ll never smear dirty mop water around or leave a soil attracting film behind. Grout lines will stay cleaner MUCH longer and the grout sealer will last much longer as well.

First you’ll need to pick up a gallon of a Neutral pH No Rinse Floor Cleaner such as ZEP . It’s a very low cost, neutral pH and rinse free product. Used properly at one ounce per gallon of water, it will leave no residue. A Neutral Cleaner will not deplete penetrative sealers used on stone and grout and for $10 or so you’ll get 144 ready to use gallons of solution!! (that’s 600 quarts of Bona Clean without the fancy label) Zep does not list wood floors as being suitable but as long as your wood is well sealed with an oil or water based finished, it’s just fine.

Most janitorial supply shops will have their own house brand product, just ask for a “Neutral pH, hard floor, rinse free” solution. Great for Granite counter tops too as it wont deplete the sealer.

I suggest you buy one or two 18″ swivel mops and a wet mop head for every 100 feet of flooring to be cleaned. You’ll need a bucket or utility sink to dip your clean mop heads into to disperse the cleaning solution. Start at the far end of the room and work your way out, You should be able to clean 50 to 100 feet before needing to swap out depending on soil level. The face of the mop will usually NOT show much if any soil. The “micro fibers” work in a way that draws the soil into the foam core of the pad so change the pads out regardless of how they look. The more soiled your floors is, the quicker the foam core will load up to capacity.

I highly recommend www.directmopsales.com to buy your mop and pads. If you don’t shop online, Home Depot, Lowes and your local janitorial supply will have them as well but at three times the price.

When it comes to Mop Head selection, the type with aggressive strips are best for wet cleaning, The type with a loop style fringe around the head are ideal for dust mopping before you wet clean or just for daily “sweeping” in dusty areas. The third choice you’ll find is a very soft, non aggressive pad that is best for applying sealers or finishes or very light wet cleaning on very sensitive floors

You’ll be very pleased with how quick and easy it is to clean all your hard surfaces , and you’ll be amazed at how much longer your floors stay cleaned compared to any other method.