Cleaning & caring for your floors: Maintenance

Your beautiful new floor has completely transformed the appearance of your home. The trick now is to keep it looking as good as it did the day it was installed! Let’s face it; your floors are an investment, and caring for your floors is as important as caring for any other investment. It pays in the long term.

Proper floor maintenance will be dictated by the type of flooring you have. Carpet, timber, laminate, hybrid vinyl and vinyl – all require a different approach to cleaning, care, and maintenance.

Floor maintenance – Keeping your floors up to scratch

Floor maintenance involves both regular maintenance practices and preventative care. The basics of this include:

• All external entrances should have dirt-trapping, colour-fast mats placed to absorb excess moisture from shoes and keep the majority of outside dirt and grit off the internal floors. These mats need to be cleaned regularly.
• Use protective floor coverings when moving heavy furniture. Avoid dragging and sliding appliances or furniture across your floor.
• Sweep your floor or vacuum (bristles down for a non-carpeted floor) regularly to eliminate grit and other objects that may scratch the floor.
• Wipe up spills promptly. Know how to remove the more common spill types (red wine, white wine, coffee, blood, pet and child stains, etc) effectively from the carpet.
• Use the proper products for cleaning floors as recommended by the manufacturer or supplier.
• Have damage to floors professionally repaired promptly.

How to clean your floors correctly

Never use abrasive cleaners, scourers, scouring powders, or steam mops on your floor.

Carpet: vacuum carpets at least twice weekly to remove grit and surface litter. You need to focus particularly around doorways and skirting boards as these are where insects first move in. Have professional steam clean EVERY TWO YEARS not annually as this destroys the carpet fibres.

Timber: sweep or vacuum (bristles down) frequently, and soak up spills quickly as they occur. Mop with a slightly damp mop.

Laminate and Vinyl: laminate floors have a sealed surface which minimises allergies. They can be cleaned with a microfibre mop. Clean laminate slightly damp or dry, but not wet. Use a specialised cleaning product.

Caring for your flooring

Caring for floors also depends on the type of floor you have.

Knowing the right steps for cleaning floors is crucial to getting the best from them. If you’re thinking of updating your floors or need advice on caring for your floors, please don’t hesitate to visit us in our showroom at 73-79 Wises Rd, Maroochydore. We have loads of great options to suit your home and your lifestyle, and we know exactly how your floors can best be maintained and cared for. You can also contact us online or call us for more information at (07) 5443 1295.