Did you know that you can keep your wood/laminate floor in best shape by simple, easy to apply methods?? The issues that customers sometime bring out are:

1. The floor has lost its natural shine (whatever that may be when it was new) looks dull…
2. The edges of the individual planks look raised, particularly, in the case of laminate floors, when the curtains are open
3. The floor joints/texture have accumulated dirt

The problem that has been observed in actual cases is the cleaning system we practise.

Normally, the cleaning system followed is the use of a broom (Jharu) finished with a wet mop (pochha). However, easy it may be though, a major shortcoming is the resettling of the dust that gets air borne while brooming. After a while (mostly by the time a wet mop is being applied), it sets down on the floor again in a very fine layer not normally visible to the naked eye. What now happens is that the wet mop now makes this dust wet and it sticks to the floors even more. The result – marks on the floor.. If one sees against light, one would see smudges as if another layer has formed on the floor..

This is particularly visible on darker coloured floors. The second issue crops up due to excessive use of wet mopping. The water in the mop, seeps in the joints and makes them swell just a little bit. Daily exposure keeps the joints raised.. result is raised joints that do not look nice and also bring about hastened wearing of the edges. The edges are now raised so your foot always hits them more..

The last issue of dirt in textures and joints is once again because of the wet mopping system which causes the dust to turn into a sludge which fills the textures or pores in the floor. If one observes, this problem is common even to marble, tile or any stone floor. The joints or any natural texture catch dirt..

Solution??? Simple! Prevention first..

Catch hold of a good vacuum cleaner. This is the best way to remove the dust. No resettling here.. Regarding wet mopping, I think to do it daily is more of a tradition than necessity. I have seen houses where there is no need to wet mop daily yet it is being done, more out of habit.

Nevertheless, if you feel the need, do it by all means. Just ensure that the mop is clean, well wrung and only moist and not wet! It is best to train your household help and have them demonstrate till the time they can do it well. At Span Floors, prior to handing over the site (if we are doing the installation), we provide a free training to your staff in the cleaning and maintenance procedure.

Also, every once in a while, you could use a speciality floor cleaning product which takes care of this accumulated dirt and returns the original, like new, look to the floor. We stock Bona care products, from Sweden, which include a simple and easy to use Mop handle, an antistatic mop and a cleaning spray.

It takes care of any films that may have formed over your floor over the period and makes it much easier to clean the textures or joints. Bona cleaners are suitable even for marble, stone and tiles as well. Just call us if you need one!

Until next time..

Satinder