Stone floors have become an integral part of contemporary homes, mainly due to its elegant look and ability to be low maintenance. Natural stone floors often add a luxurious element to your home, but having to clean these floors can be a tedious process. People often think that since they’re looking to preserve their luxurious flooring, that it’s best to opt for a homemade cleaning solution as opposed to purchasing one. With one of the main do-it-yourself cleaning ingredients being vinegar, people often think that this is the solution to a dirty floor. However, this is not the case. Cleaning stone floors with vinegar will damage your floors. This article will go into detail about other alternatives you can make use of to clean your stone floors.
Cleaning Stone Floors
To have your natural stone floor look its best, it’s important to maintain it and keep it clean. Let’s explore some of the ways for cleaning stone floors and what are the do’s and don’ts that need to be considered during the cleaning procedure:
Things to Consider for Achieving Clean Floors
For achieving clean stone floors, you need to keep few important things in mind:
- Brush up all the dirt, dust and sand particles on the surface of the floor.
- Accidental spills need to be cleaned as soon as possible in order to avoid long lasting stains.
- The use of coasters below all glasses will restrict etching and will make your stone surface free from dullness.
- Periodic cleaning needs to be practiced and for better results, deep cleanings also need to be done once in a week.
You can protect your stone surface near the entrance just by placing floor mats or area rugs. This will prevent the entry of sand or dust from shoes. For controlling the accumulation of grit, you need to practice regular sweeping, mopping and vacuuming.
Do’s and Don’ts
- Use of abrasive materials like microfiber scrub pads, steel wool, abrasive scrapers may scratch your stone floors and hence use of these materials need to be restricted.
- Using products that has vinegar, lemon juice, and other acids may definitely cause damage to the surface of the floor and thus it should not be used.
- Dullness of surface will be seen if you use ammonia-based cleaners.
- Use of sealant on the stone surfaces need to be encouraged.
Things you may need for cleaning
- Water
- Bucket
- Wet Mop or a rotating microfiber mop
- Broom or vacuum with rotating brush
- Neutral pH dish soap
How to Clean Stone Floors
- For removing all the dirt and dusts, you need to vacuum or sweep the floor periodically.
- Take a bucket of warm water and then add a small amount of neutral pH dish soap. You’ll then clean the floor with this mixture until clean. You can change the solution once the solution becomes cloudy.
- Use the wet mop or microfiber mop for cleaning the floors.
- Wash the floors starting from corner edge of the room till the exit entrance of the room and allow the floor to dry for some time.
Next Steps
Floors play an integral role in any home. Therefore, it’s important to keep in mind the do’s and don’t of cleaning particular types of floors such as carpets, hardwood floors, laminate, and more to ensure the best results. Overall, cleaning stone floors with vinegar may damage the floor surface and will also give a dull look to the floor. Hence, sweeping, mopping and vacuuming stone floors need to be done in order to keep your natural stone floors sparkling.