Flooring type dictates approach to cleaning, caring

With a little time, love and care, your floors can be kept looking clean and fresh

In a single home, it’s not unusual to find several different types of flooring from laminate to hardwood, linoleum, tile, and carpet.

Few know flooring better than Debbie Chisholm, owner of Cleveland Carpet One in Kentville.

Each type of flooring requires a different type of care and involves a set of best practices to keep it clean. Based on her years of experience in the trade, Chisholm provides her best tips.

TILED FLOORING

One reader wrote in to say that she has ceramic tile floors in her kitchen, but the grout between them is starting to wear away. She had been told she needed to take up the entire floor to solve the problem. Understandably, this would be a large and expensive undertaking, and she wondered

if there was a better way to fix her kitchen floor.

Chisholm reassures that to replace grout on a tile floor, you do not have to take up the tiles.

You do, however, need to grind out all the existing grout between the tiles before you regrout it, she says. If you just try to replace areas that the grout has come out, the grout will be a different color and will eventually come out again.

When grinding out the existing grout, Chisholm says there is a hand tool to do it manually for smaller jobs. There is also a motorized tool for bigger jobs. Both processes are time consuming, she warns.

If you are doing a new build, or laying a new tile floor, that initial floor preparation makes all the difference, says Chisholm. The underlay subfloor must be a minimum of 1 ¼ inches. This

will prevent tile and grout

from cracking in the first place.

There is also a product called Ditra that rolls out like a mat and is used under the tile. This is guaranteed to stop the tiles from moving, which leads to grout cracking.

If you aren’t trying to remove and replace the grout, but just trying to keep it clean, Chisholm advises using a tile

and grout cleaner. This can be purchased at flooring stores like Cleveland Carpet One.

“Do not use a detergent or vinegar, as it is acidic and will eat away at the grout,” says

Chisholm.

LAMINATE AND HARDWOOD FLOOR

For laminate and hardwood flooring, use a cleaner that is specific to those floors. Don’t use water as it can warp them, she says. Use cleaning products, says Chisholm, that do not mix with water.

There is a cleaner called

Once and Done by Armstrong that you do mix with water, but this is only to be used on ceramic and vinyl floors. Water does not affect this

type of flooring, she says.

CARPET

Proper care and cleaning can make a big difference in retaining the appearance and performance of your carpet over time, says Chisholm. Treat spots and stains as soon as they occur. And vacuum regularly.

Consider getting your carpets professionally cleaned every 12 to 18 months to remove trapped soil, suggests Chisholm.

Also, by using a doormat inside and outside at entrances, it helps to trap soil before it can be tracked in and ground

into carpeting.

VINYL

Luxury vinyl flooring is very popular, says Chisholm. It is an easy do-it-yourself installation and is waterproof. This flooring can be purchased to look like both tile and wood.

Again, for cleaning, Chisholm recommends the Once and Done product, used with a mop. Or, she says cleaning vinyl floors is best done the old-fashioned way – with a cloth on your hands and

knees!

SCRATCHES

Unfortunately, scratches can

happen to any floors. A darker floor shows the scratches more than a lighter floor. To

prevent scratches from happening, Chisholm says to keep felt pads on the legs of furniture.

If it does happen, however, she says there are wood finish stain markers to help hide the scratches.

With a little time, love and care, your floors can be kept looking clean and fresh.

Now, it’s just to find the time to do it!