Cleaning your floors is important for maintaining a tidy home, here are some tips and tricks to clean floor tiles effectively while also keeping them in great condition.
It’s no secret that keeping your floors clean is essential and sometimes it feels like there are an array of choices when it comes to what cleaning method or products to use. Regardless, ensuring you choose the best way to clean floor tiles is just as important as keeping them looking good. With the right approach, you can maintain long-lasting results which will keep your home spick and span! I’ve always kept our bathroom tile floors looking sparkling clean whilst taking great care not to damage their integrity with harsh chemicals.
CLEANING KIT
- Broom or vacuum cleaner
- Mop and Bucket
- Floor Cleaner or DIY Floor Cleaner (see recipe below)
- Antibacterial Cleaner
- White Vinegar
- Mild laundry detergent
Floor Cleaner (with vinegar)
Description
Floor cleaner with vinegar is best used on vinyl, tile and cork flooring.
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon dishwashing liquid
- 1/2 cup white vinegar
Instructions
- Half fill a mop bucket with room temperature water.
- Add dishwashing liquid and vinegar
- Gently stir with mop.
Steps to clean your floor tiles
All these step and DIY recipes can be found in my book, The Clean Home.
TO CLEAN THE FLOOR
- Sweep or vacuum the floor to pick up dust and dirt. This step can help prevent scratches and damage to your tiles during mopping.
- Half fill the mop bucket with water and the floor cleaner recommended for your floor type.
- Dip the mop into the bucket and wring out excess water. It’s essential to ensure that the mop is only damp, not soaking wet, as this can cause damage to certain floor types and lengthen drying time.
- Begin mopping from one end of the room to the other, using a side-to-side motion. As you progress, move backward so that you are standing on an area of the floor that has not yet been cleaned.
- Once’ve mopped a small area, rinse the mop head in the bucket and repeat the process. If necessary, refill the mop bucket with fresh water and floor cleaner to ensure effective cleaning.
- Allow the floor to dry completely before walking on it.
When cleaning high-gloss porcelain tiles, use a solution that is half the strength of what you would typically use on other surfaces. Rinse the tiles thoroughly to remove reside and dry them with a cloth, to leave them with a shiny finish.
TO CLEAN THE MOP BUCKET
- Empty used mop water either in the garden or down the drain.
- Rinse the mop bucket thoroughly with hot water and spray with vinegar or an antibacterial cleaner.
- Ensure the bucket is completely dry before storing it away.
TO CLEAN THE MOP HEAD
- If your mop head cannot be removed, soak it in a mixture of hot water and 1 cup of vinegar for 10 minutes. Wring out the mop head and let it dry in direct sunlight.
- For machine-washable mop heads, toss them in with other dirty cleaning cloths and add 1 cup of vinegar along with your regular detergent. Once done, dry the mop head in the sun to naturally eliminate bacteria.
How often?
Weekly – vacuum and mop all floor areas.
To avoid bacterial growth, never leave your mop head soaking in the bucket of dirty water for more than 24 hours.
