Keeping a home clean when you have furry pets can be a real challenge, but having solid flooring instead of carpeting helps, since you can sweep, vacuum and scrub hard surface floors far more frequently than with carpeting. for example Vinyl Flooring, Carpet traps particles, fur and dander and anyone who suffers from allergies may experience irritation or symptoms, even after a thorough carpet cleaning.
Hard surface floors are easy to wipe up with common, natural chemicals like water, mild cleaners and even diluted vinegar and water. Over time, vinegar as a cleaner helps improve the shine on finished floors, like wood or ceramic tile. Vinegar also kills bacteria, something to consider with pets in the home.
Although it’s tempting to use stronger products like chlorine bleach to kill germs, but the residue that’s left behind can be hazardous to your pets. Cats, especially, use their tongues to clean themselves and can ingest any chemicals left behind. Daily cleaning for hard surface flooring may not be necessary, but the more frequently that you sweep or vacuum the surface, the lower the odds are of creating tiny scratches when you walk across the floors. Vinyl floors, especially, have a tendency to need more frequent cleaning since their surfaces are softer.
Although you’ll have to rinse it with fresh, clean water afterwards, scrubbing a dirty vinyl floor with hot water and dissolved dishwasher soap is an easy way to quickly remove built-up and ground-in grime from these floors. After cleaning hardwood floors, do not use wax on them. Over time, wax builds on the floor’s surface and if you ever have to repair or refinish the floors, the build-up can interfere with the refinishing process.
Following the instructions the manufacturer provided for cleaning wood floors keeps them looking new for longer periods and protects the finish. Ceramic tile is one of the easiest kinds of flooring to clean, either with natural cleaners like vinegar or household floor cleaners. Like wood floors, not using a wax on them keeps them looking good longer.
You may need to reseal the grout joints between stone and tile floors from time to time to keep the dirt from grinding into the porous joints. I started getting interested in this after I found a story about it on www.flooringcanada.ca/. If the grout is excessively dirty, small appliances like steamers can lift the dirt. It’s always a good idea to seal stone floors like sandstone or flagstone before subjecting them to family and pet traffic.