hardwood flooring sites.com

By Vincent Platania

How many times have you entered a store searching for the perfect wood floor cleaning product and once you arrived at the proper aisle, you were floored to see the vast selection of products on the market for cleaning your wood floors?  Which should you pick, the cheap one, the expensive one?  Who knows?

The Evolving Wood Floor
 
Wood flooring was made popular a long, long time ago.  Around the turn of the century wood flooring was just about the only type of flooring found in homes.  There is nothing better than to purchase an older home, rip up the carpeting, and only hope that beautiful natural wood floors are beneath it.  So many consumers are searching for that perfect wood flooring, whether it is a natural wood, or laminate wood flooring.

What to Avoid When Cleaning a Wood Floor

The secret to a beautiful, wood floor is never, ever use water on the floor.  If water is spilled it should be wiped up immediately to prevent damage to your wood floor.  There are hundreds of wood floor cleaning products.  Your job is to read the label.  Find out what’s in that product.  Most wood floors have a finish on them, usually a urethane coating.  Never use a wax or waxed based product on your wood floor.  You can use a cleaner/polisher to enhance the finish of your wood flooring. Using a polishing mop with a soft material such as terry cloth is recommended to ensure a polished look to your wood floors.

Taking Preventative Measures
 
Of course the first step in floor care is preventative maintenance.  To maintain your wood floor’s natural beauty and finish you should use carpet rugs in high traffic areas and around sinks.  These rugs will need to be vacuumed often, so that dirt does not collect beneath them onto your wood floors.  High heals should not be worn on wood floors as they could potentially dent them.  Keeping your pets nails trimmed will also result in less scratching.  Along with this, never slide furniture across your wood floors when moving your furniture around.  Place a carpet rug underneath the legs of the furniture before moving.  It is also recommended to place protector pads underneath legs of all furniture.

The best preventative maintenance is to keep your floors clean of debris.  Whether you sweep, dust or vacuum your wood floors, keeping them dirt free is the key.  Using a soft duster is one of the best options for keeping a wood floor clean.  Dust mops are perfect for pet hair, lint and dust and should be used daily on your wood floors, along with a gentle cleaning product that will clean your floor as you dust.  A clean floor leads to a happy home owner.  Keep the overall beauty of your wood floors by taking the time to find out exactly what it is you are putting on those beautiful wood floors.

Author Vincent Platania represents the Fuller Brush Company.Fuller Brush has been in business since 1906, and offers safe, environmentally friendly products for keeping your home and your body clean.
Visit http://www.fuller-brush-products.com

By Vincent Platania

When you begin shopping for the perfect product to clean your floors, you may you’re yourself overwhelmed by the shear multitude of choices out there.  In addition, you are not likely to find one product capable of caring for all of the flooring in your home.  Nonetheless, whether you’re shopping at your local market, online, or at a specialty stores, every company seems to have the perfect product to clean your flooring.

The perfect cleaner can be found whether you have hardwood floors, laminate, tile, vinyl or laminate floors.  There’s a product if not a dozen that will assist you in keeping your floors looking like they day they were installed.

The array of floor cleaning products not only consists of chemicals to clean the floor, but also products to apply those chemicals!  No matter what type of floors you have, you need the proper tools to clean them.  Before you purchase those products you will need to determine the proper tools needed to keep your floors clean.

1.  Brooms/Dust mops: The first step in maintaining a beautiful floor is to daily sweep the debris brought into the home off of the floors.  This applies to hard wood, most tiled floors and linoleum.  You will want to purchase a soft bristled and angular broom or a dust/dry mop. Dirt, sand, and other debris can scratch hard woods and will discolor the grout in tile flooring.   Keeping debris off of the floor is the most important step in maintaining the natural beauty of any floor.

2.  Cleaners: The second step in maintaining beautiful floors is the cleaner.  For most hard floors including hard wood, all stone tiles and ceramics you will want to use a cleaner that will clean and protect the floor until it’s time to clean again.  There are multi cleaners that are available to clean all types of hard flooring.  These cleaners gently clean and leave no residue on your floors.  For hard wood you will want to purchase a product designed specifically for wood floors.  For marble, vinyl, and linoleum flooring you will want to choose a product that will mop and shine the floor in one step.  Make sure the product is acceptable to use on no-wax floors.

3. Mops:  Just as important as the cleaners, is the tool you use to apply the cleaners.  You should use a soft mop when cleaning hardwood floors, typically made with a terry cloth or similar product. This will help to polish the floors as you clean.  For tile flooring including slate, stone, and granite it is best to use a cotton mop or a sponge mop.  These mops are best for tiled floors with grout and are also very effective on vinyl and linoleum flooring.

With the right tools and the right floor cleaning products, you will achieve success in keeping your flooring looking beautiful year after year.

Author Vincent Platania represents the Fuller Brush Company.Fuller Brush has been in business since 1906, and offers safe, environmentally friendly products for keeping your home and your body clean.
Visit http://www.fuller-brush-products.com

By Vincent Platania

In the world of electronics and robots, we often tend to find a machine to do the work for us!  Of course there is a cost that comes with this, and sometimes it’s a huge cost.  Your decision to make the job a little bit easier for yourself does come with a price tag.  There is a multitude of floor cleaning machines that will and can make the job of cleaning your tile floors that much easier.  It all depends on the price you are willing to pay.

Most floor cleaning machines are commercial.  These machines are not only big in size but also big in price, ranging into the thousands of dollars.  However there are some tile floor cleaning machines designed for the individual consumer.  These machines range from $250.00 up to $1000.00.  So it all depends on the amount of money you want to put into purchasing a machine.

Probably the most popular home cleaning machine is the Oreck Orbiter.  This machine is fairly compact and will perform a multitude of tasks in your home from cleaning your tile and grout, to dry cleaning your carpets.  Along with these features it also sands, polishes, strips, scrubs, waxes, and cleans almost any floor surface in your home.  And it comes with a price tag of around $399.00.

Your decision is should you invest in a machine to professionally clean your tile floors or not.  However there is another option!  That option is to maintain your tile flooring from the get-go.  Maintaining your tile floors is very simple as long as you provide constant and consistent care to the tile and the grout.

Providing daily and weekly preventative maintenance to your tile flooring will result in never having to hire a professional, or even purchase a tile floor cleaning machine.  Daily sweeping or dusting your floors is the first step.  By keeping debris off of the tile flooring that can harm the floor or the grout is most important.  Using a broom or a dust mop daily will result in extending the lifetime of your tile, keeping its natural beauty at its optimum.

Along with the daily maintenance you will want to clean the tile and grout on a weekly basis.  Using a cleaning product designed to clean both the tile and the grout will combine the process into one step.  To also enhance your tile flooring and to ease the cleaning process it is recommended that you use carpet rugs in high traffic areas of your home and at all entrances to catch the dirt and debris brought into your home.  Also, providing carpet rugs in your kitchen around the sink, dishwasher, stove and refrigerator will also ease the cleaning process.  Paying special attention to the grout, which is a dirt magnet, will also result in beautiful tile flooring.

Whether to purchase a tile floor cleaning machine all depends on the depth of your pocketbook, and the effort and commitment you want to put into keeping your tile floors looking their very best.

Author Vincent Platania represents the Fuller Brush Company.Fuller Brush has been in business since 1906, and offers safe, environmentally friendly products for keeping your home and your body clean.
Visit http://www.fuller-brush-products.com

By Vincent Platania

What is parquet flooring?  Parquet flooring is a type of flooring created from strips or blocks of wood that form a pattern.  So, when cleaning a parquet floors you would use the same process as cleaning hardwood floors.

As with hardwood floors, the best method for care is to provide preventative maintenance.  There are several things you can do to assist you in making the cleaning process easier.  Parquet or wood floors should be swept often.  Dirt, sand and outside debris can easily scratch any type of wood flooring.  Keeping the debris off of your wood floors is one of the best ways to maintain the newness to your parquet floors.

Along with daily sweeping or dry dust mopping you will want to use carpet rugs to trap the dirt and debris.  Placing carpet rugs at all entrances to your home will assist in trapping debris as it is brought in on shoes.  It is important that you also vacuum the carpet rugs to pull out the dirt and debris as often as possible.  Placing carpet rugs in high traffic or high use areas around your home will also help in protecting your parquet flooring.

Unlike laminates your parquet floors do not come with the added finish coating.  It is up to you to provide that shiny surface.  An easy way to do that is to use a cleaner and polisher in one. Using a cleaning product that combines cleaning and polishing in one, cuts the job in half.  This allows you more time to admire your beautiful parquet floors, than cleaning them.

It is important to use the proper instrument when cleaning and polishing your parquet floor.  It is recommended that you use an instrument with a flat surface, and a soft cloth or terry cloth. This cloth makes shining your wood floors easy as can be.

It is important that you not use water to clean your parquet floors.  These floors are wood, and water will damage them.  It is also important to clean up any water as soon as it is spilled.  Never use any products that contain wax on your parquet floors.  Remember they are wood floors and should be treated like all other wood floors.  It is also important that you take steps in protecting your parquet floors.  You should not wear high heals on a parquet floor as they could dent them.  It is also important that your pet’s nails are kept clipped so they do not scratch the wood.  Never drag furniture across a wood floor, either lift the furniture, or place a small carpet rug under the legs to slide the furniture across the floor.  It is also recommended to place wood protector covers under the legs of all furniture.

Taking care of your parquet floors can and will be an easy project as long as you provide preventative maintenance and a cleaning routine that is consistent.

Author Vincent Platania represents the Fuller Brush Company.Fuller Brush has been in business since 1906, and offers safe, environmentally friendly products for keeping your home and your body clean.
Visit http://www.fuller-brush-products.com

By Vincent Platania

Laminate floors are quickly becoming the new fad with homeowners.  For those who are still unaware of what laminate flooring is, it is layers of materials compressed together to create flooring.  It is capable of taking on any effect and being any color desired.

You can purchase laminate flooring that looks like wood or stone tiles, in a variety of shapes.  Not only is laminate flooring easy to clean, it can save you hundreds of dollars in the long run.  In fact, you don’t have to empty your savings account any longer to get that beautiful hardwood floor.  You can purchase a laminate look alike, which is just as durable as a wood floor if not more.  For these reasons and more, laminate flooring is gaining in popularity.

Cleaning Laminate Flooring

What is the best way to keep your laminate floors clean?  Due to the fact that laminates have several layers, the first layer or the surface protects the laminate floor.  With this protection, keeping your laminate floor clean has just become easier.  The best tip for cleaning your laminate floor is to purchase a cleaner that is safe for laminates. Do not use wax cleaners, polishes or abrasive cleaning products on your laminate flooring as they can damage the finish.

Along with using the proper cleaner, there are other tips to assist you in maintaining the natural beauty of your laminate flooring.  Unlike hardwood floors you can use warm water to clean your laminate flooring.  It is suggested to use a good mop  and ring the mop out twice as excessive water will damage your laminate flooring.  Do not allow spills to stand on your laminate flooring, wipe them up immediately to keep the quality of your laminate floors in tact.

Protecting Laminate Flooring
 
As with any hard flooring, using carpet rugs in high traffic areas is also a must with laminate floors.  You should also consider using rugs in areas of high use, such as in the kitchen and near all sinks.  Carpet rugs help to trap dirt and debris brought from outside your home.  Along with providing rugs, you should also sweep your laminate floors often.   If time permits, sweep your floors daily.  This will help to ensure that your laminate floors remain beautiful.

With so many choices in laminate flooring, it’s hard to go wrong when making laminate the floor of your choice.  With its easy maintenance and low cost, you’ve saved both time and money.  Remember, to keep those laminate floors looking beautiful, use a product designed to clean laminate floors.  If it doesn’t say “safe for laminate floors” then don’t purchase it.  Most laminate floor cleaners are cost effective and save time in the cleaning process.  Using a cleaner that is not designed for your laminate floor can lead to disaster.  Repairing or replacing a laminate floor takes much more time then reading the labels of the cleaning products available to you.

Author Vincent Platania represents the Fuller Brush Company.Fuller Brush has been in business since 1906, and offers safe, environmentally friendly products for keeping your home and your body clean.
Visit http://www.fuller-brush-products.com

By Vincent Platania

Okay, all you wood floor owners, listen up!  There are so many tips that you have been given over the years to help you maintain those beautiful wood floors.  You’ve probably heard all them out there. Whether it was from a friend, or a professional, or maybe something good ole’ mom told you, or even a hint you found on the Internet, you have certainly heard many pearls of wisdom. Whichever, who do you listen to? And what is the best tip in maintaining a beautiful wood floor.

So just what is the best cleaning tip for wood floors?  Is it the fact that you should never use water on your wood floors, or never allow water products or liquids to sit for any amount of time on your wood floors as water is the wood floor’s worst enemy?

Or could it be that you should use carpet rugs in high traffic areas to maintain that wonderful hardwood look.  Or maybe it’s never to wear high heals on your wood floors as they can easily dent the floor?  Then again, maybe it’s you should never drag furniture across a wood floor.  And then again it could be that you should use protective covers under all furniture.

There are so many possibilities, and so many solutions.  Who should you listen to? Should you listen to all of them or only select a few?  Or should you direct all your unanswered questions to only the professionals?  What and where are the best tips for wood floor cleaning out there?

Could the best tip be that you should sweep or dust mop your wood floors on a daily basis to keep debris such as pet hair, dirt, lint or dust off of your floors?  Or is it that dirt, grit and sand act like sandpaper on your wood floors?  Or maybe it’s the tip that using a wood floor cleaning product made specifically for your wood floors is the best tip in maintaining beautiful wood floors?

Who should you listen to, and what tips should you pay attention to?  The best tip for cleaning wood floors that I can give is: listen to the tips from other wood floor owners who have beautiful, natural wood floors in the best shape.  These are the people you should pay attention to.  Whether it’s your mom, brother, cousin, best friend; listen to the person who has beautiful wood floors.  They are the people who know how to maintain a beautiful wood floor and they have the best tips by-far.  Why?  Because they’ve already tested all the tips out there, and made all the mistakes for you.

So when you need to maintain a beautiful wood floor, go to the person who has those beautiful maintained wood floors in their homes and listen to all of their tips!  Whether they are professionals or your favorite aunt, listen to the wood floor owner who has many years of caring for a beautiful well maintained wood floor.

Author Vincent Platania represents the Fuller Brush Company.Fuller Brush has been in business since 1906, and offers safe, environmentally friendly products for keeping your home and your body clean.
Visit http://www.fuller-brush-products.com

By Vincent Platania

Marble is a metamorphic rock resulting from the metamorphism of limestone. Metamorphism can be defined as the solid state recrystallisation of pre-existing rocksdue to changes in heat and/or pressure and/or introduction of fluids.  This metamorphic process causes a complete recrystallization of the original rock into an interlocking mosaic of calcite and/or dolomite crystals.

What does this mean to the marble floor owner?  Marble is one of the softest stone flooring products on todays market, however it is one of the most popular choices due to its natural beauty.  Marble is highly pourous. So it is very easily etched by acids such as orange juice, tomatoe juice, and vinegar.

Taking Care of it Right Away

The first step in maintaining and cleaning your marble floors is “wipe it up immediately”.  This is so important with marble floors as salt dissolves and pits marble and acids will etch marble.  Any liguids or solids which contain salt or acids are your marble flooring’s worst enemy.  So if you spill it, wipe it up immediately with warm water, followed by drying the surface with a soft cloth. To further protect your marble flooring, it is recommended that you use small carpet rugs at any entrance and around sinks as these rugs will also assist in trapping soil, dirt, water or any ice-melting salts brought into your home.

Maintaining the Beauty
 
To maintain the beauty of your marble floors, weekly maintenance should include cleaning with a damp mop and then drying the surface with a soft cloth or chamois. Drying the surface will bring back its natural shine.  It will also avoid any water stains.  This is very common on marble floors.  Always dry your marble floors with a soft cloth.  Use a neutral, non-abrasive cleaner to ensure all spots or stains are removed once per month.  Never use vinagar to clean marble flooring as it will destroy the finish.

It is very important to dry your marble floors after each cleaning with a soft or chamois cloth.  To further enhance the beauty of your marble floors you will want to polish or wax them.  Using a wax designed for no wax floors is recommended.  There are alos products which are safe for marble flooring, designed to mop and shine in one step, saving the home owner valuable time.

To Seal or Not to Seal?
 
Unlike most stone flooring, professional’s do not recommend sealing a marble floor.   This will take away from it’s natural finish.  The sealer can become dulled and scratch and will have to be professionally stipped.  It is also recommended that for any set in stains, chips, or pits, to have a professional to handle these problems.  Your marble floors are one of the softest stone floors available.  Your marble flooring also probably came with a huge price tag.  The weekly care and maintenance is most important step in maintaining the natural beauty of your marble floor.  The beauty of marble being the reason for your purchase in the first place can be easily maintained.

Author Vincent Platania represents the Fuller Brush Company.Fuller Brush has been in business since 1906, and offers safe, environmentally friendly products for keeping your home and your body clean.
Visit http://www.fuller-brush-products.com

By Vincent Platania

What is terrazzo flooring?  Terrazzo is a mixture of marble and Portland cement mixed together; two parts marble to one part cement.  When it is installed, marble chips are sprinkled on the surface so that a majority of the surface is marble.  Terrazzo was most popular during the 50’s – 70’s but is making its come back over the past few years.

To be able to clean the terrazzo floor you have to understand what it is made of.  The marble part of its surface is almost non-absorbent; however the cement binder is very porous and absorbs stains easily.  This is the part of the flooring which will cause you the most grief.  In older floors this seems to be the biggest problem; however if you are having a new terrazzo floor installed, the last step of installation is to apply a penetrating sealant approved for terrazzo.  This sealant will be absorbed by the concrete pores, greatly reducing the absorption quality of the concrete.

If you have an existing terrazzo floor that is stained, you will have to use several steps to restore it.  First you will want to remove the existing build-up with a plastic scraper (do not use metal scrapers) Apply your floor cleaner over the surface with a mop.  For stubborn yellow stains, use a soft-bristled scrub brush.  You will need to rinse the floor with a mop and water, rinsing the mop often.  Be sure to rinse well so that the floor can be sealed.  Once your floor is rinsed, then dry, apply an approved sealant with a roll paint brush.  Allow plenty of time to dry.

If you have new terrazzo being installed, most of the work is done for you.  With today’s products, the sealants will provide a beautiful and long lasting look for your floors.  Terrazzo is easy to clean as long as the installation process was performed according to the installation instructions.

It is important to keep sand and debris off the floor.  Sweep the floor often as this debris acts as an abrasive and can damage the floor.  Use a cleaner designed or approved for a terrazzo floor. Wet mop the floor allowing the cleaner to remain on the floor for several minutes.  For the best results, rinse the cleaner off the floor thoroughly.  You may need to change your rinse water a few times.  Once the cleaner has been removed towel dry the floor to prevent water streak marks from appearing and to restore the floors natural shine.  Do not use any types of wax on your terrazzo floor.

As with any hard flooring you can use carpet mats to trap dirt from coming into your home onto your clean terrazzo floor.  You may also want to place carpet rugs in high traffic areas and high use areas such as your kitchen.  With daily sweeping, and weekly mopping, your terrazzo floor will look as new as the day it was installed.

Author Vincent Platania represents the Fuller Brush Company.Fuller Brush has been in business since 1906, and offers safe, environmentally friendly products for keeping your home and your body clean.
Visit http://www.fuller-brush-products.com

By Vincent Platania
Stone flooring has become increasingly popular over the past few decades.  Due to the durability of stone flooring, combined with its hard surface and its easy maintenance, stone flooring is in the forefront when it comes to choosing the surface for your floors.  Whether you choose ceramic, porcelain, mosaic, marble, or slate, you can count on a floor that will be durable and beautiful for many years to come.

Making Your Stone Flooring Last

No matter what type of stone flooring you choose for your home, with proper care and maintenance your flooring will last for many years to come.  A broom, mop and bucket are the first necessary tools in maintaining your stone floors.  More than that, it’s the types of tools and cleaners that you use which will make the impact you want on your stone floors.

Dos and Don’ts of Stone Floor Care
What are the dos and don’ts of stone floor care?  First, DO sweep or dust your floors daily.  Stone floors can stand up to the roughest, toughest families. The first and most important step in maintenance is keeping foreign particles off of the floor.  Daily sweeping or dusting of your stone floors with an angled broom or dust broom will keep your stone floors free of harsh materials which in the long run can hurt them.  DO use carpet rugs at all entrances to assist in trapping any dirt or sand brought into your home.  Sand is made of quarts, the world’s second strongest mineral.  This could mean disaster for your stone floors, scratching and dulling them.  Preventative maintenance is the first step to maintaining beautiful stone floors. 

DON’T use harsh abrasives on your stone floors.  Harsh abrasives will not only scratch the tile surface, but also affect the grout between the tiles.  Using a gentle cleaner

will preserve the shine and surface of any types of stone floors.  Weekly maintenance of your stone floors with warm water and a gentle cleaner will keep your stone floors looking like new.  DON’T use cleaners which contain acids or are abrasive.  There are many cleaning products on the market today, made specifically to clean every type of stone flooring.

With most types of stone flooring grout is the part of your stone floors which traps most of the dirt.  DO pay special attention to the grout.  The grout between the tiles of your stone floor should be sealed upon installation.  To maintain and upkeep the grouting, use a cleaner designed to specifically to clean grout. If you have older stone flooring, you also have the choice to stain the grout using a staining product in a variety of colors.  Staining the grout will also seal it, resulting in a much easier cleaning process.

Consistent and proper maintenance is the key to sustaining beautiful stone floors.  It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3.  Just remember to follow the DO’s and DON’TS when maintaining your stone floors.

Author Vincent Platania represents the Fuller Brush Company.Fuller Brush has been in business since 1906, and offers safe, environmentally friendly products for keeping your home and your body clean.
Visit http://www.fuller-brush-products.com

By Vincent Platania

Purchasing hardwood flooring was the easy part.  The next step, and probably the trickier part, is keeping your hardwood floors clean and protected.  The key to success is to do a little….often!  That’s right, constant and consistent care to your hardwood floors is the best remedy to keep them beautiful and long lasting.  Setting a plan to protect and clean your hardwood floors should be the first step once you have your hardwood floors installed.  Here are some good protection and cleaning steps you might want to add to your hardwood floor care plan.

Protecting Your Hardwood Floor

Protecting your hardwood floors is by far the best practice to adhere to in order to keep it around for years to come.  Most often, “we” are the reason for the problems we experience with our hardwood floors, simply because we fail to take proper care of the floor.  To ensure your hardwood floors remain damage free, follow the simple steps below.

1.  Place doormats outside of all entries to your home in order to trap debris.

2.  Place carpet rugs inside the entrances to your home to trap dirt, sand, and other particles brought into your home that makes it past the doormats.

3.  Place carpet rugs around sink areas, work areas and high traffic areas to trap debris and protect your hardwood floors from spills.

4.  Do not wear high heals on hard wood floors (or if you do, make sure the heals are not damaged)

5.  Keep all pet nails trimmed to avoid small scratches on hardwood floor..

6.  Use wood floor protector covers under the legs of all furniture

7.  Never drag furniture across wood flooring. (place a small carpet rug underneath the legs to resist scratching your hardwood floor)
Cleaning Your Hardwood Floor

Cleaning your hardwood floors can be easy and effortless, as long as you are consistent.  To ensure the beauty of your hardwood floors follow the below steps:
1.  Sweep, dust, or vacuum your hardwood floors daily.  Dirt or sand particles can easily scratch the hardwood floor.

2.  Vacuum any carpet rugs weekly so that dirt or debris is not trapped below the rugs, scratching your hardwood floors.

3.  Clean your hardwood floors weekly with a cleaning agent designed for hardwood floors.

4.  Wipe up any water or other liquids spilled on your hardwood floors immediately.

5.  Never use water to clean your hardwood floors.

6.  Never use products that contain wax on your hardwood floors.

When protecting and cleaning hardwood floors, always keep in mind the old saying “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”.  Spending a little bit of time daily and weekly on your hardwood floors will result in you never having to experience the “big problems” found in neglecting hardwood floors.  Set forth a plan, a good plan to protect and clean your hardwood floors and follow that routine.  And remember, a little bit of effort goes a long way.
Author Vincent Platania represents the Fuller Brush Company.Fuller Brush has been in business since 1906, and offers safe, environmentally friendly products for keeping your home and your body clean.
Visit http://www.fuller-brush-products.com