How To Clean a Stone Floor
Natural stone floors are a beautiful addition to any home. The use of stone floors throughout a home can easily brighten and modernize a home. They are also sturdy and durable, lasting many years without cracks or wear and tear.
Although a stone floor is amazing to have in a home, it does need to be cleaned in a specific way. Over time stone floor tiles can lose their shine and luster requiring an intense cleaning by professionals. It is recommended that you sweep at least twice a week in order to grab any dust or dirt to make periodic cleaning and mopping easier.
Prepare the Floor
In order to be able to properly clean a stone floor, you need the right products for the job. Before rushing into cleaning, make sure you have a clean mop, a mop bucket, a broom, towels, and a ph neutral stone cleaner like the ones available from MORE™ Surface Care. Change into some comfortable cleaning clothes as there is a possibility of staining and dirtying the clothes worn. After gathering the materials, sweep and dust the floor using the broom. This allows for easier cleaning as the broom can collect dust and debris before the addition of water and cleaning product.
Mop the Floor
The easiest way to clean a stone floor is by mopping. Fill up a mop bucket with warm, but not hot water, and add a ph neutral stone cleaner. The addition of this ph neutral stone cleaner makes a difference in the long run as it is not acidic and won’t wear down your stone floors. Regular floor cleaner can harm tile as the product is not designed for stone tiles.
After mopping dump the mop water and thoroughly rinse out the mop bucket for the next step.
Rinse the Floors with Warm Water
The next step can be relatively easy or more difficult. If you use a typical stone cleaner, rather than just drying the floors right away, you need to rinse them. Although you might use a generic ph neutral stone cleaner in your mop water to mop, there is always the possibility of leaving behind residue. This residue has the potential to erode and damage the stone tile floor. The residue can also leave streaky marks on your beautiful tile floor that may not be noticeable till the floor dries.
To get rid of the residue, fill up the clean and rinsed out mop bucket with only lukewarm water. Mop like you normally would if you were using the floor cleaner. As the mop bucket water changes color, dump the water and fill the bucket with clean fresh water. After about three different rinses, you should be good to go.
However, if you use a cleaning product from MORE™ Surface Care, there’s no need to rinse and you can skip this step completely!
All Done!
After rinsing, you have two options to dry; air drying and manually drying with a towel. If you choose to air dry, you may have to wait a while before you can walk on your floors. It is recommended to dry with a towel as it speeds up the process and the towel may be able to pick up leftover dirt and debris left behind.
Choose a towel that is sturdy and won’t leave any lint or fabric behind. While the fabric or lint won’t harm the stone floors, it is better to use a towel that won’t leave any mess behind. Taking the towel, begin wiping and dragging the towel in one direction to limit any streak marks. When the floor is dry, admire your work! You are done!