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General flooring care and cleaning knowledge is important to extending the longevity of your new flooring purchase. We suggest you study this section carefully if you are about to make a flooring purchase in order to have a good understanding about the general flooring maintenance techniques that are unique to each product category in order to help you decide which type of floor covering you should choose. We also recommend that you use this section to give you an understanding of the things that may be necessary to keep your existing floors looking great for as long as possible.
Basic maintenance involves a regular cleaning program categorized into three types. We will refer to them as General flooring care and cleaning deep flooring care and cleaning, and stain treatment/removal. ALL THREE are extremely important, and for a long time it seems that the consumer has had nowhere to go to get a thorough and accurate information source on how to do each. Surprisingly, a solid maintenance program can and will extend the usable life of any flooring product. We cannot stress enough the importance of this topic.
Carpet care and cleaning is said to be the simplest category of flooring care and cleaning, however, to do it properly the maintenance on carpeting is the most expensive over the life of the product. Hard surface maintenance however can be performed by the consumer and can cost less to maintain over time. Good general flooring maintenance practices are sometimes not given the importance that they should. In the next few sections of this page we will give you simple basic understandings of each category. Please register for FREE care and cleaning tips and reminders. and let us take the worry out of this for you!
GENERAL CLEANING (for carpets) General cleaning of carpets involves removing the visible particles from the surface and the soil that may get into the surface pile. Visible things can of course be picked up by hand or scooped up with a non electric carpet cleaning device or removed with a suction only vacuum. Removing the soil that has been pushed into the surface pile (and believe us it is there no matter how clean your house is) NEEDS to be removed with a power vacuum with a "ROTATING BAR OR BRUSH". This is a MUST not only for effectiveness, but also in most cases for a manufacturers warranty to remain valid.*
DEEP CLEANING (for carpets) Deep cleaning of carpets is the most crucial flooring care and cleaning to help with longevity of your product, it involves any one of a number of deep cleaning methods that are available. Methods of Deep cleaning of carpets would include Hot water extraction, dry cleaning systems, hot foam extraction, and shampooing. each one has distinct advantages and disadvantages and most can either be done on a do-it-yourself level or you can hire a professional. Be aware of the position of the manufacturer of your individual flooring product. Flooring Care and Cleaning Guide
STAIN REMOVAL (for carpets) Stain removal for carpets has become a complex undertaking it is fairly self explanatory but can consist of many variations on how to remove stains based on what the stain actually is. For your convenience we have included a comprehensive stain chart on this site. We advise that you find out what type of yarn, backing, and brand your carpet is to simplify things. It is also helpful to be conscious of when a stain gets on your carpet, and making note of what the stain is in order to use the proper removal method. for tips on this subject and much more in depth information visit our page on Carpet Care and Cleaning
GENERAL CLEANING (for hard surfaces) General cleaning of hard surfaces involves removing loose debris from the surface of your floor. Obviously larger items can be picked up and removal of other smaller loose particles can be done in a number of ways. Most of the well known methods can be used safely on most hard surface floors such as a traditional dust mop, a broom and dustpan, or a vacuum WITH a hard surface cleaning attachment.
DEEP CLEANING (for hard surfaces) Deep cleaning of hard surfaces involves "wet" cleaning. this method of wet flooring care and cleaning can be done a number of ways. The most common is a mopping method from a standing position, there are a variety of mop types available today and some work much better than others. We advise that you use the system that works best to clean your floors WITHOUT saturating it with an excessive amount of water cleaning wood floors, cleaning Laminate flooring, cleaning bamboo flooring cleaning cork flooring or when wet cleaning any other "wood based" flooring product.
STAIN REMOVAL (for hard surfaces) Stain removal on hard surface floors is less often discussed than on carpets because there are less things that will stain hard surface floors than carpets. Although there are things that will stain vinyl, wood, bamboo, or cork, and a few very stubborn things that can stain vinyl and even tile. Each has a unique method to attempt to remove it. We have included a generic stain removal guide for each type of hard surface flooring in this site. We do suggest however that you ALWAYS verify the manufacturers position before using any methods that may void your warranty. insider help in this area is available in our informative flooring care and cleaning guide
Tile and stone have a unique set of care, cleaning, and maintenance issues. The main challenge for as long as we can remember is cleaning grout. Basic flooring care and cleaning of most tile is easy otherwise. Stone on the other hand can require a bit more care. Be sure before you purchase one of these products that you have a full understanding of the pros and cons of owning a Tile or stone floor. an in depth review of this information is available in our Cleaning tile and Stone section. Or in our Tile and Stone care guide or in our flooring care and cleaning Guide in the tile and stone section.
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