Your flooring is really the workhorse of your home. It gets used daily, it can make or break the appearance of a room, it directly impacts the value of your home, and it has a major influence on a space’s comfort level. Fortunately, taking care of your flooring doesn’t need to be complicated or time-consuming, as long as you know what you’re doing. Smart floor care can go a long way towards extending the life of your flooring in Sarasota, FL, making things look clean and nice, and ensuring that your floors aren’t harboring germs and harmful bacteria. Hardwood Hardwood is a gorgeous and classy option for beautifying any space. It requires some maintenance, but they payoff is well worth it. The first kind of care you should be concerned with is preventative. Avoid walking on your wood floors with damaging shoes (think spiked cleats or high heels), clean up spills and standing water immediately, don’t use oil-based products or citrus cleaners on your floors, and keep pets’ nails short to avoid scratching. If spills do happen, use a wood-specific cleaner and damp (not wet) mop or rag to clean things up. Laminate Wood Laminate is a great, cost-effective alternative to wood floors. Like wood, you should avoid standing water and soaking mops or rags. Use soft cleaning rags or mops to avoid scratches, and use ice to harden spilled waxes or gum before removing. Another smart way to protect your laminate (or wood) is to keep blinds closed when possible to avoid UV damage. Tile Tile is a fabulous option for high-traffic or wet areas. It is extremely durable and water resistant, making it a perfect choice for kitchens, laundry rooms, bathrooms, and more. Tile is known for being very easy to clean, since you can use any sort of broom, all-purpose cleaner, mop, disinfecting wipe, or other cleaner. Just make sure to avoid steel wool or other metal brushes. Maintaining the grout is really the only part that requires work, since it does need to be sealed again every few years. Laminate Tile Options Laminate tile floors imitate the look of tile or stone floors, but they can be installed on top of existing flooring without glue. Cleaning should be done with laminate-specific cleaner and a soft, dry mop. Wet mops can create streaking or even damage laminate tiles. Laminate, like other hard flooring, should be protected from heavy furniture with felt pads placed under chair and table legs. Small chips and scratches can be fixed with wax pencils or putty, but larger damage should be addressed by a professional. Carpet Carpet is the go-to choice of flooring for bedrooms, family rooms, and other areas of the home where comfort is a priority. It is a great way to bring warmth, color, and softness to a space. Keeping it clean is something that should not be neglected, however, since dirt and particles that work their way into the fibers can cause lasting damage if left for long periods of time. Those tiny particles have rough edges that cut into carpet fibers whenever they are stepped on, so regular vacuuming is a great place to start. Deep cleaning and shampooing should also be done occasionally to get to the particles that your vacuum might miss. Dropped food, tracked-in dirt, and other spills should be addressed immediately in order to minimize damage. Since your flooring in your Sarasota, FL, home plays such an important role, taking care of it, keeping it clean, and avoiding major damage is a great way to get the most out of your it while keeping it looking nice and new.
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