How to give stone flooring a new lease of life Natural stone, granite, marble and tile are all excellent choices for a home and can create a strong, fresh look throughout a property.
Well liked for its sturdiness and relative low maintenance, stone flooring is one of the most popular choices for a kitchen as well as bathrooms and conservatories.
In fact stone flooring is so popular that some experts even say it can add as much as 7% to the value of a home if featured in a kitchen.
However, like any surface over time they can become dirty and unpleasant.
Whether you are a landlord looking to clean up your property before it goes back on the market or a homeowner who’s renovating their dream home, we’ll provide some tips and tricks to lift the dirt.
Prevention is the best cureThe first thing to remember about stone flooring – in fact most types of flooring – is that it’s very important to give it a regular clean.
Any liquid that does make its way on to your flooring will cause much more damage if left to its own devices – often resulting in discolouration or marks.
While this doesn’t mean that you have to give your flooring a heavy duty clean every day it does mean that you should try and at least give it a wipe down regularly to remove any grime, dirt and grit.
How to clean stone flooringWhen you do give your stone flooring a thorough clean, this is the way to go about it.
First of all you’ll want to have a good sweep or vacuum.
This will help lift up any loose particles and light muck, but you need to be careful to switch your vacuum to a mode that is sensitive to hard floors to avoid scratching.
Once you’ve done this the next stop is to find yourself a good cleaning product that you can use in combination with some water to begin a deeper clean.
The best place to start is a natural floor soap which should help to soak and lift out dirt which has seeped into your porous flooring.
Always avoid acidic cleaners like lemon or vinegar based liquids as well as ammonia based ones.
While they often have lavish promises on the bottle, unless specifically designed for stone flooring the uneven pH balance may ruin your floor.
Once you’ve given your cleaning soap a little while to soak in, your next job is to begin a gentle scrub to lift up dirt.
Remember that stone flooring can be easily scratched so use either a microfiber mop or a wet mop to do the job, rather than a scrub pad or another type of abrasive cleaner.
Finally allow your flooring to air dry thoroughly before using it again.
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