Summer Time

With summer promised, school holidays around the corner, your friends and neighbours are calling to your home on a more regular basis. The children bring their friends too and this means dust and grime brought in from outside on shoes, bicycles, skateboards etc. Yes, your floors are suffering.

Most grime is brought into a house on shoes so if you want to keep your home clean and tidy then stopping or reducing the dust coming in seems to be a good starting point. Be it a wet day or a dry one the grime still comes in. Our Scandinavian cousins have a simple solution – outdoor shoes are taken off at the door. Then you and your friends either go round the house in stocking feet or indoor shoes or slippers. Have spare indoor shoes for your guests. The outdoor dust is confined to one small inside the door and left in a suitable shoe rack and the area is easily hovered up.  

It may seem obvious but clean your shoes before you get inside. Install a shoe grate outside and a “welcome” mat just inside the door. Don’t forget the back door, side door and all entrances. Get into the habit of wiping shoes and ask your friends to do the same. 

OK so the floors still get grubby. Some daily attention is essential for all hardwood or tiled floors, such as a daily sweep.This reduces the need to wash them more regularly and stops crumbs being walked into the floor. Remember to clean around the shoe rack at each door daily.  Carpets on the other hand need at least a weekly vacuum or twice a week in rooms with heavy traffic.

Now to washing those hard wearing floors. There are four basic types of floor but a similar treatment and washing method works for all. The difference is with the level of concentrate in your cleaning solution or mix. In simple terms lemon juice or white vinegar work as well as any other prescribed cleaning fluid.

• Marble or Natural Stone floors  -  use warm or hot water only.
• Tiled floors  -  use about a cup of white vinegar to a bucket of warm water.   For special cleaners follow the manufacturers instructions.
• Laminate or Linmolium  -   As for tiled floors but halve the dilution, that is half a cup to a bucket.
• Hardwood floors  -  again reduce the dilution further, but do check with the manufacturer for guidance especially is the floor is new.

Mop the floor with either a flat mop of a shaggy mop making sure not to put too much liquid on the floor surface Don’t forget the figure of eight sweeping motion, making sure to use the same leading edge all the time. Just wiping back and forward only spreads the dirt and does not gather it into the mop . Rinse the mop regularly and replace the water solution if it becomes very dirty .Next rinse the floor with a clean mop and water only. It is essential not to leave any residue from your cleaning solution on the floor. Last but not least dry the floor again with a fresh mop, Leaving water on wooden and laminate floor will eventually cause damage. 

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”
―   Anne Frank

Improve your world and your home, ask yourself the question “what is the most efficient way to keep my floors dust free ?”. Pristine Home would love to help you with all or any of your home cleaning needs, outside or inside your home, and this will ensure that not only is your home kept neat and tidy on a regular basis but will leave you time to enjoy your own private space either with or without friends. Please call  1890252309 or info@pristine.ie  or visit our website and avail of our many cleaning services. Let us do the planning and leave you the time for yourself.

Looking forward to hearing from you,
 Diana