Ceramic Tile Cleaning for Beginners

Posted on 16/10/2015

What is the Best Cleaning Solution for Ceramic Tile Floors?

If you like bare tile floors, then you are a lucky one when it comes to home cleaning. Bare floors mean no need for carpet cleaning, not as much maintenance, and definitely less damaging things happening to your floors. But that doesn’t mean that you can slack off when cleaning. Tiles have their own means of cleaning that you should adhere to. Just because they are a solid surface doesn’t mean that you can just sweep them every few days with the broom and everything will be fine. Bacteria and dirt still gathers on the tiles and sometimes remains unless they are properly tended to. Here are some tips on how you can deal with that.

• Use your doormat. If you don’t have one, get one. Exactly because you have tile floors, you feel free to walk inside with your shoes on, and that means bringing in dust, dirt, and bacteria from the outside every time you enter the room. You can lower the amount of dirt and bacteria you bring in by cleaning your feet on the doormat.

• Vacuum once every few days. There will always be dust on the tiles, and you should tend to it whenever possible. A vacuum cleaner with a sweeping attachment should make the floors much more pleasant if regularly used.

• As a regular maintenance for the floors, you should use a damp mop and drag it across the floors every once in a while. You can substitute the vacuum cleaner with this, but you should be thorough, and you need to wait for the floors to dry up before stepping on them again.

• Don’t forget about the grout! People rarely pay attention to the spaces between the tiles, but they are also important and they also store dust, dirt, and bacteria – even more so than tiles since they are scattered over the tiles, but concentrated in the grout. And the grout is often neglected. Luckily, it’s easy to clean the grout. All you need is a toothbrush, and the right detergent. If you want to be green, just use baking soda – it will kill odours, disinfect, and clean all dirt from the grout.

• When picking products to clean the tiles with, don’t use anything abrasive because you could leave scratches on the tiles and ruin your floor’s outlook. Typical home cleaning products are also out – baking soda can scratch the tiles, vinegar can dull the tiles, and standard soap will leave behind a grimy trail that you could slip on.

• The best tool for cleaning ceramic tiles is the microfiber cloth. It absorbs all dirt with the first wipe, it doesn’t need any chemicals to clean well, it’s a green solution to almost any dirt problem, and it can be used in a combination with a mop so that you don’t have to clean while on all fours.

• Another great tool for tiles is a steam cleaner. It is also an organic cleaning tool that only requires water to function properly, and the steam cleaning will cleanse the tiles of any sort of dirt – and it goes through the grout, as well.

With this, your tile cleaning lesson should be complete. Taking care of the tiles is not hard, and, unlike with carpet cleaning, you don’t have to spend multiple minutes on one spot if you find a smudge – usually just a drop of hot water and a good scrubbing takes care of any stain. The main thing with ceramic tile floors is the maintenance – they are easily taken care of, but the trick is to keep them clean.