When you discover and install the perfect flooring, it can vastly impact the aesthetic and functionality of a space – perhaps more so than any other element. However, no matter how flawless the look and feel, there is always a new consideration that will arise – how to maintain your flooring, boost its longevity and keep it looking impeccable. Here is a comprehensive guide to long term flooring maintenance to help you keen your new floor looking its best.

No matter how superb your floors may look, time ravages all things. It’s important to consider your floors in the long term and how to best assure their longevity. Here is a guide to long term flooring maintenance to help you along the way.

Hardwood Floors

Resilient flooring, such as hardwood floors or vinyl flooring, still needs as much care as carpet in order to maintain their original state. There are a few ways to do so:

• Prevention: Again, preventative measures are the best ‘first defence’ for your hardwood floors. There are a few categories to consider:

• Dirt and sand: Both can wreak havoc on pristine hardwood floors. Be sure to place at mat at entrance to ensure they don’t make their way anywhere near your floors.
• Water: The same goes for water. If left on your floor for an extended period of time, water can stain your floor irrevocably.
• Furniture and equipment: Be sure to avoid dragging furniture when moving it. For sectors such as aged care and education, where thing like chairs and tables may be moved frequently, consider fitting furniture or equipment with weight absorbent feet to prevent denting or scratches.
• The sun: Consider closing blinds or curtains in order to prevent too much sun from coming into contact with your floors (especially if the space isn’t being used) – it can drain colour.

• Care: Regular sweeping will greatly improve the longevity of your floor by removing scratchy particles like dirt and sand that make their way inside. If vacuuming, be sure to use a suitable head adjustment to avoid scratching your floor.

• Mopping: It is recommended you use a dust mop over regular mops to clean hardwood floors – preferably one with a cotton head. Special treatment products can be used on the mop head to ensure safe and effective cleaning.

*Remember – Excessive water can damage your hardwood floors so be conscious of this when mopping.

Carpet

A considered and well-organised maintenance regime can ensure the original appearance, composition and integrity of your carpet for a long time. It is also important to consider the maintenance of carpet and its impact on the health environment of a space.

Cleaning

• Prevention: It is important to place mats at the entrances of buildings in order to collect large, solid waste material before it has the chance to reach your carpet. For sectors such as aged care and education facilities where there may be multiple, high traffic entrances, this is a very important aspect to consider.

• Vacuuming: A very high percentage (almost 85%) of materials founds in carpet are dry, solid particles that can be easily removed by vacuuming. Ensure a frequent and comprehensive vacuuming regime is in place to keen your carpet floors looking good as new. It is also very impact to keen on top of spot stains from liquids or dense materials like mud or food, ensuring they are taken care of immediately to avoid staining.

• Deep cleaning: The remaining 15% of materials that soil carpets are made up of oily substances that cling to carpet fibres. These often require a professional deep clean in order to thoroughly get rid of them. Consider scheduling periodic deep cleans for your floors, with intervals depending on the type of sector you fall under.

*Tip: The easiest way to maintain carpet floors is to split your ‘levels of cleaning’ into three categories: A routine clean, which should be quite frequent, for general upkeep; intermittent cleaning, which should be more thorough and should focus on areas with high traffic and which attract the most dirt – this can ultimately postpone then need for a deep clean, which can be costly; and deep cleaning, which is very important in maintaining your carpet’s longevity (it is easy for gradual deterioration of carpets to go unnoticed without consistent deep cleans.

Vinyl

Vinyl flooring is recommended for high contact areas such as bathrooms and commercial kitchens due to its slip support and resistance to pressure and heat (read more about commercial flooring).

• Tips For Cleaning:

• Use a soft brittle broom for sweeping.
• Wash consistently and thoroughly with a non-abrasive floor cleaner.
• Avoid using wax products (steer clear of brands like ‘Shine and Mop’) – they tend to leave a film on your floor that cannot be removed and will potentially require some stripping or refurbishment. Also avoid bleach or ammonia products.
• Avoid heavy-duty scrubbing tools as they can scratch your floors.
• For stains like paint, ink or varnish, use rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol) and gently scrub the area.
• For scuff marks (from shoes etc), rub the area with your finger or an eraser, then scrub with a non-abrasive floor cleaner.

• Furniture or equipment: In hospitality , healthcare or industrial sectors, heavy equipment is common and may damage your floor in the long term if proper maintenance guidelines aren’t followed. Here things to remember:

• Consider flat, heavy duty casters for furniture or equipment, if applicable, in order to avoid denting.
• Never drag equipment across vinyl floors.
• If heavy furniture or equipment needs to be moved, you can lay down plywood planks in the path and ‘walk’ it across. The flat surface of the plywood will distribute the weight across a flat surface and will not scratch your floor.

Despite its resistant and durable nature, vinyl can still be delicate, especially in some of its common applications (healthcare, hospitality and industrial), so be considerate of these small factors when thinking about long term maintenance. Although these factors may seems minor, in the big picture, they are things that will ensure your floors are kept in prime condition over many, many years.

The sooner you establish a long term maintenance plan for your floors the better. If you are in need of quality flooring solutions or have questions regarding the best way to care for your floors, talk to the experts at Aussie Flooring Insights. Our highly trained professionals will be more than happy to help.