Thanksgiving is almost here. If you’re like most families who live in the Nashville and Greater Middle Tennessee area, that means more family is on the way. Good! Enjoy the spirit of the holiday by embracing your loved ones. The arrival of the holidays probably also means you have some cleaning to do in your home and getting those floors to shine can be tricky sometimes.
Cleaning Hardwood Floors Doesn’t Have to Be Hard
Making sure your hardwood floors are looking their best for the holidays is a lot easier if you’ve put in the work during the rest of the year. This means sweeping on a daily basis, getting to wet spills as soon as possible, and mopping with a specially treated hardwood floor cleaner every so often. If you haven’t been doing these things, or if there are a lot of scratches and knicks in the floor, then you have some work to do.
Resurfacing the floors is always an option, a process which involves sanding down the layer on top and applying a new coat of surface finish. This can be a bit time consuming, though. If you are in a time crunch, just sweep up any large or visible debris before going over the floor with a damp mop or a Swiffer. Do not use a vacuum on the surface as they have a tendency to scratch.
Residential Carpeting Can Be a Pain to Clean
If you have residential carpeting in your home, you probably vacuum it on a regular basis already, especially if you have pets. Vacuuming is essential for getting all the little hairs and dirt particles that get trapped way down in the carpet under the fibers. Now might be the time to move all of the furniture out of the rooms you are most concerned about people being in over the holidays in order to give the whole room a nice, deep clean. (Remember to always practice safe furniture moving habits by getting multiple people to help. Also, watch out for carpet snags when moving furniture!) Steam cleaning is another option, but be careful not to overdo it with the water since warm water in the depths of your floors is a recipe for mold and bacteria.
Laminate and Vinyl Flooring is a Breeze
This is the fun part. Due to the way in which both laminate and vinyl plank floors are constructed as a series of layers and finishes, you can easily clean these materials. Got a dirty kitchen floor along with some family issues you need to work out? Grab a mop and a bucket of soapy water and go to town. If there’s a particularly large amount of dirt on the surface, be sure to vacuum it to get everything out of the way. Don’t worry about messing around with any special cleaners or industrial solvents since these can potentially eat right through the floor.
Having family over for the holidays can be difficult, but make it a little easier on yourself by cleaning your floors the right way. For all of your other flooring needs, think Ozburn-Hessey.
