January 08th, 2015

​No doubt in your home you have both carpet and hard floors, and probably a good bit of tile flooring.

Tile floors are great because they are fairly easy to maintain, and if something is spilled, easy to clean. Some homeowners prefer tiles floors over other types because of their durability and longevity. While soft surfaces like carpet tend to show wear areas in just a few short years, tile floors are quite durable.

Mistaken assumptions

Tile floors, while easy to clean with simple cleaning steps, such as sweeping and mopping, are still subject to issues that take a little extra thought and effort when it comes to maintenance.

One issue many have is with any grout lines in the floor. While tile is fairly non-porous, the grout is not. Light-colored grout lines can soak up spills and staining substances and be very difficult to clean.

One way to prevent this from happening — although nothing is 100% foolproof — is to protect the grout. You can do this with a quality protective sealant, which you can obtain from the same store you purchased your tile flooring. Most big box stores carry quality grout protectant products. The time to apply this is when the tile floors are new or after they have been thoroughly cleaned, preferably by a professional cleaning service.

With proper application of a quality grout sealant product, you have time to clean up spills before they soak in and stain the grout.

Physical damage

Everyone moves things around, such as their appliances, especially when it is time to do a thorough cleaning. When that happens, your tile floors are in danger!
Sliding a heavy refrigerator or range can scratch and scrape tile floors, leaving unsightly marks. Unless the feet of your appliances are soft, such as coated with rubber, this is something to be aware of.

When moving heavy appliances on tile floors, putting small squares of carpet — upside down — under the front legs will keep damage from happening. Then, as the appliance is pulled out, put squares of carpet under the back legs. If the squares of carpet aren’t visible just leave them there and you won’t have to worry about this issue in the future.

As with any flooring issues you have, from tile floors to carpet, call your favorite cleaning company. After all, it pays to call a pro. 575-937-4385