Home Staging Tips Cleaning Your Floor

Last month I gave you multiple tips on getting your own properties spotless clean as well as those of your clients. We get used to living in our own filth or we just don’t look at it as a priority. Regardless of which it is for you or your clients, everyone will notice a dirty house as much as they notice a clean house, no matter their personal standards.

So, this month, as promised, I will finish up the “clean tips.” Obviously, I could go on and on in regards to cleaning tips, I am after all, my father’s daughter. The man that ran service stations his whole life that were cleaner than palaces where your baby could crawl on the floor of the garage! But, in the interest of being able to discuss other helpful tips next month, let’s wrap up the cleaning tips this month.

I want to discuss floors in this issue. So let’s start with the look, feel, condition and cleanliness of your carpet.

If it smells and you have had it professionally cleaned twice to eliminate the odor, you may need to remove the carpet and replace the pad. But, let’s try a few old remedies first. Use air absorbing products such as baking soda and charcoal in abundance for the duration of your rehab and when you are not showing the house.

You can leave multiple open containers of baking soda and tin dishes of charcoal briquettes out in the open, all over the house. Both of these products absorb order without leaving a cover up odor in their path. They look terrible, so you have to make sure they are out of view when showing the house, or when people are peaking in the windows.

I also recommend that you use baking soda in all of your appliances and cabinets
and the dishes of briquettes in all of the closets. You should put them all away before showing a house.

If you still can’t get out the smell, there are a variety of other products that people use, choose your favorite as I think they all work about the same. I would also recommend that you work with a carpet cleaner that specializes in smells. Yep, there are some that do and some that don’t so get a referral.

Okay, enough of the smells. Your carpets, when cleaned, will often bring other spots to the surface and force a dark line of gunk to the outside edges near the baseboards. Be prepared in advance for this and ask the cleaning crew prior to their first cleaning, what sort of guarantees they have for this type of situation, should it arise. You need a good crew that has the correct tools to lift all the stains while they are there and run next to the baseboards, or at least one that understands the process well enough to offer a free second visit.

Next, be prepared to let these rugs dry. Don’t rush them or let people walk on them while they are wet. If this happens, the wet rug will actually attract more dirt than the dry one and all of your efforts will have been in vain.

Finally, once the rugs are completely dry, you will need to vacuum them. Do this in both directions to really get the fibers to lift. The slower that you can vacuum, the better the carpet will look when you are finished. By following this process carefully, your carpets will look refreshed, soft and clean. Just what the new buyer ordered.

Obviously, linoleum can be cleaned with soap and water, but with hard wood floors, I prefer Murphy’s. There are many hardwood floor cleaners, but this one continually makes the floor look clean without leaving streaks.

Make sure you are using warm water, not hot and that you add the solution to the water. I also prefer a soft head mop instead of a sponge mop as you are able to clean in circles versus a straight line, eliminating the chances of missing a strip or leaving a streak.

Once again, leave plenty of time for the floor to dry before you allow anyone to walk on it so you don’t have “foot prints” across your nice clean floor.

The cleaner each aspect of your home, the faster and more profitable your sale.

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Some Tip for Cleaning Wood Floor Maintain

Okay, all you wood floor owners, listen up! There are so many tips that you have been given over the years to help you maintain those beautiful wood floors. You’ve probably heard all them out there. Whether it was from a friend, or a professional, or maybe something good ole’ mom told you, or even a hint you found on the Internet, you have certainly heard many pearls of wisdom. Whichever, who do you listen to? And what is the best tip in maintaining a beautiful wood floor.

So just what is the best cleaning tip for wood floors? Is it the fact that you should never use water on your wood floors, or never allow water products or liquids to sit for any amount of time on your wood floors as water is the wood floor’s worst enemy?

Or could it be that you should use carpet rugs in high traffic areas to maintain that wonderful hardwood look. Or maybe it’s never to wear high heals on your wood floors as they can easily dent the floor? Then again, maybe it’s you should never drag furniture across a wood floor. And then again it could be that you should use protective covers under all furniture.

There are so many possibilities, and so many solutions. Who should you listen to? Should you listen to all of them or only select a few? Or should you direct all your unanswered questions to only the professionals? What and where are the best tips for wood floor cleaning out there?

Could the best tip be that you should sweep or dust mop your wood floors on a daily basis to keep debris such as pet hair, dirt, lint or dust off of your floors? Or is it that dirt, grit and sand act like sandpaper on your wood floors? Or maybe it’s the tip that using a wood floor cleaning product made specifically for your wood floors is the best tip in maintaining beautiful wood floors?

Who should you listen to, and what tips should you pay attention to? The best tip for cleaning wood floors that I can give is: listen to the tips from other wood floor owners who have beautiful, natural wood floors in the best shape. These are the people you should pay attention to. Whether it’s your mom, brother, cousin, best friend; listen to the person who has beautiful wood floors. They are the people who know how to maintain a beautiful wood floor and they have the best tips by-far. Why? Because they’ve already tested all the tips out there, and made all the mistakes for you.

So when you need to maintain a beautiful wood floor, go to the person who has those beautiful maintained wood floors in their homes and listen to all of their tips! Whether they are professionals or your favorite aunt, listen to the wood floor owner who has many years of caring for a beautiful well-maintained wood floor.

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Tile Floor Cleaning Machine & Its Some Tips

In the world of electronics and robots, we often tend to find a machine to do the work for us! Of course there is a cost that comes with this, and sometimes it’s a huge cost. Your decision to make the job a little bit easier for yourself does come with a price tag. There is a multitude of floor cleaning machines that will and can make the job of cleaning your tile floors that much easier. It all depends on the price you are willing to pay.

Most floor cleaning machines are commercial. These machines are not only big in size but also big in price, ranging into the thousands of dollars. However there are some tile
floor cleaning machines designed for the individual consumer. These machines range from $250.00 up to $1000.00. So it all depends on the amount of money you want to put into purchasing a machine.

Probably the most popular home cleaning machine is the Oreck Orbiter. This machine is fairly compact and will perform a multitude of tasks in your home from cleaning your tile and grout, to dry cleaning your carpets. Along with these features it also sands, polishes, strips, scrubs, waxes, and cleans almost any floor surface in your home. And it comes with a price tag of around $399.00.

Your decision is should you invest in a machine to professionally clean your tile floors or not. However there is another option! That option is to maintain your tile flooring from the get-go. Maintaining your tile floors is very simple as long as you provide constant and consistent care to the tile and the grout.

Providing daily and weekly preventative maintenance to your tile flooring will result in never having to hire a professional or even purchase a tile floor cleaning machine. Daily sweeping or dusting your floors is the first step. By keeping debris off of the tile flooring that can harm the floor or the grout is most important. Using a broom or a dust mop daily will result in extending the lifetime of your tile, keeping its natural beauty at its optimum.

Along with the daily maintenance you will want to clean the tile and grout on a weekly basis. Using a cleaning product designed to clean both the tile and the grout will combine the process into one step. To also enhance your tile flooring and to ease the cleaning process it is recommended that you use carpet rugs in high traffic areas of your home and at all entrances to catch the dirt and debris brought into your home. Also, providing carpet rugs in your kitchen around the sink, dishwasher, stove and refrigerator will also ease the cleaning process. Paying special attention to the grout, which is a dirt magnet, will also result in beautiful tile flooring.

Whether to purchase a tile floor cleaning machine all depends on the depth of your pocketbook, and the effort and commitment you want to put into keeping your tile floors looking their very best.

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Terrazzo Floor Cleaning

Terrazzo Floor Cleaning Tips

What is terrazzo flooring? Terrazzo is a mixture of marble and Portland cement mixed together; two parts marble to one part cement. When it is installed, marble chips are sprinkled on the surface so that a majority of the surface is marble. Terrazzo was most popular during the 50's � 70's but is making its come back over the past few years.

To be able to clean the terrazzo floor you have to understand what it is made of. The marble part of its surface is almost non-absorbent; however the cement binder is very porous and absorbs stains easily. This is the part of the flooring which will cause you the most grief. In older floors this seems to be the biggest problem; however if you are having a new terrazzo floor installed, the last step of installation is to apply a penetrating sealant approved for terrazzo. This sealant will be absorbed by the concrete pores, greatly reducing the absorption quality of the concrete.

If you have an existing terrazzo floor that is stained, you will have to use several steps to restore it. First you will want to remove the existing build-up with a plastic scraper (do not use metal scrapers) Apply your floor cleaner over the surface with a mop. For stubborn yellow stains, use a soft-bristled scrub brush. You will need to rinse the floor with a mop and water, rinsing the mop often. Be sure to rinse well so that the floor can be sealed. Once your floor is rinsed, then dry, apply an approved sealant with a roll paint brush
. Allow plenty of time to dry.

If you have new terrazzo being installed, most of the work is done for you. With today's products, the sealants will provide a beautiful and long lasting look for your floors. Terrazzo is easy to clean as long as the installation process was performed according to the installation instructions.

It is important to keep sand and debris off the floor. Sweep the floor often as this debris acts as an abrasive and can damage the floor. Use a cleaner designed or approved for a terrazzo floor. Wet mop the floor allowing the cleaner to remain on the floor for several minutes. For the best results, rinse the cleaner off the floor thoroughly. You may need to change your rinse water a few times. Once the cleaner has been removed towel dry the floor to prevent water streak marks from appearing and to restore the floors natural shine. Do not use any types of wax on your terrazzo floor.

As with any hard flooring you can use carpet mats to trap dirt from coming into your home onto your clean terrazzo floor. You may also want to place carpet rugs in high traffic areas and high use areas such as your kitchen. With daily sweeping, and weekly mopping, your terrazzo floor will look as new as the day it was installed.

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New Market Trends to Floor You

After all these years of having hardwood floors that are mid brown and easy to clean, the word is that new, pale floors will be sweeping the market. These lighter floors have been popular in Europe and are just being introduced over here in North America.


Lighter toned floors do have their advantages, of course, one of them being that instant 'lift' of lightness and brightness that permeates the room. Another is that they might raise the value of shares in floor cleaning products! Yes, there is no doubt about it, paler floors need more upkeep and so is the extra maintenance worth it?


A spokesman for BuildDirect who has just returned from this year's "Surfaces" trade show said that the lighter influence which was from the European designs was 'everywhere'. However, this does not mean that flooring manufacturers are suggesting that we all switch to light oak wood!


There were many new innovative ideas on display that could be adapted to all types of flooring. Perhaps do-it-yourselfers could even adapt their present flooring to imitate some of the new looks that were on display.


This may not be too difficult because some of the most popular looks that were demonstrated at the exhibition showed flooring that had a faded or distressed appearance. Of course some of us had trendy floors without even knowing it as we already had this distressed look!


But on a more serious note, whether the flooring was of ceramic tile, wood or vinyl, the latest trade show exhibited all of these mediums in light colors, or faded colors. Some of the finishes had a gray-washed effect or a white-washed look, reminiscent of the old scrubbed floors of a farmhouse.


For those unfamiliar with the look of white-washed floors, it means that there is almost a dusting of gray or white color over top of the wood, but that the wood is still visible beneath.


In the old kitchens the wood would already have faded to a weathered gray color, and the left-over whitewash that was applied to the outside brickwork was often watered down and slopped over the floor to 'freshen it up' each spring.


Laminate floorings will be following the market trend and anticipate the early launching of new products to meet the expected demand. Wood grain porcelain tiles are also becoming popular and they are easier to maintain than real wood tiles.


The whole idea of flooring is changing as more and more people are becoming more adventurous and even applying flooring to the walls and ceilings! The introduction of light weight products such as cork and bamboo has meant that it can be applied anywhere.


Stone is also being used on the wall and slate flooring and porcelain are often used on walls, behind fireplaces and stoves and on chimneys. Applying cork to the walls in any room is a mild form of insulation as cork will hold the warmth in a room. It has often been used on office walls and offers one large cork board on which to pin up memos!


Newly built homes are the ones where the latest in market trends first appear, so with the expectation of this new look of white-washed or gray-washed floors, should we anticipate that the minimalist look may disappear?


White or gray 'washed' floors are reminiscent of the old country farmhouses in Provence, France. There the large wooden table in the middle of the room is scrubbed daily and matches the bleached look of the wooden floor. Does this mean that the French country kitchen look will be creeping back?

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