Stains Attacking Your Floor
Despite one’s best prevention measures, stains are bound to eventually occur. All it takes is a slight tilt of the wrist while holding that mug of coffee for the contents to spill over, or that wine glass slipping off your hand during a steamy date night. Kids with their milk and yoghurt are notorious for causing stains, and there are even cases such as nail polish dripping onto the floor during that morning rush to prepare for work. Here is a breakdown of the different kinds of stains involved:
- Beverages
They are some of the most common stains that you will encounter. Tea, coffee, milk, juice, all through to soft drinks – they will from unsightly spots on your floor. The approaches taken when dealing with them will depend on the particular type of floor in question. Floor cleaning products that are suitable on ceramic tiles and concrete installations are not automatically suitable for use when hardwood or vinyl floors, even when it is the same stain involved
- Water stains
This particularly affects floors that are sensitive to water – like hardwood installations. You can easily note them with their characteristic “smoky white” patches that form on the surface. The water stains are common in areas like where there are potted plants, under the pet’s drinking bowl, or for those cases where puddles were allowed to remain on the floor for long.
- Marker pens
Here it’s typically a result of enthusiastic kids displaying their artistic prowess on the floor. All those drawings that the little ones make on the surface will clash with the rest of the decor. Sure, some may argue it is cute but you hadn’t planned on having markings all over the floor when you had it installed in the first place. In some cases, applying a dab of toothpaste on the spot and gently rubbing it out with a damp cloth can work, while others will call for more targeted floor cleaning solutions.
- Pet urine stains
For those homes with pets, urine accidents are a common issue to deal with. From the young pups being trained, to males marking their territory all over the property, situations where the pet has bladder problems or infections, and even where elderly pets have incontinence – the floor becomes a victim of all that pee that winds up on it. For those floors onto which a polyurethane finish has been applied, the effects are mitigated – but a thorough round of floor cleaning is needed all the same. The acidic nature of the urine makes it a major threat to the floor, and you don’t want permanent damage occurring. Having pet urine removers in your floor cleaning arsenal is a step in the right direction. That way, whenever there is a mess that has been made, you can quickly clean it up.
The floor cleaning agent used here also needs to have neutralising properties to deal with the odours. This is actually dealing with the molecules of the odour, not simply masking it, allowing the smell to recur later on. Enzyme action on the bacteria that comes with the urine stains also aids in combating the odours, restoring the vibrance to your floor and comfort of the interior space.
- Ink blots
A bottle of ink getting knocked over and spilling its contents all over the floor is not a situation you want to fancy being in. However, it is imperative that you deal with the spot quickly in order to restore the surface to its stain-free condition. The first step is blotting up the excess liquid. Note that you should not rub the spot, as this will cause it to spread. Use an absorbent cloth to blot up the liquid. Like with the marker pen marks, you can also use toothpaste here before rinsing the area. Isopropyl alcohol can also work – but you need to ensure that the surface itself can be safely treated with this floor cleaning agent. Dab some of it on a cloth and wipe a hidden section of the floor, then assess the results before using it on the stained section.
Get Professional Help to Get Rid of the Stains
Over time, there will be different stains that will have formed over the surface of the floor, many of which defy conventional floor cleaning measures. Standard practices like using bleach to deal with the stains can wreak havoc on some types of floors, such as when dealing with hardwood installations. You don’t want your floor getting ruined in the process of attempting to get rid of the stains. Scheduling an occasional professional floor cleaning job will enable you to deal with those stubborn spots. Here, you get to leave the task to a crew that has the equipment and personnel needed to deal with the different kinds of stains and dirt problems that may be bedevilling your installation.
When you hire pros for the task, you get to ensure that it is carried out to quality standards. However, to realise this in the first place you need to be careful when selecting the particular company that you will bring on board. Start by looking at competing offers from the local floor cleaning companies, as well as seeking out testimonials from those around you on cleaning companies they have hired. When going over the shortlisted firms, be sure to dig through their social media platforms and business directory listings, to check out the kinds of reviews that have been left behind by clients who had previously hired them. This is to enable you to gauge the level of quality of services that you can expect from the firm. Sure, businesses that have been around for years won’t have 100% positive reviews – but you can also look at the negative ones to see if the complaints that were raised were addressed. Usually, when a client has an issue about the quality of services, a professional company will follow it up and later ask the client to update a review – which will be further proof of the level of commitment that the company has in ensuring clients are satisfied with the jobs carried out.
