Mopping our hard surface floors takes enough energy; we do not have to make it harder than necessary. Utilizing the proper tools can go a long way in reducing the effort it takes to maintain the cleanliness of our floors.
1) Make sure that handles on mops and brooms are the appropriate length for your height.
2) Select a broom with tapered bristles and wide coverage
3) String mops (Raggedy Ann) are the best choice for tile as they do not deposit the soil we are trying to
remove back into the grout “valley”. **Plus, they are machine washable
Before we can mop we must always vacuum, dust mop or sweep the entire area to remove any loose debris; dust, dirt & food particles.
Next, prepare your mop water in either a mop bucket or the sink, whichever is your preference. It is important to note that most cleaners are acidic and will damage (break down) the sealer on your grout. Acidic cleaners also etch natural stone tile. We suggest mixing 1 cap full of dish soap to every gallon of hot water to mop your tile floors.
Dip your clean mop into the cleaning solution and then wring it out. *Your mop does not need to be dripping to be effective
Starting at the furthest corner of the room, we are going to make a figure eight pattern without leaving the openings; there should be a minimum of 50% overlap with each pass of the mop.
To rinse our mop, we want to use clean water. Some mop buckets have dual sections for this purpose.
If we are using the sink to hold our cleaning solution, then we want to use the empty side of the sink to rinse
the mop with fresh water.
At this point, and per our own preference, we can elect to go back and buff dry the area we just cleaned before moving onto the next section.
If we elect to allow the floor to air dry, then we move to the next section of the room and start again with the figure eight pattern. This process is continued until we have mopped ourselves out of the room.
**You will need to make fresh mop water when the solution gets cloudy enough to prevent you from seeing the bottom of the bucket or sink.