Why and How to Keep Tile Clean – Money Saving Tips

Floors within any facility are difficult to maintain, especially tile floors. Tile floors are a popular choice for kitchens, bathrooms and other central areas and if not properly maintained that can leave a bad impression of your organization and even become hazardous.

Everyday tile floors attract soils, grease, and other pollutants that build up very quickly to cause odor, unsightly discoloration and become slick and unsafe. Some are surprised to learn that, poorly maintained floors are the leading cause of "slip-and-fall" accidents which costs our nation hundreds of millions of dollars in damage and injury claims and the number one reason for emergency room visits.

Poorly maintained tile floors can lead to costly lawsuits for

your organization or time off work and workers

compensation claims for your employees.

As if the health and safety issues were not enough to properly maintain floors, research has shown that if floors appear dirty or produce a foul order, it can give a company a bad reputation and drive away business. However, poorly maintained floors do attract some guests, just the unwanted variety such as bugs, pests, and other unhealthy elements.

Unfortunately, the way most organizations try to battle these issues is with a mop and bucket. Mostly because it is the "easiest" thing to do, but actually makes the problem worse. The illusion that it provides is that leaving a "chemical" odor behind will help us believe the floors are "clean." Mopping is an issue due to the porous nature of the tile and soap, soils and grease can fill those pores and bond to the tile. More quickly than many realize this buildup creates a film barrier between the floor and the soles of shoes which contribute to slips and falls.

Mops only move the grime around, and even the best mops on the market have fibers that become oversaturated and are incapable of removing the residue. Because of this, the mopping action is working to make the surface more slippery and dangerous. Furthermore, once the mop is placed back into the bucket, the entire water supply is now contaminated making the issue worse.

The grout lines work against mopping since they have a rough surface texture which prohibits matter from being removed and since they are set lower than the tile it works as a "squeegee" to pull dirty water from the mop and fill the grout line. This leads to discoloration of the grout lines and other issues.

When frustrated by dirty tile floors, some believe it must be the cleaning solution being used and continue to buy newer, more expensive solutions to add to their mop water to get better results. This, of course, will not work because it isn't the chemical, it is the act of mopping.

Lets get real

Being experts in the field of cleaning and maintaining floors for facility directors, we understand that mopping will continue to be something that all of our customers will do to keep clean floors, at least to some level.

With that being said, here is our advice for mopping "the right way."

1. Have your tile floors cleaned and coated by Xtreme to provide a lasting seal that creates a nonporous surface that keeps dirt and grime out and promotes a safer walking platform. Once a tile floor has been professionally treated, it becomes easier to clean and maintain. Even with mops!

2. Once the surface is cured, post maintenance cleaning can be accomplished by using a pH neutral cleaner, per label instructions. Wet-mop the floor area using this solution, then, thoroughly re-mop with CLEAN water. Change out water frequently to avoid contamination. Using a cleaner with low or high pH will produce undesirable results. We recommend a neutral pH level of 7 which can be found in abundance online or locally.

Here is an example of a neutral pH cleaner we recommend from Home Depot!

3. If you chose to use mops for cleaning tile floors they MUST be changed out frequently. We cannot stress this enough. For all the reasons we've stated in this article, if old dirty mops are used over and over again it will produce poor results.

Learn more about our Tile and Grout solutions and see amazing before and after photos!

Done with mopping? Ask us about the Kaivac line of smarter, innovative cleaning equipment.