Quite regularly, after having their tile floors cleaned by a professional company like Gold Standard Floor Care, customers ask about how to maintain their tile floors to protect their investment. After all, high-quality, professional services are not inexpensive and it’s wise for homeowners to maintain their tile floors to keep them cleaner, longer.

The use of walk off mats at all entrances to the home (front door, garage door, & back door) will significantly reduce the amount of dirt and soil that can be tracked in from outdoors. This is even more important if your tile floors are natural stone, such as Travertine or Marble, because abrasive grits can damage the surface of the stone tiles.

As frequently as possible, sweep or vacuum your tile floors to remove all loose soil, dirt, pet hair, food particles, etc. There’s nothing worse than seeing a ball of pet hair roll across the family room floor when the ceiling fan gets turned on, like a tumbleweed in an old TV Western.

Using a floor cleaning product that is formulated specifically for your type of floor, whether the tile is ceramic/porcelain or natural stone, fill a spray bottle and lightly spray a small area of the floor. A flat, microfiber dust mop can be used to agitate and pick up the cleaning product and remaining soils from the floor. You may need several of the microfiber pads on hand, depending on the size of the area to be cleaned. Depending on the cleaning product used, a second pass may be required to rinse the cleaning product from the floor. Be sure to use fresh, clean microfiber pads for this step.

If completed regularly, your tile floors will maintain a high degree of cleanliness, while extending the period of time in which a professional tile cleaner will be required for a restorative cleaning of your tile floors.

This is one of a series of articles written and published on behalf of Stone and Tile PRO Partners.