Cleaning and Caring For Polished Concrete Floors
Concrete floors are highly durable, and they are some of the easiest flooring options to have in your home or business. Residential polished concrete is beautiful and premium polished concrete floors will hold up to the tests of time as well as high traffic areas like kitchens and hallways.
If you have been wondering how to clean and care for your concrete flooring, this is a reasonable question. While polished concrete floors are very low-maintenance, there are still some basic care items that you should make sure to be aware of before you start caring for your concrete flooring.
Clean, Clean, Clean!
Just because your polished concrete flooring is easy to care for does not mean that you can skip the necessary cleaning processes to care for it correctly. Your polished concrete specialists will tell you that it is much easier to care for your concrete flooring properly than it is to reseal or replace it.
Remove Spills
Make sure that you clean up spills, even greasy ones or liquids that you think won’t damage your floor. Concrete is still porous despite appearances to the contrary, and it can soak up the liquid and greasy spills. This can create stains that must be sanded out of the floor. Sanding out stains will also mean that you will have to reseal the entire floor, which can add a lot of cost to your annual upkeep. This is why picking up spills as soon as possible is so important.
Pick up and Sweep
Despite being a hard and durable product, concrete flooring can still get scratched and scuffed if sandy, sharp, or large debris is left on the floor. This is very hard on the sealant that protects the concrete as well, and broken-down sealant can open up your concrete flooring to stains and cracks. Many homeowners are shocked at how much damage some small pebbles or some sand can do to concrete flooring.
Dry Mop and Wet Mop
Make sure that you both wet and dry mop your floors regularly. Picking up small debris is easy when you dry mop and wet mopping should be done at least once a week to maintain the shine on your sealant and to prevent issues with stains and scuffs and scratches. Be sure to use a concrete-safe, natural cleaner that will not remove your sealant or make your floors greasy and slippery.
Preventative Maintenance Steps
Just like any surface in your home, concrete flooring requires that preventative maintenance is done to it as well. You should always be sure that you do not neglect these important care steps or your concrete flooring could become so damaged that it has to be replaced.
Fill Cracks
Cracks and divots must be filled or your concrete floor could break up into small islands of material with cracks in between them. You should always fill the crack with some product leftover and then sand down the juncture between the filler and the rest of the floor. Make sure that you seal this area again if it is quite large. While you can do this yourself, we highly recommend that you leave it to the professionals.
Refresh Sealant
The sealant on your concrete flooring will need to be replaced every other year or maybe annually if you have a lot of high-traffic areas that you are caring for. You should always keep up with the sealant on your flooring so that it does not get damaged or break down due to exposure to daily wear and tear without sealant to protect it.
Have a Professional Assess Damage
If you are not sure if you can repair the damage that you are experiencing with your concrete floor, have a professional come take a look. It is always better to have an expert look at the issues that you are having before they become major problems that can’t be resolved.
Professionals in the concrete flooring industry know all about the care and maintenance of these floors and they can help guide your decisions about what kinds of maintenance are needed for your concrete floor. You might be able to secure a team of concrete specialists to come to do routine maintenance on your floor at set intervals as well.
If you need help with determining what kinds of maintenance are needed in your home for your concrete flooring, contact us for your concrete flooring needs. From installation to care and maintenance, we can help you enjoy beautiful concrete flooring in your home or business for years to come.