The Best Way To Clean Every Type Of Flooring In Your Home Without Causing Damage

You want your floors to look clean and last for many years in pristine condition, with as little effort as necessary — right? It's too bad that the people and pets who live in your home will not stop leaving crumbs, hair, and debris scattered throughout the place. Keeping floors tidy might be a daily chore, but it should be a quick and easy one. The key is knowing exactly what kind of flooring you have in every room of your home and how to clean each of those flooring types. 

From real marble to faux hardwood, every kind of flooring comes with its own care instructions. Luckily, you can clean many types of flooring in the same way. Unluckily, it's also really easy to damage your floors if you're not careful. Lots of water, lots of soap, and lots of heat are definitely not your friends in most of the rooms in your home. A lighter touch is actually the better way to keep most floors looking new. 

Keeping real hardwood floors clean and like new can be a little daunting. You could damage the wood forever by neglecting spills or by using the wrong cleaning products. Happily, the best way to keep hardwood floors clean is also super simple: Run a dry microfiber mop over the floor every few days (or whenever it's dusty). You may also want to vacuum floors weekly for general maintenance. However, it's imperative that you use a vacuum with a hard floor setting so as not to scratch the wood with the beater brush. Hold off on wet-mopping hardwood floors until they're visibly dirty. Water and wood don't mix well, so you could do more harm than good by mopping too often.

When your hardwood floors are dirty, mop them with a solution of dish soap and warm water. Run the dry mop over the floors first to pull up any dust and debris. As a general rule of thumb, use a couple of drops of dish soap per cup of water. The solution should be lightly foamy; if it looks like a bubble bath, you've added too much soap. Wring out the mop well every time you dunk it in the soap solution so the floor doesn't get soaked. If there's any water remaining on the floor after you've mopped, dry it with a clean towel right away.

Marble tile flooring deserves ultra-gentle care thanks to its porous nature.  You can sweep or dry-mop as needed to clean up crumbs and dust. For weekly cleaning, the safest, most effective cleaning solution is a pH-neutral soap diluted in water; follow package directions to mix the solution. (Certain soaps may leave streaks on marble, so it's worth keeping a bottle of marble-safe soap on hand when you have this kind of flooring.) Use a microfiber mop to clean a larger space, or clean smaller patches of marble flooring with a spray bottle of the soap solution and a clean microfiber cloth. Because marble is so porous, it's important to dry the floor thoroughly after every cleaning.

Abrasive cleaners can be very damaging to marble floors. Keep things like bleach and ammonia away from this material. This is especially important if you have marble floors in bathrooms, where you might use these products to clean other fixtures. Be extra careful when spraying bleach- or ammonia-based cleaners onto other surfaces so they don't inadvertently land on the marble flooring.

Ceramic and porcelain tile differ in a few key ways; porcelain is more durable, while ceramic tends to be cheaper, for example. But they're both made primarily from clay, and you can clean both types in roughly the same way. Sweep and dry-mop them with a microfiber mop every day, or whenever they're visibly dusty. Wet-mop ceramic or porcelain floors with a solution of water and dish soap weekly, or whenever they're visibly dirty.

Ammonia, bleach, and abrasive scrubbers can all damage ceramic or porcelain tile floors. Some DIY home cleaning staples may be safe to use on these floors; proceed with caution, though. Vinegar may lift stains on tile today but could damage the floor over time. Instead, try applying a paste of baking soda and water on the stains. Wait a few minutes and scrub the mixture away with a cloth. Hydrogen peroxide is also safe and effective for treating splotches. It's always safest to test any new DIY solutions on a discreet patch of floor before using them on more visible areas.

Travertine tile is a common flooring option for both indoor and outdoor spaces, whether they're kitchens, bathrooms, patios, or pool decks. Travertine is made primarily from limestone, and its unique swirls and color splotches come from mineral deposits. It's also quite porous. Even though flooring tiles are often coated with sealant, staining and water damage are possible. Mopping with a solution of warm water and dish soap should be sufficient for weekly cleanings. Wring out the mop well so the tile isn't drenched with water, and dry the floor with towels right after mopping. Alternatively, you could pick up a bottle of cleaning solution specific to sealed stone tiles. You can spray these products directly onto the travertine and wipe them away with a dry cloth.

As for stains? You can purchase travertine-safe poultice stain removers or try DIYing a poultice paste made with hydrogen peroxide mixed with either baby powder or talcum powder. Always test a poultice on a small, preferably out-of-view area first.

Unless you have any super delicate rugs (and who does?), your trusty vacuum cleaner should be sufficient for keeping carpets clean from week to week. How often your carpets need vacuuming can vary by household and by season. If you have carpet in high-traffic areas, or in areas where people might track mud or snow in on their shoes, you might vacuum every few days. Frequent cleaning might also be necessary if you have pets and/or anyone in your home struggles with allergies or asthma. For carpets in low-traffic areas, you might be able to go as long as a few weeks between vacuuming. (Don't forget to keep your vacuum clean, too!)

Wet cleaning is sometimes necessary for dirty carpet. You can do it by hand  ... but renting, buying, or borrowing a carpet cleaning machine really is more effective and really does make the job easier. Things can go wrong when you're cleaning your carpet in a few key ways. The primary risks include: using chemicals that cause discoloration or damage, getting the carpet too wet while cleaning, and leaving soap/cleaners in the carpet fiber rather than doing a really good rinse. If you have pets and deal with urine spots on carpet, it's a good idea to keep a wet vacuum on hand to treat those stains before they set. Never use hot steam to treat urine spots. 

Laminate floors are tricky because they might seem like they should be super durable, but they're really not. This kind of flooring can be easily warped by excessive water and heat. And unlike a material like real hardwood, laminate can't be refinished and made "like new" after it's been damaged. So, gentle care is definitely best. Keep laminate flooring clean with dry mopping and weekly vacuuming, using the vacuum's hard floor setting. That's all laminate floors should need most of the time.

What about when laminate floors are dirty enough to need more than vacuuming? This is one of the few types of flooring that you can safely clean using vinegar. Make a solution of 1 cup vinegar in 1 gallon of water. Or, add one part vinegar for every 10 parts water, if you think your floor needs a stronger solution. Again, excess water is laminate's enemy! Wring out your mop really well before using it on the floor and dry your floor right away with a clean cloth. Never use steam cleaners on laminate flooring as it will cause them to warp or buckle over time.

One of the main reasons homeowners choose vinyl flooring is the same reason it's easy to clean! Vinyl flooring is durable and more water resistant than many other materials. It can stand up to high-traffic areas without a lot of obvious wear and tear, and you can mop vinyl flooring as needed. You can also safely use a handful of common products to clean vinyl, so you don't have to keep any special cleaners on hand for this kind of floor. A solution of a cup of vinegar in a gallon of warm water should work, or you can use a solution made from a few drops of dish soap mixed with a bucket of water.

You can use a baking soda paste for spot-cleaning stains on vinyl flooring. Mix equal parts baking soda and water and apply with a soft brush or cloth. Abrasive brushes, ammonia, and bleach are all unsafe for use on vinyl floors. Don't steam clean them either; vinyl might be durable, but it's not impervious to damage. 

Whether it's a sleek polished floor in your living space or a purely functional slab in your garage, a concrete floor should be pretty easy to maintain. The primary challenge with cleaning concrete is that it's pretty porous, so it can stain easily. It can also be degraded by anything acidic. For routine cleaning, sweep away visible dust and debris. Mop cement floors with a solution of water and pH-neutral soap as needed. Pressure washing may also be safe and effective on concrete flooring used in patios and other outdoor spaces. 

If you have cement flooring at home, it's helpful to know some handy ways to clean up common types of stains. Because cement is commonly used in garages, basements, and outdoor spaces, it can get dirty in a lot of ways. Spills need to be treated quickly to prevent porous cement from staining. However, different types of stains require different treatments. For example, you can use dish soap or baking soda for organic or oil stains and sandpaper for cleaning stained grout. Rust remover with oxalic acid can be used for rust stains; it's an exception to the no-acid rule. Refinish concrete floors every few years.