The summer months and holidays can take their toll on your floors with little wet feet and towels, sand, home-entertaining spills and kids at home during the school holidays. The warmer weather can impact your flooring in other ways too which is why it’s important to keep on top of your floor cleaning and care throughout summer. Here are some simple floor cleaning, care and maintenance tips to help keep your floors looking fabulous all summer long.
Summer Floor Cleaning and Care Tips:
Use a Quality Doormat
A great defence against dirty floors in summer is a high quality doormat at every main entry way to your house. Remind your kids to wipe their feet thoroughly when coming in from the garden, backyard or pool.
Take Shoes Off at the Entrance
Getting into the habit of taking your shoes off at the entry to your home can make a huge difference to how much floor cleaning you do, especially over the summer months when there’s higher rainfall – rain=mud and mud=cleaning. This is a particularly good one to get the kids into the habit of over summer.
Consider an Outside Shower
This is a great one especially for coastal and beach dwellers. Sandy feet can make floor cleaning a nightmare and can also act as an abrasive, scratching your floors surface. Having an outside shower will greatly reduce the amount of sand (& dirt) that’s traipsed inside. Make sure you have plenty of towels outside too – to prevent dripping and excess water coming inside afterwards. Choosing water resistant flooring will also help protect your floors from wet feet and spills. A number of products from our Voyager laminate range come with up to 10 years wet resistance warranty, with some of them providing complete waterproofing.
Vacuum Weekly
With lots of small dust particles in the air during summer, regularly vacuuming will make sure you get up all that fine dust and grit like sand that might not necessarily be visible to the naked eye. Vacuuming before you mop means you won’t be sweeping those particles and abrasives along the floors surface, keeping your floor extra clean underfoot and protecting its surface. Your floor will love you for it!
Don’t Expose your Floors to Excessive Sunlight
The harsh UV rays of Australian summers can cause premature fading and discolouration of your flooring. Consider closing your blinds and curtains during the day when you’re not at home or in rooms that don’t open up to the outside. This will have the added benefit of helping keep your home cool, especially if you have plantation shutters. For complete peace of mind, consider UV resistant flooring with a fade-resistant warranty so you can let the outside in without worrying about damage and fading. Our Desire Carpet Collection uses the latest advancements in UV resistance treatments, with up to 25 years fade resistance warranty.
Use a Dehumidifier
High humidity levels during summer can affect the colour and shine of your flooring. A dehumidifier can really help to decrease humidity levels by drawing moisture from the air to help keep your flooring’s shine intact and decreasing the chance of cracks developing in your flooring.