Mopping is a great thing to do, but there are certain things that you should not attempt if you want to keep your floors looking their best! Mopping can be time-consuming and labor-intensive, especially if you’re doing it often.
But what if you could speed up the process and leave your floors looking perfect the first time? How about getting them mopped instead? It might seem like a small change, but the benefits are huge. Let’s take a look at 15 mopping mistakes to avoid:
1. Not Mopping Hard Enough
If you want your floors to be as smooth as a baby’s bottom, you’re going to go methodically and thoroughly with your mops. You don’t want to mop your floors too hard and leave them with a sticky feel. This is where not moping hard enough comes into play.
When cleaning with a harder mop, you’re likely to raise the chance of streaks and spots, making your floors look blotchy and uneven.
Mopping with a soft mop will likely leave the floorboards sticky and with more dirt to lift. If you are not thoroughly cleaning your floors, you will likely have leftover spots, streaks, and unevenness that cannot be removed.
Mopping your floors too hard will likely leave them dull, which means your floors will look and feel sticky the next day.
2. Wringing the Mopping Head Rather than Letting It Drip
You’re squirting water into the air when you use a mop. The head deflects the water back into the mop bucket, where it is then wrung out.
But when you wring a sponge, you’re letting the water pass through the sponge and then extracting it again through the small hole at the bottom.
This is the opposite of how water is supposed to be wrung out. The wrinkles in the sponge act as air pockets, which means that the water is being forced out through the sponge and not being wrung out.
This causes the water to drip rather than be absorbed by the sponge.
3. Not Backing Up During Mopping
Backsliding is any movement backward while you’re in the middle of mopping. This can be very dangerous. You don’t want to be moving backward when you’re mopping. When you’re moping, there’s no room for mistakes.
You have to stop, turn, and start mopping to get it complete. This could lead to injury; in addition to being dangerous, moving backward while moping can be very emotionally demanding.
When you’re backtracking, you have to stop, reverse, and start moping again before you get it completely cleaned. It’s going to be very tiring.
4. Not Mopping Long Enough
When it comes to long-term flooring, we always recommend sweeping and moping simultaneously. This will help you remove the excess dirt and grime from one area and send it to the other for complete removal.
It’s important to thoroughly clean both areas to leave nothing behind. Unfortunately, some people don’t do this correctly.
They try to do one area at a time but then neglect to clean the other areas in between so that the whole floor is dirty. If you keep this up, you’re likely to have a very dirty floor. This is particularly harmful if you have children.
By leaving them unsupervised, they’re likely to start doing this too. In the long term, this will do more harm than good.
5. Not Knowing How To Use The Right Equipment
One of the first things that you should consider when it comes to moping your floors is how you will do it. Many different mops are meant for different areas of your house and do things a little differently.
For example, if you have a mop meant for the kitchen, but you are only using it on the countertop, you will likely end up with a sticky kitchen countertop. If you want to keep your kitchen countertops as clean as possible, you will want to use a different type of mop.
If you have a mop that is meant for the bathroom, but you are only using it in the tub, you will likely end up with a dirty bathroom.
If you want to keep your bathroom surfaces as clean as possible, you will want to use a different type of mop.
6. Not Knowing How To Use The Right Supplies
The right flooring supplies are the key to getting the most out of your floors. If you are not using the right supplies, your floors will likely look dull and unappealing.
If you are not using the right products, your floors will likely look dirty and unkempt. For example, if you are only using a natural and organic flooring option in your house, but you are not using the right type of flooring conditioner.
The finished product will likely be dull and unappealing. Furthermore, not using the right equipment will result in less efficiency and greater wear and tear on your floors.
While you will likely spend less time sweeping and mopping your floors, the wear and tear on your floors will be much greater.
7. Using Too Much Detergent
When it comes to cleaning, some people just go overboard. They use too much of the wrong things and end up with a very dirty floor. Most people have heard that “detergent is evil,” but the truth is that there are times when a little goes a long way.
People who overuse powdered and liquid detergents are likely to do more damage than those who use the right thing for the job. Directions for using the right product for the job are important—and usually easy to forget.
For example, if you use a water-based cleaner on carpets, then use a soap-based on concrete, you’re likely to have a very dirty floor. There are numerous differences between carpets and concrete, and you don’t want to risk damaging a dirty floor.
8. Over-wetting the Floor
If you wet the floor while mopping, you risk removing too much water from the room. The excess water could get collected in the corners, leading to spots and cling to your shoes, causing them to look shabby.
You don’t want to remove too much water from the room because then the floors won’t be able to dry fully. Mopping too much water means that the floors will be less dense, taking longer to dry. This can lead to spots, scuffs, and scratches.
9. Not Thoroughly Drying the Mopping Surface
After you’ve mopped, thoroughly dry the floor with a clean, dry mop. If you let the mop drip while it’s running, you’ll have a damp, sticky floor. This can cause maintenance issues such as rafter strikes, mold, and mildew growth and can even make it more difficult to clean your kitchen and bathroom floors in the future.
After you’ve mopped, thoroughly dry the floor with a clean, dry mop. If you let the mop drip while it’s running, you’ll have a damp, sticky floor.
This can cause maintenance issues such as rafter strikes, mold, and mildew growth and can even make it more difficult to clean your kitchen and bathroom floors in the future.
10. Wrapping a Damp Floor with Plastic Wrap
Plastic wrap is meant to protect against moisture damage, but it can also be used to wrap a damp floor. Using plastic wrap while mopping won’t only protect your floor from excess water, but it will also trap the moisture in the air and your house.
When you use plastic wrap, you’re essentially trapping air and water within the plastic. This can be bad because it prevents your floors from getting a chance to dry properly.
Additionally, plastic wrap only retains about 70% of the moisture in the air, so if you have heavy clay or foxtrot, you’ll want to remove the plastic before your floors can dry completely.
11. Using the Wrong Type of Cleaning Agent
Soap and water by themselves won’t get the job done. Soap makes a great suicide, but it also attracts dirt and chemicals to your house, leading to staining, yellowing, and scaling.
On the other hand, Cleansing agents are meant to remove superficial dirt and soils while leaving the upper layers intact.
While it’s true that you shouldn’t over wash your floors with a concentrated cleaner, you should also be mindful of not stripping the luster from your hardwood or shining the silver from your ceramic tile.
There are many cleaning agents, so it’s important to do your research and find one that best suits your needs.
12. Going Over the Same Spot Twice
Some people don’t realize they’re still wetting the same spot until they come back the next day and all the water they left behind has been soaked up. When this happens, you’re doing yourself more damage than good.
Although it may feel good to rinse off and repeat the process, doing so leaves behind dirt and grime that will just collect on the new spots you covered. This can lead to patches of dirt and grime that you’ll have to clean up later.
You’re also damaging your floors by going over them twice, so be especially careful the first time you mop.
13. Not Rinsing out the Sponge
Sponges can hold a lot of water, but they don’t need to be rinsed thoroughly after use. While many people think of sponges as a cleaning tool, they also retain a lot of dirt and grime when being used this way.
Therefore, you should rinse off the sponge between every use, or better yet, use a heavy-duty sponge.
14. Using Too Much Pressure
Pressure can cause havoc in a house with moisture problems. The higher the pressure, the more potential for damage to your floors. This can be done in a few different ways, but the easiest way is to use a heavy-duty mop.
Depending on how often you mop, you may wish to use a different type of mop. If you’re moping every day, you could be damaging your floors with too much pressure, causing splitting, spalling, and other defects.
15. Using the Wrong Size Mop Pad
Mop pads should be sized appropriately for your family. A small family may use the microfiber cloth provided, while a large family might opt for a different type of mop. A mop with a small pad will only get the job done for a single person, while a large mop can soak up too much moisture and cause damage to your floors.
Conclusion
The best method to prevent mopping mistakes is to perform regular inspections of your floors and change out any that appear to be getting too wet. If your floors look a little worn, you should consider replacing them.
Replacing them once every 10 years or so is better than keeping them wet and dirty for long periods. The best way to go about mopping your floors is to understand how the process works and how your floor performs against different types of flooring.
