Commercial tiles, on average, receive significantly more traffic than residential flooring. This means, of course, that commercial tiles require significantly more maintenance to keep clean and in good shape.
Thankfully, cleaning commercial tiles is not much different than cleaning tiles at home. So, today I’m going to help you by outlining the best practices for keeping your commercial tile floors clean.
Table of Contents
How To Clean Commercial Tiles
- To start cleaning commercial tiles begin by sweeping away dust, dirt, and debris. This is crucial because commercial tiles are exposed to increased foot traffic. You could also use a vacuum.
- Next, fill a bucket with water mixed with a specialized tile cleaning solution of your choice.
- Now take a large mop and soak it in your tile cleaner/water mixture and mop the entire tiled surface, starting at the edges and working your way in towards the center.
- After mopping the tiles, while they are still wet, take a minute to clean the grout lines using a floor scrubbing brush. You should also take this time to work away at any stains or dirty smudges you find. You can use a professional stain remover if you encounter a particularly stubborn spot.
- Finally, let the tiles air dry before using a floor buffer to finish polishing the floor and giving the tiles a beautiful shine.
As you can see, cleaning commercial tiles is easy enough. However, while commercial tiles are typically very durable, there are a few things you want to avoid doing lest you damage them.
Recommended Commercial Tile Cleaners
Things To Avoid When Cleaning Commercial Tiles
Too Much Water
One of the most common mistakes people make when cleaning tile flooring is to mop using too much water.
Tiles are highly porous on a microscopic level. So, if you add too much water when you mop, the tiles will soak up much of that water.
This leads to the development of deep, difficult-to-clean stains and the slow deterioration of grout lines. As such, when you mop your commercial tiles you have to use a damp mop instead of a soaking wet one.
Using The Wrong Chemicals
Using harsh chemical cleaners is another very common mistake when cleaning commercial tiles. Often people think that commercial floors require stronger chemicals to clean and end up using cleaners with tons of chlorine, muriatic acid, and ammonia.
In addition to being highly toxic and hazardous to your health, these chemicals will eventually wear through the tiles’ protective layer and cause the tile to deteriorate slowly over time.
If you want to prolong the lifetime of your commercial tiles, make sure to use gentle cleaners made with the right, not-too-harsh chemicals.
Using Scouring Pads
When commercial tiles are heavily stained, some people immediately resort to tough metal scrubber pads such as steel wool to scrape off gunk and stuck dirt.
This, however, is one of the worst mistakes you can make, since these abrasive materials can easily scratch and cause deep gouges into the tiles’ soft surface.
These abrasions can then lead to larger cracks and even fractures.
Using Oil-Based Products
Finally, some people use oil-based cleaning products on their commercial tiles because they think that the oils in the product can provide their tiles with an extra layer of protection.
However, what ends up happening is that the oily residue left over will act as a powerful dirt and grit magnet.
In the long run, using oil-based cleaning products on your commercial tiles will cause them to become dirtier more often and will increase the need to clean them more regularly.
Last update on 2024-04-23 at 21:03 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
