Contents
*Overview of the best according to the editors of Healthy Food Near Me. About selection criteria. This material is subjective, is not an advertisement and does not serve as a guide to the purchase. Before buying, you need to consult with a specialist.
Repair in an apartment or house is not only a pleasant design update, but also a considerable headache. Moreover, it is not only about the process itself, but also some of its consequences: no matter how carefully the work is done, after its completion there is a lot of dust, debris and construction stains on the floor. How to quickly and effectively wash it after repair? We have collected for you the most effective and safe ways.
General recommendations
First, a couple of simple tips that will help you improve the quality of floor cleaning after repair. If work is carried out with concentrated, strong-smelling substances, it is important to thoroughly ventilate the room. It will also not be superfluous to wear special clothing and goggles with gloves to protect the eyes and hands. If there is paint on the surface, do not let it dry. Further – in more detail about the intricacies of floor processing to remove construction pollution of various types – unpleasant traces of repair work.
Construction dust removal
Before cleaning, you need to close all doors and windows in the house (it is also better to cover active ventilation). Use a powerful vacuum cleaner for cleaning. Let’s clarify right away that the steps described below will probably have to be repeated several times:
Using the spray gun set to the lightest setting (should be almost mist), spray clean water at a level closer to the ceiling. The water will gradually settle, picking up dust particles from the air and forming a dust crust on the floor.
Leave the room closed for a while so that the water dries well. There should not be a hint of a draft, otherwise the dust will rise again.
Time to vacuum. Leave the household appliance in another room. In the room where the repair was carried out, bring a hose with a nozzle and carefully walk over every square meter of the floor. Repeat the procedure until almost all the dust is gone from the air.
Washing the floor. If the air has been sufficiently purified, you can already do without a spray gun. Prepare a bucket of clean water and some rags. Thoroughly wash the floor, moving from the far corner to the exit. If the house has a washing cyclone vacuum cleaner, you can safely use it.
Removing white streaks
Often, just washing the floor with clean water is not enough – there is a feeling that you just smear the dust, white stains remain. This is a rather nasty thing that is easy to clean up. You just need to use the right tools. Use the appropriate one depending on your own preferences, and, of course, the characteristics of the flooring.
Method No. 1. Vegetable oil. Using a bucket for washing floors, dilute vegetable oil in clean, warm water, proceeding at the rate of 1:100. Wash the floor thoroughly. Then take a bucket of clean water, adding 100 ml of table vinegar to it. Re-wash the floor. For the third time, use clean water to remove the vinegar composition from the floor surface.
Method # 2. Kitchen salt. In this case, you will also have to wash the floor more than once. For the first time, use warm water with the addition of liquid dishwashing detergent (1 tablespoon per 10 liters of water). The second time – dissolve 0,5 tbsp. table salt all in the same bucket, but with new water. If the stains from the whitewash cannot be completely removed, you need to wash the floor again, adding about 100 ml of table vinegar to the saline solution. The last step is to wash the floor with clean water without adding anything.
Method # 3. Potassium permanganate. Weak manganese solution is ideal for removing stubborn dirt. Dilute potassium permanganate in warm water until a bright pink color is obtained. Treat the floor with the resulting composition. Then wash its surface with clean water. This method is not suitable for lacquered flooring: the composition will leave streaks.
Method # 4. Kerosene. Effectively removes stubborn stains. 100 ml of kerosene is enough for a bucket of water. After treating the flooring with a caustic compound, it is important to wash the floor with vinegar solution – this will help remove the pungent, unpleasant smell of kerosene.
Removing traces of whitewash/plaster
The first step is to remove everything superfluous from the room, if it is present there: furniture items, things, etc. If the pollution is not too strong and fresh enough, you can get by with “little blood” by thoroughly washing the floor with plain water. The scheme of actions is further:
Step one.Collect large debris. Carefully sweep the remaining dust with a damp broom or use a vacuum cleaner for this.
Шаг второй. Rinse off the underlying dirt using warm water and a suitable floor cloth. Let the coating dry.
Step three. Carefully remove adhering pieces of cement or putty (if any) from the floor surface, then wetting their remains with warm water so that they are well acidified. Collect everything carefully with a rag.
Step Four. Using a clean rag/mop and warm water with some table salt, mop the floor, starting at the far corner and working your way towards the door. The rag should be rinsed as powerfully as often and the water should be changed several times during the washing process. Then wash the floor with clean water.
If the contamination turned out to be persistent, you can resort to more powerful means. To remove putty, plaster, whitewash, use an acid cleaner for household purposes (this can be, for example, a bath cleaner, etc.). Dilute a cap of the selected product in 1 liter of water. Thoroughly wet the contaminated areas and leave for a while (a few minutes is usually enough). Then wipe thoroughly (traces should be removed). For particularly stubborn dirt, the undiluted version is suitable.
Kerosene is also suitable for removing traces of putty or plaster. A few drops of a powerful agent are enough, and stains of building compounds should be easily wiped off.
Council. The use of kerosene is strictly not recommended for linoleum and laminate flooring. It can damage these materials.
How to clean flooring
Laminate
Laminate is one of the most common floor coverings and perhaps the most difficult to clean. The material is a laminated board with a thin layer of fibrous material and resin impregnation. The protective film of this material is so thin (only a few microns) that a slight mechanical impact can be enough to damage it. That is why it is recommended to cover the laminate floor with a thick film before carrying out repairs.
How to clean such a coating? First you need to remove dust and debris. Large – manually, and small – with a broom or a powerful vacuum cleaner. It is important to carefully process the joints of individual elements. If stains remain on the surface, remove them with a plastic spatula or an old bank card.
The next step is wet cleaning. Excess water in this case is unacceptable: only slightly damp cloths can be used. Of the safe and effective means, salt and vinegar are suitable. For 1 liter of hot water (about 90 0C) enough 100 ml of vinegar and 1 tbsp. spoons of salt. Dampen a rag in this composition and quickly wipe the coating (the solution evaporates quickly).
How to process the laminate, depending on the complexity of the pollution:
Paint – white spirit or automotive chemicals are suitable (bituminous stains are easily removed). Use only non-abrasive tools for application and processing, so as not to compromise the integrity of the coating.
Mounting foam – easily cleaned with dimexide, which can be bought at any pharmacy. Apply a small amount of the drug to the stain, after a certain period of time, carefully remove the foam with a plastic spatula and a soft sponge.
Black footprints from shoes – the usual washing of floors is also indispensable here. But a clerical eraser can easily cope with this task.
Parquet
It is necessary to approach the washing of parquet very carefully, since this material is “finicky”. It is also important to consider the type of contamination left after the repair. It is easy to remove traces of whitewash or putty using water with the addition of detergents (the main thing is not to overdo it with their amount). Moisture is not terrible for parquet, so this method can be safely used.
If drops of paint or glue get on the surface of the parquet, everything is more difficult. Mild solvents (e.g. white spirit, tile cleaner, kerosene, etc.) can be tried. Before applying the composition, be sure to check its effect on an inconspicuous area of uXNUMXbuXNUMXbthe parquet. Apply a small amount directly to the stain. Rub gently. Remove with clean water. In the case of kerosene, treat the parquet with a weak vinegar solution (it will remove the smell).
What not to do when processing parquet:
Use hard brushes – they can damage the top lacquer layer of the coating.
Use a large amount of water when processing the coating – parquet is not afraid of moisture, but its excess will make it unusable.
Use abrasive cleaners – the parquet will not be able to withstand such a mechanical load.
Linoleum
To clean the linoleum coating, you can use any non-aggressive means. But gasoline, kerosene, soda, ammonia and medical alcohol are excluded from this list (not all varieties of linoleum are able to withstand the effects of these substances). After removing debris from the floor, it is enough to wash the coating with warm clean water, constantly changing it and the rag.
If we are talking about embossed linoleum, it is better to use a powerful washing vacuum cleaner to process it. If the coating has darkened after repair, drying oil will help restore its original appearance. A small amount of it should be applied to a soft sponge or cloth and carefully walk over the linoleum. Then wipe dry with a woolen cloth.
If after applying wet cleaning the desired result is not achieved, you can try the following methods:
Turpentine – a small amount of product applied to stains after repair will easily and simply remove them. It is important to wash the floor with clean water afterwards.
Chalk powder – slightly diluted with water to a thick paste, crushed chalk is suitable for removing large stains.
Mastic or linseed oil – a special mastic (can be found at any hardware store) is suitable for removing matte stains. If desired, it can be replaced with linseed oil: the effect will be almost identical.
Tile
This flooring is the most picky of the presented. To clean the tiles, it is enough to use any household chemicals that contain acid, for example, a toilet bowl cleaner (not to be confused with pure concentrated acid), ovens, etc.
First of all, you need to dilute the selected product in water – one cap is enough for 1-2 liters of water. First, apply the resulting composition to particularly contaminated areas and leave for a while. Then carefully wipe with a soft sponge or soft brush. If this is not enough, the concentration of the composition must be increased.
After removing the stains, you can proceed directly to mopping the floor. Mix equal amounts of soda ash, table vinegar and liquid dishwashing detergent (based on 50 g of each of the funds per bucket of water). Wait until the chemical reaction is completed and the foam settles. Then pour water. Thoroughly wash the tiles with the finished detergent mixture. The last step is a final cleaning of the floor with clean water and a little vinegar.
Tile adhesive and grout is a separate issue. Such building compounds must be removed as quickly as possible, since it is almost impossible to cope with them in a frozen form. If, nevertheless, there are spots left in some places, you can try to remove them with a metal washcloth for dishes. Did not help? Salvation is only in special chemicals.
Diluted hydrochloric acid can be tried as a method of dealing with traces of grout or cement. Solvents of cement residues will cope with traces of cement and efflorescence. To effectively remove grout with epoxy resins, polymer removers are used in the composition.
Attention! This material is subjective, is not an advertisement and does not serve as a guide to the purchase. Before buying, you need to consult with a specialist.