Care and Repair for Your Floor
Floors don’t require much work, but it is important to take care of them properly.
Just like you should wax your car yearly, many floors require yearly (give or take) “major” maintenance. And just like you (okay I don’t but some people) should wash your car every 1-4 weeks, floors also require “minor” cleaning and maintenance.
Every floor is different, so I’ll cover maintenance for each floor type individually.
Carpet
Carpet requires regular vacuuming and year to three years deep cleaning (usually by a professional). You’ll also have the occasionalstain to remove. Check out our guide to carpet care to find the fix for any of your carpet problems:
Carpet Care Guide: stain removal, home carpet cleaning systems, picking a professional carpet cleaner
Vacuum Guide: there are so many vacuums to review this gets its own guide. you’ll find the best-tested vacuum for different situations and price ranges, and vacuuming tips
Hardwood
The most expensive flooring requires the most critical care. Hardwoods durability is unmatched, but it doesn’t do it on its own. It requires regular (about yearly) maintenance finishing and every decade or so complete re-finishing. The cleaning for hardwood isn’t too difficult, but there are some preferred cleaning products and some to avoid:
Hardwood Care Guide: re-finishing, cleaning, and other things you need to know once you own hardwood
Laminate
Laminate is a relatively inexpensive floor that can be mostly hands-off. You’ll want to know how to clean it, and possibly some minor repairs. Otherwise, you don’t have much to worry about. Check out our favorite cleaning products and other tips for laminate:
Laminate Care Guide
Tile
Tile requires investment getting it purchase and installed but little after that. You may want to know how to seal your tile, how to repair a cracked tile, or other general cleaning tips:
Tile Care Guide
Captain’s parting words!
The guides linked to on this page should take you to all your floor care questions. Once you click those links, you’ll find our articles that relate to that floor.
If you don’t find your floor care or repair question, let me know in the comments below (or the comments on the specific floors page).
