You’ve made an investment into the beauty and comfort of your home.  Protect that investment and extend the life of your new flooring by taking the time to maintenance it properly.  Here are a few maintenance tips:

Protect Your New Tile

Entryways Invest in some good quality protective mats or rugs at your entryways.  They will help protect your tile from premature wear.  They will trap dirt and other substances that could be tracked onto your floor.

If you really want to keep the dirt off your new floor, leave your shoes at the door!  Also be sure to wear slippers or socks on your tile floors.  Your feet have oil on them that will transfer onto the tile.

Seal Your Tile To keep your tile looking like new, apply a good quality sealer.  Sealers are easy to apply and relatively affordable.

• First, follow your manufacturer’s recommendations for cure time after your tile is installed.
• Next, give your tile a thorough cleaning. This may include removing any stains from your grout.
• Apply the sealer to the floor surface evenly, mop backwards towards the opening of the room, and allow the sealer to dry.
• These protection tips along with regular sweeping and mopping will sustain the beauty of your tile and add lasting brilliance to your home décor.

Grout Cleaning

Abbey Carpet & Floor recommends that you first check with your Abbey expert or the manufacturer for care and cleaning.

To avoid stubborn grout stains, try to clean up spills as quickly as possible.  However, no matter what lengths we try to go to keep our tile clean and looking like new, stains may still find their way into our grout. To tackle stubborn grout stains, follow a few simple steps:

• Start off with a gentle (least acidic) household tile and grout cleaner first.  If this doesn’t do the job, move up to a harsher chemical cleaner.  Try to avoid using bleach since it can alter the color of your grout and cause damage with repeated use.
• Spray cleaner onto a small length of grout and scrub with a stiff brush.
• Scrub in a circular motion rather than straight up and down. This will remove more debris.
• Rinse well with warm water and mop up and remaining moisture.

Steam cleaners can also work well on grout stains.  The pressure of a steam cleaner can loosen stains that cleaners can’t dissolve…and without harmful chemicals!