Cleaning - Mopping the Floor 101

It has been a while since I had a cleaning blog. Today I'd like to talk about mopping a floor. I know you are thinking this is silly because mopping the floor seems so straight forward. However, from a look at your cleaning isle in a local supermarket - it seems that there is confusion and bad information for the local consumer.

It is getting crazy impossible to find a good mop at a store. For instance, at Walmart you don't find the good type of mop in the cleaning section - you find it in hardware. Yup, that is right in hardware. You need a great cotton deck mop to keep your floors clean.

You can find good mops at Lowels and Home Depot too. The mop I get is from Walmart - the deck mop. It has a great cushion grip on the handle of the mop. Of course I didn't get a picture of it. When selecting a mop - find a 100% cotton mop - very important.

First note - Of course you have to sweep the floor before you mop. If my customer has an animal or lots of girls or long hair, I sweep the floor with a broom and then "Swiffer" to get all of the hair off of the floor. I hate hair in my mop! :-) (I always sweep with a broom before I Swiffer - because the Swiffer is ineffective when debree gets on the cloth)
It is best to soak a NEW mop for about 1 hour before you are ready to mop. Squeeze all the water out of the mop and dispose of the soaking water. Then get clean water to start mopping.

Also a little tip with a new mop -- it is pretty thick and tough to wring out. Divide the mop into 2 sections and wring out each section individually.

I put Yellow - lemon - MR. Clean in my bucket. I do not like pine sol and the lingering smell. I like yellow Mr. Clean for the fresh cleaning smell and clean it provides me. For me, it's about the smell. I do not use vinegar. I am not a vinegar smelling house cleaner - but you can do it if you want on your hardwood floors.

On hardwood floors, I only use about a cap of Mr. Clean - not too much. Every once in a while I use Murphy's Oil soap floor cleaner - to put moisture back into the floor. On tile, laminate, linoleum, rock, cement - all floors I use Mr. Clean.

Wet the floor with a soaked mop. Tip, use less water on hardwood floors as the wood soaks it up and it is harder to dry.

Mop away..... Harder on really soiled spots. A cotton mop is very safe for your floor.. no scratching. Food and spills lift up with the wet floor/mop.

A super great thing about a cotton mop - it cleans the corners really well.

Close and tight against the wall. Sponge mops just push the dirt into corners and edges of the wall - they are a BAD thing. Continue wetting the floor and mopping until the floor has been mopped.

Now the most IMPORTANT step in the whole process of mopping a floor. It is the WIPING up and drying of the floor. The key to mopping the floor is really not in the mopping at all - it's in the DRYING and getting ALL of the water off the floor.

You have to squeeze ALL of the water out of the mop - and squeeze some more. Then you start mopping up the water - all of the water. It make take 3 to 5 times of going over the floor /squeezing out the water, going over the floor, squeezing out the water - until ALL of the water is off of the floor.

I pull the mop back towards me, back and forth. This way.......

And that way.. Backing up... Backing up.

Until every last piece of the floor is dry.

That is why you need a cotton mop- it absorbs the water off of the floor. That is why all of the other types of mops don't work- they can't dry and pull up every last piece of dirt off of the floor.

IF I purchase a self twisting mop, I still have to put my hand on the bottom of the mop and twist it a little bit more to wring it out as dry as possible.

DRY.... DRY..... DRY is the key. Most people leave some water on the floor or do not get into the edges, corners, in between each tile on the floor. They leave dirt on the floor that continues to build up over time.

You need to get every drop of water and the dirt on that floor up -- EVERY time you mop or it isn't clean. It will build up and your floor will look dirty.

Unfortunately, you can't find a good mop in the cleaning isles anymore... You have to go to the hardware department.... crazy... Who are all these people coming up with ways to mop the floor and teaching people how to do it ineffectively?

The good news is if your floors have been neglected and the dirt has built up - As you continue this process it will continue to get better and better as you go along. The dingy floor will be clean again. The Key is getting every last bit of dirt off the floor every time - by drying the floor.

I hope this has given you help and thought into the next time you mop your floor. Let me know if you have any questions.