Tile flooring is one of the most classy flooring options. This flooring comes in a wide range of colors that easily goes with nearly all interior decor. With tile flooring, your styles are limitless as you can use them in the bathroom, kitchen, living room, and any other part of your home.
Another reason tiles are mostly preferred is because they have great resistance to abrasion, scouring, and durability. However, constant footwear pressure and stains can make tiles lose their shine. Some glazed and polished tile floors are sensitive to acidic substances that can react with the shiny top layer resulting in a dull finish.
Common things that cause tiles to turn dull include daily wear and tear, dirt and dust left by footwear, or masking by stains. Tile floors can also turn dull if tile sealers are exposed to some chemicals. However, all tile floors can become dull when neglected.
Tile floors can lose their shine due to our footwear masking stains, dirt, and dust spread over them. Even though some persons prefer to use wax to shine tile floors, we would discuss a few other ways to make tile floors shine without waxing.
Step-By-Step Guide - How to make a tile floor shine?
1. Step One
Sweep off all forms of dirt from your floor with a broom and make sure the surface is clean. With your vacuum cleaner, clear out the remaining particles.
2. Step Two
Mix equal amounts of vinegar and warm water. Leave the solution on the surface for a few minutes and mix properly.
3. Step Three
Clean the tiles floor with a mop; use a brush to clean out particles. Repeat the process, where needed replace the solution when the solution begins to collect dirt
4. Step Four
Rinse off the vinegar for the second time with warm water to wash out the vinegar and baking soda left on the floor tiles. If not properly washed, vinegar and baking soda solution can leave lumps on the floor tiles. Rinse off the floor well with warm water.
5. How to prepare the Solution
Prepare ½ cup of water and ½ cup of detergent with 1⅔ cups of baking soda to be stirred and mixed thoroughly with two tablespoons of white vinegar. Add the mixture to a spray bottle. Spray on the floor where necessary and mop and scrub the floor properly. Lastly, rinse off the solution with warm water.
How can I make my tile floor look new again?
1. Sweeping and Vacuuming
Sweeping and vacuuming are essential in removing dirt and debris from the floor. You can sweep your tile floors and then vacuum after you are done. Your vacuum brush roller is acceptable to use on tile flooring and won’t scratch it. Sweeping and then vacuuming removes the dirt off of the tile. Then start a deeper clean on the tile so that they will shine.
2. Mop or Spray your tile floor
Mops work better if you are cleaning large places or for small areas. You can use the solution in a spray bottle. After determining the right solution, follow these steps :
- It would be best to begin by spraying the solution on your tile and using a mop to apply the solution. Keep spraying until you have clean tile floors.
- Use your mop to spread the solution around your tile floor and clean it with a cloth. Don’t stop there! Repeat this same process until your entire tile floor looks shiny.
- Rather than a sponge mop, try to use a string mop. Using a sponge mop, you can push the liquid around. The string mops, on the other hand, spread the liquid thoroughly. This will help preserve your grout from getting damp.
- Rinse your floors with cold water ensure you change the water as frequently as necessary.
- Let your floors get dry before using them. Try not to use fans to speed up the drying process. It would only push dust and dirt to the wet tiles and stick while drying.
3. Repair Cracked Tiles
Tile floors can break under pressure or when items drop on them, leading to chips or cracks. When this happens, quickly make the necessary repairs by applying a self-stick tile, which is durable and will make the material look new.
4. Clean the Grout
The grout often determines how clean your tiles are, making it necessary to use a non-chlorine cleaning product to remove the existing dirt and stains. After this is done, apply a silicone sealer, which will work as a barrier and prevent the grout from looking dirty. The grout may need to be refilled in areas where it’s chipped or loose to improve its durability.
Does vinegar shine tile floors?
With the increase in global awareness related to keeping our environment clean, more people worldwide choose green products. Instead of going for harsh chemicals such as bleach, there is an increase in awareness.
Vinegar is strong enough to wash away stains, grout, and other types of dirt on tile flooring. Vinegar is a product that can be used to clean almost everything in our homes. It is eco-friendly and can be used to clean tile floors but not all types.
Vinegar is easy to use. Although it may not have the best smell, it will make your tile floors shine. Vinegar disinfects hard surfaces with grease and stains. Once it dries, it leaves behind a neutral scent.
Vinegar has several cleaning properties. Acetic acid – the main ingredient in vinegar tile cleaner can dissolve grease, dirt, and mineral deposit, making the tiles much cleaner and shiny than before.
Never mix bleach and vinegar. It is toxic chlorine gas. This is harmful to our health, especially those that have a sensitive respiratory system. Also, having good ventilation in the room will bring about the quick natural drying of your floors. It would be best if you waited for the moisture to evaporate completely.
How to make tile floors shine naturally?
There are several natural ways to restore the shine of your tile floors
1. Make use of Lemons
Lemon is an excellent natural remedy that you can use to restore the sparkle on your tile floors. Spray lemon juice on your tile floor using a spray bottle. Using a cloth or a damp sponge, wipe the tile repeatedly until the shiny finish is attained. You can decide to soak a cloth in lemon juice for 10 minutes before wiping the tile floors also.
Lemons contain acidic contents, which might wear out tiles if left for several hours. After applying the lemon juice to your tile, make sure you clean it properly.
2. Make use of Baking soda
If you have stubborn stains, try wetting the floor and sprinkling baking soda on it. Cleaning tile floors with baking soda is an easy and chemical-free way to deal with stains.
- Fill a bucket with warm water.
- Add at least a ½ cup of baking soda to it.
- Stir; mop your floor with the solution.
- Rinse the mop and then mop the floor again with clean water to remove traces of
baking soda.
3. Use Soapy water
To make the soapy water solution, add detergent into a mop bucket that contains warm water and mix properly to form a soapy solution. Once the solution is ready, use a mop to apply the soapy solution in the following way;
- Dip the mop in the soapy solution and squeeze it before using it on the floor.
- Clean the floor using the cleaning solution and a mop.
- Change the solution when it turns dirty to avoid leaving dirt streaks on the floor.
- Make use of a soft brush to scrub the stain spots gently.
- Clean the floor using clean water.
4. Ammonia
The use of ammonia for the removal of floor stains gives an excellent result, restoring the shine on the tile floors.
-Add a few drops of ammonia into warm water into a mop bucket and stir properly.
-Dip the mop into the cleaning solution and squeeze to avoid too much application of the cleaning solution.
-Thoroughly mop the floor, removing stains, dirt and disinfecting the floor at the same time. In case of stubborn stains, use a sponge soaked with the cleaning solution and scrub gently.
- After cleaning with ammonia solution, rinse the floor adequately with freshwater and dry-mop the floor.
Wrap-Up
The quality of the tiles on your floor contributes to the architectural design and quality of your home. Having the basic ideas on making tile floors shine, you can make your effective cleaning solution choices. From the different methods to maintain a shine on your floor tile surface, we have mentioned, you can choose one.
These techniques are simple to use. Also, the materials you need are available and are at budget-friendly prices. If you need professional help, you can make use of professional cleaners. You can preserve your tile floor with regular maintenance like repairing cracked tiles immediately and daily cleaning. This would help remove stains that can cause wear and tear.
