Concrete floors offer both modern aesthetics and low maintenance. The combination of a simple floor care routine and occasional professional service is all that’s needed to keep your floors as good as looking new.
Keep reading to learn what products you should use to clean your concrete floors and how to know when they may need to be professionally serviced.
Concrete Floor Care Basics
- KEEP YOUR FLOOR CLEAR OF DUST, DIRT, AND GRIME
The key to a long life is keeping the surface of your concrete floor clear of dust, dirt, and grime.
Excessive surface contaminants act as abrasive, dulling, and discoloring decorative concrete floors.
Frequent concrete floor cleaning will dramatically prolong the interval between professional service calls.
We recommend robotic vacuums designed for hardwood flooring to take care of daily floor cleaning duties. They’re efficient and reliable and can keep up with contaminants from foot traffic.
If a robot vacuum is not an option, dust mopping is your second best choice. We recommend using a standard microfiber dust mop both dry and with clean water. These dust mops are machine washable and reusable.
- USE THE CORRECT MOPPING SOLUTION
When mopping residential polished concrete floors it is important to use the correct cleaning solution.
We recommend Ameripolish® Rejuvenating Floor Cleaner. This product is designed for polished concrete floors and will increase stain resistance when used regularly.
If this product is unavailable, we suggest using natural soap, such as Dr. Bronner’s castile soap when mopping your floor. Dr. Bronner’s is gentle, pH-neutral, and concentrated—a few drops in a mop bucket is all that’s required for an effective cleaning solution. For mopping, use warm water and a microfiber-style wet mop.
Never use cleaners such as Pine-Sol, ammonia, vinegar, or bleach as they will dull, discolor or etch polished concrete and stained concrete floors.
To learn more about polished concrete floors and our installation process, visit our main polished concrete floors page
Soap is not required every time a floor is mopped. A damp mop can be used without soap for regular cleaning.
How Often Should you Have Your Polished Concrete Floors Professionally Serviced?
We generally recommend professional inspections every two years and servicing every six years.
If your concrete floors are starting to look dull, especially in high foot traffic areas, it may be time for your floors to be serviced. If your floors look different from when they were installed, a professional inspection is needed.
In our standard residential servicing, we deep clean your floors with a specialized automatic floor scrubber and then use a high-powered buffer to bring back their original luster. This one-day service will revitalize your floors and increase their resistance to stains.
How-To Minimize Concrete Maintenance Costs
- ALWAYS KEEP YOUR FLOOR CLEAN!
Use a dust mop or vacuum to remove surface contaminants such as dust and dirt. We generally recommend a robotic vacuum over a dust mop, as they can clean both concrete and rugs. Clean concrete is the key to long service life.
- USE RUGS – BUT NEVER WITH A RUBBER RUG BACKING
Rugs are a great idea on concrete floors, especially at entryways. They’ll reduce the volume of contaminants tracked onto the floor from daily foot traffic.
However, rubber rug backings can dull the shine of polished concrete flooring. Instead, use felt-style rug backers. Because polished concrete isn’t slippery, you may find there is no need for a rug backer at all.
- Never wax your polished concrete floors
Wax is considered a contaminant on polished concrete flooring and can cause costly repairs. Wax buildup is difficult to strip and will only temporarily improve the appearance of your floor.
Take care not to use a floor cleaner with added wax. Mop & Glo is the primary culprit. Again, a damp mop with a small amount of gentle soap is all that’s required.
- Never stick tape to a decorative concrete floor
Even blue painter’s tape can damage the surface of a decorative concrete floor if installed for an extended period of time. This is one of the most common and costly maintenance issues associated with concrete flooring. See this page for more information.
- Chose the concrete floor installation that best fits your needs
In 2023, most decorative concrete installations are polished concrete floors not stained or sealed concrete floors. Unlike stained concrete floors, polished concrete does not utilize a film-forming sealer so it has the lowest long-term maintenance requirements of any type of concrete flooring.
- Clean spills promptly
Always clean liquid spills as soon as possible. Spills allowed to dry on polished concrete can seep into the floor, causing stains.
Pay special attention to reactive liquids such as vinegar, soaps, or wine. These liquids are notorious for damaging polished concrete floors. Oil stains are also common, especially in kitchens.
- Have your floor periodically inspected by an experienced concrete floor polisher
If the surface of your floor looks different from when it was installed, it’s probably time to have it professionally evaluated. Worn floors are more prone to staining and discoloration than properly maintained floors – leading to expensive repairs.
Looking for more information about polished concrete floors?
See our polished concrete flooring page for links to articles about polished concrete floors, galleries, and other helpful content.
As always, give us a call for a free consultation.
