The Home-Ec 101 Guide To Taking Care Of Your Floors

The floor of a home is the canvas that family life gets lived on. Sometimes it is a fresh clean canvas and other times it is full of stains and spots. It often gets overlooked, but keeping it in good shape does improve the room. Here are some articles about taking care of flooring; there are questions about hardwood, carpet, linoleum, laminate, and more. Just click the title of the article to read the whole thing.

One quick tip from Austin O’Malley before you go on reading: “When you are dealing with a child, keep all your wits about you, and sit on the floor.”

Are my Hardwood Floors Sealed?

I once read somewhere that hardwood floors do need to be “sealed” every few years or so. What does this mean? Should we put something on the floors to seal them?

Carpet Care and Spot Cleaning

Is there any tried-and-true method for spot-cleaning a carpet and KEEPING it clean? There’s nothing worse than mystery stains that return every few months.

How to Remove Rust Stains from Carpet

I recently moved some furniture only to discover rust rings on my carpet. Can you help me figure out how to safely remove the rust stains from my carpeting?

How to Remove Potty Training or Poop Stains from Carpeting

My two year old has started potty training.  She’s very good at taking off her clothes and getting naked, not so good yet at actually making it to the potty on time.  So, I was wondering if you had any brilliant tips for cleaning toddler poop out of carpet?

How to Clean Laminate Flooring

Since installing the floors, we’ve had plumbers and tilers in…and now the floors are filthy! We need advice on how to clean them. You can’t get laminate flooring fully wet, so regular mopping is out. We have a layer of remodeling dust that seemingly won’t be phased by a broom and Swiffer Wet. Can you help?

How to Clean Linoleum

I was hoping you could help me with a cleaning problem I have been having lately.  I can’t get my floors clean!  No matter if I wash the floor on my hands and knees or if I use a mop, there’s still a dirt residue that will not go away.

How to Clean Hardwood Flooring

Any helpful hints on cleaning wood floors? I can get them clean and I can get them shiny, but not at the same time without doing two rounds. First with water/vinegar, then going over it with Orange Glow wood floor cleaner. But who has time for that?

How to Clean Pet Urine On a Linoleum Floor

How do you get chewed up plastic off the carpet? My puppy and my big dog chew everything! When I had hardwood it was easy. . . carpet, not so much.

How to Scrub a Tile Floor

I was looking on your site for information on the best (and hopefully most efficient) way to scrub floors. I have tile floors in my kitchen and bathroom and 3 young children.  They are always dirty, and I have a baby who is crawling on them.

How to Repair Stained Grout

I just read your post about scrubbing tile floors. I need to do this! I’ve swept and mopped for three years on my tile floors, and I’ve been knowing I need to do something to make the grout white again. I did the test to see if my grout had been sealed. It hasn’t! Is this why it turned brown? I feel like a terrible housekeeper! Is it too late to seal the grout after three years? Will I be able to restore them to white again? I’m looking forward to your future posts!

What’s the Point of Welcome Mats, Door Mats, and Runners?

It takes an average of six to ten steps for all of the dirt on shoes to fall away and let’s face it, not everyone is diligent about wiping their feet. All but the smallest dogs can carry a surprising amount of dirt in a house between their paw pads -especially in winter when there is less grass.

Choosing Flooring with an Incontinent Pet

The carpet is now stained and smelly from both general wear and tear and also my greyhound becoming incontinent and having accidents everywhere, especially in the hallway. So I need to do something. What is the best/most durable/easies to clean & maintain flooring choice?

Click the picture for more tips!

Click the picture for more tips!