Can’t keep your floors clean? What is causing those ugly streaks? Completely frustrated? Feel like you’ve tried everything and nothing is working?
The so-called professional cleaning chemical has to be the problem right?
Well, often the answer is no. If you’re using a suitable high-quality daily cleaning chemical, streaking is still possible, here’s why…
There is always a reason for streaking… Sometimes it’s one thing, other times its many things that contribute to the problem. If you can eliminate the problem causing streaking, the solution becomes easy.
Here are the 7 most common mistakes that cause streaky floors.
1. Using too much chemical?
More is NOT better!
This problem is very common. Use the right cleaning chemical at the right dilution… dilutions are different for each product so check the label or product info sheet. If your floor looks dirty, using more chemical can actually make things worse, not better.
For a quick and easy way to calculate dilution rates and how much chemical to use go to this article here… How To Quickly Calculate Cleaning Chemical Dilution Rates And Ratios
Guessing or miscalculating cleaning chemical concentrate dilutions is a common problem on streaky, dirty floors. To fix this problem complete a restorative deep clean with effective soil extraction (ie. using a wet and dry vacuum cleaner).
2. Using a dirty mop?
Even if your mop is clean at the start, you can only expect a good clean wringer mop to remove approximately 50% of soil over 25 square metres in light to medium soil conditions. One mop is simply not enough to clean most floors. Even if you’re using one of the best microfibre floor-mopping system fringes, you can't expect great results on a problem floor. Having 10 or 20 or even more replacement microfibre mop fringes to keep replacing when dirty will give you drastically better results. Or even better, use disposable microfibre flat mop covers for the ultimate result and no laundering.
3. Using dirty mop water and not changing the mop water regularly?
Changing your mop water bucket regularly reduces streaking and gets a better clean. When the mop water is looking dirty it’s time to change it.
4. Residues on your floor you didn’t even know about?
Residues from previously used chemicals, grout and plaster dust, builder’s cleaning practices, spills and staining can cause streaking. Even after the floor surface is buffed and there are no streaks in sight, residues can still be lurking in the porous grout lines waiting to pounce. When we wet these residues and spread them using a mop, a floor can look streaky and dirty after cleaning.
Residues from previously used chemicals, grout and plaster dust, builder’s cleaning practices, spills and staining cause streaking. Even after the floor surface is buffed residues can still be lurking in the porous grout lines. When wet, the floor mop moves across and spreads streaky residue across the surface of the tile again.
5. Overwetting when cleaning?
Always use minimal water when cleaning to reduce streaking and watermarking. There is now very effective cleaning technology that allows you to clean damp or dry eg. microfibre cleaning products. This also means floors will dry faster after cleaning.
6. Poor soil recovery?
Is your cleaning process really removing soils or just spreading them around? Many professionals use wet and dry vacuums or automatic floor scrubbers with vacuum recovery to be sure all the soil and residue are removed from the surface. They will go to this effort because they know how important this step is to a successful job.
7. Using the wrong chemical?
When a floor is dirty and we’re struggling to get a good cleaning result, the knee-jerk reaction is to immediately look for a stronger cleaning chemical. Stronger chemicals are more prone to streaking due to the residues they leave behind. Stronger chemicals will not necessarily solve streaking or cleaning problems. The right cleaning chemical will definitely help but it is not all you need. Our favourite maintenance floor cleaner is Bobby Dazzler Universal Cleaner.
No, the other kind of streaking.
If all else fails, how do you stop streaking on floors?
There are quick fixes to making a streaky floor streak free. Like buffing a floor after cleaning or cleaning the floor like you would a window with a washer and squeegee. While these methods give you a great-looking streak-free floor they are not solving the root of the problem. So if all else fails keep persisting.
If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep getting the same result, so when you next clean keep the 7 mistakes above in mind. It might take some trial and error, but the solution for your streaky, dirty floors is only one step away.
For more help and support give the XO2 customer care team a call today on 1300 123 499 or visit XO2's range of floor care cleaning and maintenance chemical products online. If you know your surface just head to our Top Products By Surface page to see our cleaning and maintenance product recommendations.
Have a great day.