Cleaning Floors Quickly

Written by Lee Wyatt (last updated October 28, 2024)

There come times when every homeowner needs to clean their floors quickly. Often this happens when some other kind of emergency comes along. Some examples of these emergencies would include such things as a water heater breaking, washing machine leaking, your kids spilling Kool-Aid on the carpet, and many others. While many strategies can be used for any type of flooring, there are some that only work for specific types. If you know what those specific types are, then you can quickly and easily clean your floors, and avoid the stain build up that is common to many homes.

Below are some of the most common household flooring materials and the best ways to quickly clean the spills, stains, and messes that generally seem to crop up in our life. Listed next to each type of flooring is the most common type of stain or mess that can be associated with that flooring.

  • Carpet. By far the most difficult stain to remove from carpeting has got to be wax. Whether the wax comes from a spilled candle or melted crayon it seems like once you have wax melted into the carpet you are never really able to get it out. Here's what you do—if the wax is still wet, then use an ice cube to help make the wax cold and hard. Next use a soft-edged plastic spatula or a credit card to scrape up as much of the wax as you can. Now, you need to get an iron and a bunch of paper towels. Place a couple of towels over the affected area, turn your iron on to a low heat setting, and place it on the towels. As the wax softens up because of the heat, the paper towels will become saturated. Periodically lift up your iron to make sure that the wax has not soaked all the way through so that there is no damage to the iron. Repeat this process until the wax has been removed.
  • Hardwood/Laminate. Hardwood and laminate floors are becoming common in kitchens across the United States. As a result it is usually a kitchen type of spill or mess that most frequently needs to be cleaned up. The biggest thing to remember is that when you are taking care of hardwood and laminate flooring, water and liquids are extremely harmful to them. If you are faced with a liquid spill, you need to clean it up as quickly as possible. If you happen to drop an egg on your hardwood floor, sprinkle a little salt on it to help absorb the yolk and whites, then use a damp mop to wipe it up.
  • Tile. When you are faced with a wet mess on your tile floor, the best way to get rid of the mess is to use a squeegee and some towels. Simply lay down some of your towels to get the majority of the wet stuff up. Then use the squeegee to pull the remaining liquid into pools that you can use the rest of your towels to clean up. Using this method to clean up large spills can reduce the amount of time that it takes to get your floor dry once again.

Author Bio

Lee Wyatt

Contributor of numerous Tips.Net articles, Lee Wyatt is quickly becoming a regular "Jack of all trades." He is currently an independent contractor specializing in writing and editing. Contact him today for all of your writing and editing needs! Click here to contact. ...

MORE FROM LEE

My Dog has Arthritis

Arthritis is a painful experience for both man and dog. There are things that you can do though if you find yourself ...

Discover More

Pruning Evergreen Trees

Evergreen trees can provide some much needed, and low maintenance, greenery to your landscape. That being said, even ...

Discover More

Brining a Turkey

Are you interested in having a particularly juicy and tasty turkey? If so, then you may want to consider brining it. ...

Discover More

The Power of Microfiber! Zwipes Microfiber Cleaning Cloths will become your favorite tool for every cleaning task. This 36-cloth package is perfect for hundreds of uses in the garage, kitchen, bathroom, laundry, and all around the house. Each cloth is tough, streak-free, lint-free, reusable, and washable. Check out Microfiber Cleaning Cloths today!

More Cleaning Tips

Removing Rubber Stains from Kitchen Floors

Rubber stains can show up in your kitchen from various sources. To remove them, you can try scraping them off, but if ...

Discover More

Floor Stripping

When most people want to wax a floor, they forget one of the most basic steps, stripping it. Floor stripping doesn't need ...

Discover More

Steam Mops

Mops can be great tools, but they might not provide the kind of clean you want for your floor. Try a steam mop to clean ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in Cleaning Tips from Tips.Net. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is five more than 0?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in Cleaning Tips from Tips.Net. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.