Natural stone flooring is increasingly popular for areas outside and inside homes and businesses. Stone whether in large slabs or tile is both beautiful and functional for exterior spaces such as patios, pool decks, and outdoor kitchens. Inside homes and businesses, natural stone is a popular choice for bathrooms, kitchens, and shared areas.
There is a wide range of natural stones used in flooring with top choices being marble and travertine. Travertine is used in a natural state, or it can be highly polished. Marble is typically polished to a near mirror shine. Both bring a unique beauty to your home or business and with proper maintenance, can last for many years without needing replacement.
Tips to Protect Your Natural Stone Floors
The number one threat to the natural stone floors is everyday dirt tracked in on shoes. A great tip is to treat your marble or travertine similarly to how you would treat a white carpet (yes, people do have those, and they can be gorgeous!). Here is a brief list of steps you can take to keep your floors pristine.
- Shoes Off – If practical for you, do not use outside shoes inside the home. Outside shoes track in dirt, sand, and even small rocks. When you walk on your natural stone floors, these abrasives can scratch and grind your floors. Even microscopic damage adds up over time dulling and damaging your beautiful floors.
- Use mats at entry points – If banning outside shoes is impractical, place mats with a non-stick backing at all your entry points. Encourage everyone to vigorously wipe the soles of their shoes before entering. While not a fail-safe, this will reduce the number of abrasives that reach the surface of your floors. Clean your mats frequently to keep them effective.
- Check those heels – Be mindful of shoes with metal soles. Shoes with spikes for sports or heels that have worn to the metal can visibly scratch your floors and leave marks that may require professional remediation or even replacement of that section of your floor.
- Put shoes on your furniture – Cover all legs of furniture with protectors. While it seems intuitive to do this with chairs and furniture that moves frequently, even stationary pieces can etch your floors over time. Felt can be effective, just watch for dirt build-up. If using plastic or rubber protectors, make sure they are not acidic and that they will not leach oils or dyes into your floors.
- Keep your floors clean – There is a lot of misinformation about what to and not to use to clean your natural stone floors. The best thing to do is to keep it simple. Vacuum floors regularly (make sure the wheels on your vacuum do not leave rubber streaks or metal scratches), sweep with a soft bristle broom, and mop with warm water. Avoid any acidic chemicals such as vinegar, lemon juice, and abrasive cleaners.
When To Use A Professional Cleaning Service
Natural stone floors can be a beautiful part of your décor. With mindfulness and care, these floors can look like new for decades. To keep that like-new appearance and extend the life of your floors, it is recommended that you have your floors professional cleaned at least once a year. It is also helpful after parties or having company for extended periods of time. Professional cleaning removes trapped dirt and films that can damage and dull your floors and
If your floors are looking worn or if you have stains and scratches you cannot remove, please contact us. The trained and certified Technicians with Inside Homes will be glad to inspect your floors and provide a no-obligation quote for services.
I hadn’t even thought about what shoes with metal soles could do to stone flooring. We’re pretty happy with our stone floor, but it looks a little weathered. We’re thinking of reaching out to a restoration company for help.
I love how you mentioned that it is a good idea to encourage people to wipe their shoes on pads in order to keep stone floors clean. My children like to play outside a lot, and they often track in a lot of dirt which has our floor looking dirty all the time. It would probably be a good idea for me to have ours professionally cleaned.
I have been considering getting stone flooring installed in my kitchen. It is great to know that you will want to consider what shoes I normally wear. It does seem like I will want to get a type of stone that is durable because I do wear heels every now and then.
Your blog is very amazing and your tips in taking care of stone floors are really helpful
This is some really good information about maintaining your stone floors. I liked that you pointed out that you should still take off our shoes. I would totally forget about doing little things like that.
My father and I were recently having a conversation last Friday over dinner, where he told me that he was looking to retile his driveway. Ever since, he has been looking into natural stone tiles to be installed. I decided to help him out with some research and that’s where I found your amazing article. I really appreciate you explaining to avoid any acidic chemicals such as vinegar, lemon juice, and abrasive cleaners. You raised a great point here, one I’m sure those interested in installing these tiles will be happy to keep in mind. Thank you for this! I’ll be sure to share this with my father in a bit!
It caught my attention when you said that abrasives from your outside shoes could scratch and grind your floors. This is something that I will surely consider since I am planning to shop for limestone flooring tiles for the renovation of our living room. Your tips will surely help us keep our flooring in a good condition for a long time.
I loved that you pointed out that it is recommended to have floorings cleaned by a professional since they can remove trapped dirt and films that can damage and dull your floors. My husband and I will then consider hiring a flooring company that offers marble floor polishing services. Our flooring, especially in the living area has signs of deep-seated dirt that we don’t want to negatively impact our house’s resale value. We are planning to sell our house before the year ends, so it is a must for us to keep a clean-looking floor.
Thank you for the tips. Installing marbles and granite in home gives a stunning look to the place. And with the help of above tips you maintain and extend the life of natural stones.
It sure was interesting when you suggested vacuuming your floor regularly in order to keep your natural stone flooring clean and maintained. This actually reminds me of the single-family house that my late father left for me 6 months ago. Its natural stone flooring and walls appear to have issues with mold and build-up of dirt, so it will be convenient for me to seek the help of a stonework cleaning company.