The following is the official Daily Marble Floor Cleaning procedure as recommended by Marblelife, the world’s leading professionals who repair, restore and maintain natural stone.  Before beginning care for your natural stone, tile or grout surface, please visit the Common Mistakes with Marble and the Protecting Your Marble, Travertine & Terrazzo sections to help you avoid the all too common mistakes that result you calling for repair help.

There are two recommended methods for cleaning marble, travertine and terrazzo floors.  One is with a spray bottle and a microfiber or swiffing type mop and the other is a new spin on the mop and bucket method.  Both will provide excellent results and is the preference of the operator, however, for best results, ease of use and being eco-friendly the spray bottle and microfiber or swiffing type mop is the most recommended method.

Spray Cleaner & Microfiber Method.  

This method provides the best possible results in an Eco-friendly manner and is most recommended.

Recommended supplies:

Step 1 – Spray & Wipe

Mount one of the towels onto the microfiber mop by pushing the towel into the holes or to the Velcro if your mop is equipped with it.  Spray the cleaner directly onto the floor covering an area size that you are comfortable working at a time and proceed to wipe with the mop and towel.  This loosens the oils and dirt that has collected on the surface and in the pores.

Step 2 – Buff Dry

Flip over a dry section of your towel and buff dry to reveal a clean mirror like shining surface.  Proceed to the next area and repeat steps 1 and 2 until the floor is done.  Any clean soft towel will do, however, microfiber towels  work best do to their extremely small fibers.

 

Mop & Buckets Method

This is a professional’s tweak on an age old method.  The problem with mop and bucket is that each time you rinse out your mop, you put dirty water in your cleaner.  This quickly makes your cleaner part of the problem, depositing more diluted dirt into any open pores and the grout.  It also spreads germs.  Instead, we recommend that if you choose to use a mop and bucket, that you use two buckets.  One is for your cleaning solution and the other is for rinsing out your mop.  This way you continuously are using clean solution to clean your floors.

The towels are for drying the floor.  Any clean soft towel will do, however, >microfiber towels are recommended, do to their extremely small fibers that can reach into the pores of the marble.  Allowing your cleaning solution, which has absorbed oils and dirt, to dry on the floor can cause streaks that consist of the oils and dirt.  To achieve the streak-free shine you expect, you will want to dry the floor with the towels.

Recommended Supplies:

 Step 1 – Setup Two Buckets

First add 2oz of Marble & Travertine Cleaner Concentrate to every gallon of warm water in your cleaner bucket.  The other bucket should be half full of warm water which will be for rinsing out your mop after each use.

Step 2 – Wet & Wipe

Fully saturate the mop in the cleaning solution and scrub the area you wish to clean.  Keep in mind that you will want to dry this area before the cleaning solution dries on the floor.

Step 3 – Rinse & Return

After mopping a section, rinse the mop in the rinse bucket so that the dirt is deposited in this bucket and not in your cleaning solution.  Proceed to additional areas, repeating steps 1 and 2 as needed.

Step 4 – Towel Dry

Before allowing your cleaning solution to dry on the floor, towel dry with your clean floor towels.  If you prefer not to kneel, you may use your mop or other floor tool such as a broom to push the towel around the floor.  Toweling the floor dry is important so that the remaining oil and dirt that are dissolved into the cleaner are removed so as not to cause streaks.  Repeat steps 1,2 and 3 until the floor is done.

Marblelife… Helping Make Your Life Easier.