Concrete Floor Scrubbers and DIY Cleaning Options
Polished concrete floors are beautiful flooring options that you’ll commonly find in office and commercial buildings. With so much foot traffic, the polished appearance of these floors can easily dull or get dirty without proper maintenance.
Like other types of flooring, keeping them clean will keep them looking their best and keep them in good shape for years. Knowing how to clean polished concrete is key to keeping your polished and decorative concrete clean and shiny. Here’s everything you need to know about cleaning polished concrete floors and the best concrete floor cleaner.
How To Clean Polished Concrete Floors
If you’re not interested in hiring professional concrete contractors to clean your polished concrete floors, you can do it yourself as long as you have the right tools and cleaners and know what you can and can’t use on the flooring.
Commercial and Industrial Polished Concrete Floor Cleaning
Industrial, commercial, and residential concrete floor owners should strongly consider renting or purchasing a concrete floor scrubber to keep their concrete floors clean. Your concrete floor will require regular cleaning and you have many tools at your disposal to keep that polished surface pristine. Concrete floor scrubbers are extremely effective at keeping large polished concrete floors clean and able to handle a lot of foot traffic.
You’ve likely seen concrete floor scrubbers at larger grocery stores and retail stores
Residential Polished Concrete Cleaning
The best way to clean polished concrete is to use warm, not hot, water, a mop, and a mild cleaner. There are also products out there that are designed to be used on polished concrete floors and decorative concrete floors, like Ameripolish Rejuvenating Floor Cleaner. This is a great choice for your sealed concrete floors.
You don’t have to use the Ameripolish Rejuvenating Floor Cleaner as your cleaning solution, but using a pH balanced soap with no harsh chemicals is necessary. Some examples of a ph neutral cleaner include:
- Dr. Bronner’s Castile Soap
- Liquid dish soap (believe it or not, it can be use as an effective cleaning agent)
Mild Liquid Dish Soap Can be Used to Clean your Sealed Concrete Floor
To clean your polished concrete surface, you’ll want to sweep or vacuum first to remove debris. From there, apply your cleaner and let it sit for a few minutes to break down any grime. After that, use your mop to clean the cleaner from the flooring.
Maintaining Polished Concrete (Courtesy of Concrete Network)
How Often Should You Clean Polished Concrete Floors?
Depending on how dirty your floors get, you might want to focus on cleaning them more often. Most people suggest clearing polished concrete floors at least once a week to help keep them shiny and in the best condition possible.
If your concrete floors are in a location with high foot traffic, you might need to clean them every other day to daily, but this is preference and depends on how much time you have.
Make Cleaning Your Polished Concrete Floors Part of Your Regular Business Maintenance Schedule – or Part of Regular House Cleaning Ritual
How Do You Get the Shine Back on Polished Concrete?
Most of the time, your beautiful polished concrete flooring lacks shine, and it’s dirty with dirt, dust, and other debris. It would help if you always sweep or vacuum before cleaning to remove the debris and not spread it further. The best way to get the shine back on your flooring is to use a microfiber mop and one of the best cleaning agents.
How To Maintain a Polished Concrete Floor
Despite being durable, polished concrete flooring still needs maintenance to ensure it lasts. Besides cleaning your polished concrete floor, there are ways you can maintain it to keep it lasting for the duration of its lifespan. Here are the best ways to maintain your polished concrete floorings.
Dust Mop The Flooring
You only need to legitimately clean the polished floors with cleaner daily if you want to. A great way to maintain the flooring in between cleanings is to use a dust mop. This dry duster will help pick up any dirt and debris which can be abrasive on the flooring and cause scratches or cracks.
Regardless, you’ll want to do this before you use a cleaner to mop the floor to ensure you’re not spreading the abrasive dirt and debris around the flooring.
Indoor Concrete Floors Need Regular Cleaning With a Neutral pH Cleaner
Only Use Clean Mops When Mopping
Even though it might be difficult, you never want to use a dirty mop when cleaning polished concrete. There can be dirty water stuck in the mop and debris that you might end up spreading around the concrete. This prevents damage to the flooring and stops you from making it dirtier than before you started cleaning.
Clean Any Spills ASAP
It happens to everyone, and if something spills onto your concrete floors, you’ll want to ensure you wipe it up as soon as possible. The longer spills of any sort sit on your polished concrete, the dirtier it will be, and it can break down the polish over time. You’ll want to wipe the spill up with a microfiber cloth or mop and then use a gentle cleaner on the area.
Have The Floor Inspected Regularly
Even when you do everything possible to maintain your polished concrete floor, you should still have a professional inspect the floor every so often. For the most part, you should only have to have someone do this every two to three years if the flooring is in an area with a lot of foot traffic.
If your polished concrete flooring doesn’t see as much foot traffic, you can go longer than two to three years. In some instances, you might need to have a professional take a look sooner if you notice cracks or other damage.
Cleaning your polished floors won’t do you any good if there are cracks, so having a professional inspect and fix any damage is vital to the maintenance of your polished concrete floors.
What Not To Put On a Polished Concrete Floor
If you want a clean, polished concrete floor, there are specific cleaners that you’ll want to avoid. Using harsh chemicals and certain cleaners can damage the floor, dull the shine further, and even discolor the polished concrete. Some of the things you don’t want to use on your polished concrete flooring include:
- Vinegar
- Windex
- Swiffer products
- Ammonia
- Pine-Sol
- Bleach
These are some of the cleaning supplies you need to avoid when cleaning polished concrete, but anything with similar ingredients needs to be avoided if you want to maintain your beautiful flooring.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you still have questions about polishing concrete floors? Here’s what other polished concrete floor owners are wondering.
Can you use a Swiffer on polished concrete floors?
No, you cannot use a Swiffer on a polished concrete floor. Swiffer’s solution in their cleaning products is acidic based and will harm the polished concrete.
What do you mop polished concrete with?
To mop a polished concrete floor, you can use a microfiber mop and warm, clean water. You can use a non-abrasive cleaner if the polished floor is filthy. Non-abrasive cleaners will prevent you from damaging the floor as you clean.
Can you use vinegar on polished concrete floors?
You cannot use vinegar on polished or stained concrete floors. The harshness of vinegar will dull or change the color of the flooring.
Can you use Windex on a polished concrete floor?
Windex is a harsh chemical agent that you shouldn’t use to clean concrete floors. It can damage and dull the decorative concrete floors like other harsh cleaners.
Is polished concrete sealed or unsealed concrete?
Polished concrete and sealed concrete are two different things. While they look similar, contractors will tell you they’re very different. That being said, polished concrete isn’t unsealed concrete either; it’s just a different type of finished concrete.
Polished concrete floors are attractive options in any commercial building. As stunning as they are, they can be challenging to clean or maintain if you need to be made aware of how to clean them. You can do it yourself if you’re not hiring a professional cleaner.
The best way to clean polished concrete floors is to use a gentle, pH balanced cleaner, microfiber mop, and warm water. You should clean them at least once a week to prevent long-term grime from building up, and it will help you return that shine you love to your floors.