Cleaning a bathroom comes with many facets. This is a place that involves both waste disposal as well as hygiene. There’s a delicate balance in keeping the facilities for those things well-cleaned. One of the areas of the bathroom that gets regularly neglected is the floor. The fact is, the floor of the bathroom is one of the most important parts to clean adequately. Here are some bathroom cleaning solutions on how to care for it. And, remember, one of the most important times to clean the bathroom floor is after you’ve had plumbing work done.
Why the Floor Matters
You might be wondering why the bathroom floor is one of the most important elements to clean. The reason is, every time you enter the bathroom, any bacteria on the floor gets on your feet. It’s then tracked into the rest of the house when you leave. Your feet don’t just go on the floor either. If you lie down in bed or curl up on the couch, it will be spread to those places too. Plus, the bathroom floor doesn’t just harbor plain bacteria – it usually has fecal particles on it. So, if you don’t want what’s on your bathroom floor to be spread to the rest of the house, you have to clean the bathroom floor adequately.
Your bathroom floor is liable to get bacteria-filled water on it during cleaning. Because of that, it’s best practice to save the floor for last, when using these bathroom cleaning solutions.
Sweeping
Because of the aforementioned spread of bacteria when things contact your bathroom floor, it’s recommended to keep a separate broom for the bathroom floor. Cheap brooms can be bought for only a few dollars. This broom is best stored in a laundry room or other place away from the kitchen, that has hard flooring.
Disinfecting
There are multiple bathroom cleaning solutions you can use when disinfecting your bathroom floors.
Mops
Mops are a classic choice for floor cleaning. If you’re going to use a mop, you’ll want a cleaning solution with antibacterial cleaner in it. The standard way to create this is with a cleaning concentrate, such as what’s offered by Lysol. Simply fill a bucket with a couple gallons of hot water and mix in the necessary amount of cleaning solution. Check individual cleaner labels for the correct amount.
Wet your mop, after sweeping, and mop every part of the floor. Every time you rinse the mop in the bucket, wring it out with your hands or any built on wringer.Ensure, when mopping, that you don’t oversaturate the floor. Getting the floor very wet will make it take longer to dry and can damage certain types of flooring, such as vinyl tiles, which can lose their adhesion. Then, leave your floor to dry. Once the floor has dried, it is best practice to go over it once more. This will ensure no part of the floor is accidentally neglected.
Because mops aren’t washable in the same way other solutions are, you’ll want to let your mop dry thoroughly and then keep it somewhere with hard floor, like the laundry room. It is also recommended, like the broom, not to use the bathroom mop in the kitchen, unless you want to spread fecal particles on the kitchen floor.
Swiffer Mops
If you prefer to use a Swiffer, or an off-brand version of a Swiffer mop, ensure you use some kind of cleaning solution. A dry Swiffer will not sanitize your floors. Swiffer Wet Jets include a cleaning fluid, and some Swiffer Mops come with wet wipe attachments. The most important part of using a Swiffer for your bathroom is throwing away the wipe attachment when you’re done. Do not use the same wipe in other rooms after using it in the bathroom.
Manual Washing
Alternatively, if you plan to change your clothes and shower after cleaning the bathroom, you can scrub the floor manually. You can use the same kind of solution you would for a mop. When scrubbing the floors manually, it is always recommended to use a cloth or towel rather than a sponge or brush. A cloth or towel is more effective and can be washed in a washing machine to purge it of bacteria and fecal particulates.
