Slippery floors are a big nuisance. It can cause people to fall and potentially injure themselves. It can be doubly embarrassing if the person who falls victim to a slippery floor might not be a resident of the house but a guest. In order to stop your house floors from getting slippery, we recommend the following tips and tricks.
Floors Must Be Kept Dry and Clean
Although it may seem like the most obvious point, it is worth reiterating so that the importance of this step is properly understood. It comes without any saying that you would clean and dry the floors if a spill happens on it. But it is equally important to clean regularly in order to stop yucky oil and grease from accumulating as it does from cooking grease, our feet and hands etc. It is ideal to have the floors be cleaned at least once a week in areas of the house that experience a lot of foot traffic. It would be a good idea to also have the mop you are cleaning with be itself be cleaned regularly. Tile floors need some extra maintenance, so you should have a look at this guide.
The Right Products
If and when you use a cleaning product on your floors, please make sure that you are using the right kind of cleaning product. A cleaning product should ideally be one that can emulsify the oils that have accumulated and be adept at removing them. Other water-based cleaning products just skim the surface. Another thing to point out here is to avoid products made of wax, polish or any other substance that would deposit film on to the floor. If you want to minimize the risk of falls even further you may want to get cleaning products that have an “anti-slip” label on them.
Vinegar Solution
Using vinegar solution on the floors is a good idea to prevent it from getting slippery. The ideal ratio of the solution should be a part vinegar and double parts warm water. This type of vinegar solution is particularly good at removing old residue that may have built up from wax. Then there is the added benefit of getting brownie points for using this solution. If you use only vinegar based solutions then you will be doing the environment a favour. The only thing that you will be needing is dry mop after cleaning the floors with this solution.
Mats that absorb moisture
Certain parts of the house are bound to get wet quite often (kitchen and bathroom for example). These are areas of the house that are much harder to keep dry. Many accidents by slipping are likely to occur in these parts of the house. So these areas of the house deserve special attention when making your house slip resistant.
The mats that are placed in these areas need to have enough absorbent qualities in it so that it can stop the liquids from building up to a pool of liquid. The residents of the house should be made aware to have their feet be cleaned thoroughly on these mats. This will stop a lot of undue dirt from building up in other parts of the house and it will reduce the residue carried out from the wet parts of the house.
Pads and Coverings
You have to give it to the floors that oftentimes it really isn’t their fault that they are slippery or dirty. Simply take a walk around the house and notice the areas where you almost never walk barefoot. These areas include the patios that many of us walk on with just slippers on or sometimes even with just socks on.
A lot of falls can be avoided if the homeowner decides to invest in pards that are not slippery, rubber flooring or maybe even a decent rug or a carpet. We must mention here that not all of these options are horrible on the eyes, some are decent looking. You just need to do the interior research properly. There are a variety of pads available these days that come in many fun colors and prints.
If you have stairs or steps in your house, you need to make sure that these are also not slippery. These are high risk areas of the house. Proper steps should be taken to ensure that people can use these areas of the house safely.
Get rid of old and inferior finishes
It is very likely that the hardwood floors you have in your house are covered by sub par coatings. It is equally likely that these coatings may be the result of poor workmanship. All of these can lead to a whole lot of slipperiness. This would be a difficult situation to resolve. The only real solution to your problems may be to tear up the finishing of the floors and refinish the floors with products that are of higher quality. You should get in touch with your contractor first to see what course of action he recommends.
Change the finishing of hardwood floors
You like hardwood floors. You appreciate the look and the associated benefits of having hardwood floors. If you want to make them safer and less susceptible to slipping, you should talk with your interior designer to see what options you have in terms of the finishing material. Finishes with low sheen, matte finishes for example, are much better at not being slippery . This type of finish on the floors is also much less slippery than the one of the glossy and shiny variety. It will also be good to be in the know that a lot of matte finishes are becoming trendy floor finishing options as well. So, not only will it save you from slipping, it will also come with the aesthetics benefits.
If you follow the recommendations listed above in this article, you will be that much closer to having your house floors be slip resistant.
