Designing and implementing the perfect style and tone for your home, from top to bottom, takes time and effort. As does keeping it in top condition afterwards. By regularly cleaning your home, the decor will last longer and you will always have a clean looking home to be proud of. Visitors will feel more relaxed and they will respect your house more if your home looks clean. However it can be hard to keep it this way. With time and use, wear and tear may take its toll on certain aspects of the home. Well trodden rugs can become musty and threadbare, wooden furniture starts getting cracked, stone tiles and hardwood floors lose their lustre and become laden with scuff marks.
It is easy enough to replace furniture and rugs when they get old and worn, but floor tiles and hardwood are a different matter, as replacing the floor of your home can take a lot longer. When your floor tiles become scuffed due to wear and tear, they may not look as new as they did a few months or years ago, but there are some easy ways to remove scuff marks from floor tiles and hardwood floor, without having to replace the whole floor. And the best thing is, most of these simple solutions require using other items from around the house!
Eraser
With smaller scuff marks, try using a simple sketch or pencil eraser. There are special erasers that you can buy as cleaning products, but generally a normal eraser works just as well. Rub gently at the scuff until the scuff is removed by the erasure. Make sure to pick up the shavings left from the eraser, as if left unattended these can make scuff marks too.
Tennis Ball
It might sound really strange, but because of the material of the tennis ball, it is really great for getting scuff marks out of floors. Cut an X shape into one side of the tennis ball, then inset a broom handle into the X and use it to rub away at larger scuff marks.
Toothpaste
Not just useful for cleaning teeth, because of its contents, toothpaste can be used as a simple alternative to a number of different cleaners. Wipe the scuff mark off buy squeezing a little bit of toothpaste into a soft clean cloth, and then rubing against the scuff mark using firm circular motions. After the scuff mark has been removed, wipe the area off with a clamp cloth and then dab dry.
Baking Soda
Make a paste out of baking soda and warm water and then apply it to the scuff mark. Using a clean cloth, scrub the scuff mark until it is removed. Clean by wiping a wet cloth across the spot and then dabbing it dry.
Scuff marks can be unsightly, and ten d to make your home look messy. Following these top tips will help you to keep scuff marks out of your nice floors! Alternatively, putting a couple of shoe mats down might also help, or firmly telling the offending shoe owners to pick their feet up!
For further information take a look at this Guardian article on top cleaning tips.
Charlotte Maiden is a cleaning fanatic who has contributed this post on behalf of the Stone Tile Emporium, the online web store for all manner of high quality stone floor tiles.
