Slipper floors are a major safety hazard in homes, shops, and offices. A few simple things can go a long way towards ensuring floors are less slippery.

Image by Kari Shea from Pixabay

General Guidelines

We need to understand why floors become slippery first, and for all floor types, there are four main reasons this happens. These are not cleaning often enough, not cleaning properly or completely, using poor cleaning materials (Including poor quality cleaning products and badly cleaned implements) and, failing to dry floors properly after cleaning. If you can deal with these four problems, you will most likely avoid slippery floor problems.

Not Cleaning Often Enough

There’s nothing much to be said here. How often should they be cleaned, though? That depends on how busy the area is.

For heavy traffic areas such as a kitchen or bathroom, you should clean at least weekly. For other places that are less frequently used once a fortnight or once a month will suffice. When floors are cleaned enough, dirt build-up is often avoided.

Not Cleaning Properly or Completely

Let me explain how I see the difference. Not cleaning thoroughly refers to covering the whole area. Not cleaning properly deals with the quality of the cleaning effort. Often these go hand in hand and happen when rushed.

Ensure that each part of the floor is cleaned and that it is cleaned thoroughly. You never know when someone is going to walk to the corner that’s normally ignored and slip. Nothing can replace thoroughness.

Using Poor Cleaning Materials

This refers to the quality of the cleaning products such as detergents and the items used to clean like sponges.

For the products, there are two ways to go. You can ask people for recommendations or you can look for online reviews. This applies not only to cleaning chemicals but to other things such as slip-resistance products.

When it comes to mops, sponges, cloths, and brushes, make sure they are free from dust, grease, and soap before starting to use them.

Failing to Dry Floors Properly

If the last step in the cleaning process does not end in dry floors, then the floors will still be slippery. Not drying your floors properly can result in slippery residue remaining on the floor. Remember that moisture and slipperiness go hand in hand.

The rule is simple. Make sure that whatever you dry the floor with is both dry and clean. Dry so it gets all the moisture off the floor. Make sure it is clean, so you don’t undo all the work you have just done.

Other Considerations

These normally vary between types of floor aim at ensuring floors are slip-resistant. For wooden floors, this would involve sanding them and for tiles, it would mean applying and removing an anti-slip wash. If you are uncertain about anything, ask an expert at a local hardware store.

Summary

Keeping your floors from becoming slippery is vital, and while it can take a bit of an effort, it is very definitely manageable. The effort in avoiding the floors from becoming slippery is an effort for safety.