Mopping the Floor

When I remodeled my kitchen, using an annual bonus to fund the project, I focused on utility along with visual appeal.  Wipable refaced cabinets, stainless steel sink, tile backsplashes.  And modern resin tile floors in a faux granite pattern.  Soil resistant.  Needs no protective sealants or resurfacing.  It does need periodic cleaning, something I perform much less frequently than I should.  It was long past due time for a thorough mopping.

Another advantage of the tiles is their 1 x 1 foot size. Mopping the kitchen floor requires exposing the floor's surface.  The convenient square pattern enables me to create zones.  I can move some furniture with my wife's assistance, creating zones of about ten square feet, then sweep and wash.  Let it dry, then expose another zone.  In one afternoon I mopped about half.  I can easily assess what still needs to be done and move enough stuff to do two or three more zones of the remaining surface.  Then with nothing in its usual place, I can decide if there might be better places to situate tables, carts, bins, or other parts of the floor designated to a set purpose.

I bought two new mops.  The Mr. Clean one, the more advanced of the two, I could not figure out how to use.  Some pine sol and hot water into a galvanized steel pail with rollers purchased not long after I moved into my house, then wet and wring the mop.  The water turned muddy.  The tile cleaned look cleaner, though not stunningly so.  I got a sense of where the grime accumulates.  Mostly where we feed our cat and along the stove, sink, and refrigerator, that triangle which makes a kitchen function.

Finish today.  I probably need a better schedule for doing this.  Rather than removing all things that cover the tiles, that can be done once or twice a year.  Maybe monthly, I can take a brush and pail with some pine sol or spic n span and hand scrub the more soiled area in the usage triangle.  Or maybe make my dormant Swiffer system functional or restore a sponge mop, both easier than the string mop.

That still leaves me with cabinets and light fixtures to clean.  Maybe windows.  Somewhere I will probably need professional cleaners, but not yet.