Hardwood floor adds a certain level of charm and grace to the house. It might be look like it’s difficult to maintain them, but the elegance they bring to your house is worth the trouble. Contrary to popular belief, it is neither difficult nor time-consuming to clean your hardwood floors. In the recent years, surface-sealed hardwood floors have gained popularity as they are easier to maintain. These hardwood floors are usually sealed with urethane, polyurethane or polyacrylic and are stain resistant. Here’s how you can clean the hardwood floors.
Basic, daily cleaning
Dust your floors with a microfiber mop to prevent surface damage. You can decide on a dusting schedule for each area, depending on how often the place is used. The high traffic areas in your house, like the kitchen, living room or entrances should ideally be dusted on a daily basis. For the other rooms, dusting on alternate days or twice a week would suffice.
When you’re mopping
If you dust your Harwood floor regularly, there is little requirement for routine mopping. Once or twice in a week should be enough. The cleaning process is fairly simple. Begin with dusting the floor to rid it of dust and gains, which might damage the surface of your hardwood floor. For a more through sweep, you could use your vacuum cleaner. However, ensure that the wheels of your vacuum are padded to avoid accidental scratches. Plus, do not use the rotator belt of your vacuum on hardwood floors.
A word on cleaners
Once you are done, dip a clean mop into the bucket of pre-prepared cleaning solution. Using plain water will not clear up the dirt and grime that builds up over time. You could use water and soap mixture, or cleaning solutions available in the market. Commercial cleaners are quite effective at cleaning oils and greasy residues.
Learn the right way
Make sure that you wring out the mop completely, as it should be damp and not dripping. Mop the floor in the direction of the wood grain. Repeat the process with a mop dipped in clean water to rinse.
Buff the floor with a soft dry wipe to soak up any residual moisture.
Dos and don’ts
There are a few things that you should take care of. Don’t use oils, waxes or furniture sprays, and don’t use strong bleaches, alkaline products or abrasive cleaners. Some people suggest using a vinegar and water solution for cleaning hardwood floors, while still others claim that it dulls your hardwood floor over time. Use a damp sponge dipped in baking soda to clear scuff marks. Lastly, for dark spots, pet stains, heel marks and water marks, rub the spot with steel wool and floor wax.
Don’t forget to polish them
Even with regular dusting and mopping, your hardwood floor needs to be polished at regular intervals. Ideally, you should polish your hardwood floor every few months to keep it in a premium condition. Polishing fills up the microscopic holes and scratches that may not be visible to the eye but can damage the surface over time. There are several good brands of polish available in the market. You can easily polish the floor on your own with one of these products.
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Enjoy superior safety with Chevrolet Malibu
Read moreThe Chevrolet Malibu comes with a superior prevent-protect-respond safety technology. The prevent part offers features that entirely help to avoid collisions with the aid of intelligent and proactive automotive safety technologies. Some of these technologies include the StabiliTrak Electronic Stability Control System, a basic standard for all Chevrolet vehicles. It helps increase the safety levels as well as the driver’s confidence by helping the driver control the vehicle in low-traction driving conditions. Some other preventative features include Front/Rear Park Assist, Standard Rear Vision Camera, Forward Automatic Braking, Adaptive Cruise Control, Front Pedestrian Braking and Lane Keep Assist with Lane Departure Warning.
The protect part of the Chevrolet Malibu is a follow up of the preventative safety technology. Though the latter helps avoid a collision, an array of protective safety features have also been built into the vehicles to help protect the driver and the passengers in the case of a crash or collision. This is done with the aid of a strong inbuilt vehicle structure that can help absorb and dissipate crash impact momentum. Sensitive, innovative air bag technologies further add an extra degree of protection.
The construction of the vehicle itself is durable and sturdy, owing to the high-strength steel and other alloys used in the Chevrolet vehicle structures. This helps maximize protection without disturbing the logistics of engine efficiency, vehicle weight and performance.
The safety cages are designed to help absorb and channel crash impact energy while directing it away from the cabin and its occupants. Other restraint systems include the LATCH (Lower Anchors and Top Tethers for Children) system, safety belts and air bags–all of which come together to help to reduce the risk of injury in a collision.
OnStar Automatic Crash Response is the technology used for the response aspect of Chevrolet Malibu’s safety. The OnStar Advisor can be automatically alerted by the built-in sensors, which is immediately connected to the vehicle in case assistance is required. Even without a response, an OnStar Advisor uses GPS technology to pinpoint the exact location of the vehicle and request emergency help.
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What you need to do after the tax season
Read moreAll the taxpayers may feel relaxed after the tedious task of filing and submitting the tax papers thinking that you need not worry about tit for a next few months. On the contradictory, it is the perfect time to start planning and preparing for the upcoming tax return. Initial planning is the best way to lower the tax bills. It does not mean that you have to get working on it but at the same time, you won’t neglect these few things that you can do right now to save some more money in your wallet.
Engage in company’s retirement program
Ensure that you take a positive control of your company’s retirement plan. More often you might receive matching contributions by your manager up to a certain amount which is primarily free money. If you ever thick that being a part of your company’s retirement plan would let you contribute more, your ultimate goal should be to increase the money you can pay into retirement. Suppose if you get a raise in income this year, make a decision to live off with the same monthly income and invest the additional funds to increase retirement contributions.
Adjust with withholdings
If you end up paying large tax or huge tax refund signifies that it is time to adjust your withholdings. Most of the financial advisors suggest not to overpay your taxes which in hand provides the government with a free loan. Yet it can serve as a compulsory savings rule by which the round-up amount that you receive at the end of every year can be invested or saved. It is probably insignificant to calculate the amount that you have been saving within a limited time frame of 12 months and the money you may not have saved at all.
Medicare saving is a clever choice
Medicare savings accounts are a highly deductible savings account that allows you to pay for eligible medical expenses with tax-free dollars. You can max out what you put into it at $6,750 for a family. If this saving tool is suitable for your situation the health savings accounts can offer enormous tax advantages that you can easily take an upper hand of. These savings tools provide triple tax advantages: Money goes in tax-free, money grows tax-free and money used toward eligible medical expenses is never taxed.
Make charitable contributions
If you are an employee who often makes charitable contributions (church, orphanage, alma mater, politics and social benefits) there is a high scope for tax deductions. This could be one of the ways the government shows generosity to their taxpayers. Before the end of this year is the right time to distribute some funds and plan for gifts and donations you want to make for the year. Plan your giving, ahead of time and make it beneficial and meaningful for the person receiving it. This way you could gain more intrinsic value than the monetary tax advantages of giving.