Taking Care of Floors
In 1921 The Priscilla Proving Plant was a home where the Priscilla’s Housekeeping magazine editors lived and worked to find the best ways to accomplish regular household tasks.
Here is shared the best (at the time) methods for caring for your home’s floors.
Just as the decorative beauty of a room hinges on the treatment of floor and walls, so its cleanliness depends chiefly upon the care of these background surfaces especially that of the floor.
Floors require daily attention somewhere in the house.
A study of the care of floors which we have been making at the Priscilla Proving Plant is the basis of this article. These are certain universally used floor surfaces which must be separately considered for the special care each should receive. Probably the surface most in use the country over is the hardwood. This is either oiled, shellacked, or waxed. The oiled floor is more suitable for public buildings than for private houses. The oil keeps the dust down, but even with the best of care, its very virtue makes it uncomfortable to live with. Some of the dust works off on furnishings and clothes, bringing oil with it.
It is best to varnish over the oil and get a dust-resistant, rather than a dust-absorbing, surface.
HARDWOOD FLOORS
Whatever the finish, a hardwood floor should have daily care. It may be less satisfaction to do housework when effort seems to make not much difference in appearance, but in the long run it is far wiser than to let it go until cleaning is noticeably called for by mouse-gray dust fluffs which scurry under sofas and back of radiators. The gritty dust, especially in cities and towns, scratches the floor surface and wears out the finish unless it is rubbed off daily. Use a long handled dustless duster and rub with the boards. Work out a regular system of cover the floor surface and stick to it. In a little while the work will become a habit taken care of by our subconsciousness, leaving our minds free to enjoy other thoughts. Without the regular system much unnecessary thought is wasted. All floor dusting can be done with the long handled mop except around the radiators and the legs of the heavy pieces which cannot easily be moved. Here a cloth duster, hand used in a humble attitude is absolutely necessary. Use a kneeling pad made of several thicknesses of old cotton flannel covered with ticking. An eighteen-inch circle is a good size.
About once a month we like to go all over our floors and wipe the surface by hand with a cloth either dampened with warm water to which turpentine and linseed oil have been added in the proportion of three tablespoons of the oil and one of turpentine to each quart of hot water. This both cleans thoroughly and revives the finish. Two cloths are used, one to apply the liquid and another to wipe it dry. One small section is washed and wiped and then another, until the floor is all done.
WAXED FLOORS
For our waxed floors we use a daily dusting with a specially prepared mop. Once a month we go over the exposed surfaces around the rugs with a weighted mop. The floor is first thoroughly cleansed, then wax is applied according to the directions of whatever brand is under test at the moment. Time is allowed for the wax to dry out and then the weighted brush is used with a piece of old Brussels carpet under it as a polisher. Once a year the whole surface is taken off and rewaxed. This last work is best done by a man with the practice of a professional. The chief caution with waxed floors is to be sure they are perfectly clean and spotless before applying any wax.
LINOLEUM
This also, to give the best surface, should have daily care. In Europe housekeepers sweep, scrub, and oil it daily. Our experience seems to show that it is best to leave linoleum with its own surface, neither waxing nor varnishing it. In the Proving Plant it is swept every day and dusted again with the broom wrapped in a flannel broom bag. THree times a week it is mopped with warm water and a pure neutral soap and then again with clear water. Occasionally it is scrubbed. We have no set scrubbing season, but do it when the weather has been especially nice or after particularly strenuous experimental season in the kitchen. Scrubbings would perhaps average six to the year.
After sweeping by the way, we use a long-handled dustpan which makes it unnecessary for the worker to stoop. Every least-extra motion in housekeeping which we can eliminate makes a big total saving for every month’s work. For the benefit of new housekeepers it might be well to say that sweeping is done with short strokes, keeping the broom close to the floor.
PAINTED FLOORS
These have the daily dusting and once a week are wiped with a damp rag. We do not wash them where it can possibly be avoided, but if necessary use the same treatment as for painted doors, warm water and a pure neutral soap.
MEDICINE FOR SPOTS
If the radiator leaks and makes an unsightly gray spot, dampen a cloth with water, and then put on three or four drops of ammonia. Rub the spot well and as soon as the spot disappears polish with oil or any of the good polishing mixtures which come ready for use.
Obstinate spots on waxed floors will usually yield to turpentine. Rub in circles until the spot disappears.
Bad stains can only be removed by bleaching. Black stains of wear or ink spots are examples. Anything which will take them out will take the finish and all. They may be bleached out with oxalic acid (poison). It is better, however, to turn a job of this kind over to a painter, since the place will not only need bleaching but also refinishing.
RADIATORS
Radiators are so intimately connected with floors that we are including them in this article. They are prize dust catchers and should be frequently cleaned. Long-handled brushes for the purpose are inexpensive. We have used one called a radiator-brush and we have also found effective a slenderer brush designed for another purpose. A cloth over a flat stick is a make-shift if the brush is lacking.
Put dampened newspaper under the radiator before cleaning is begun.
