Floor Still Dirty After Mopping? – Reasons & Fix!

Floor still dirty after mopping? Just recently, a friend of mine moved into a new apartment.

I paid him a courtesy call and his floor wasn’t as clean as the one in the previous apartment he lived in.

So he complained throughout, expressing dissatisfaction with the new place. And he kept asking me,” Why Are My Floors Still Dirty After Mopping?”

Everyone struggles with a dirty floor even after having it mopped. What could be the cause?

In this article, if you, like my friend, are struggling with an annoying floor, then we will tell you why and how to fix it. 

You shouldn’t tire, your floor could be clean each time you mop without spotting any traces of dirt.

Your floor could still be dirty after washing if you are using a dirty mop head, too much soap, drying your floors, or mopping in swirls.

Why Your Floor Still Dirty After Mopping Even After Mopping

Here are a few reasons why your floor might still be dirty despite thorough cleaning.

Using a Dirty Mop Head

Using a dirty mop head will leave a layer of grime on your floor. It’s worth noting that drying your mop head for long increases the likelihood of it getting significantly discolored.

A dirty mop head should be washed with clean water. 

Washing the mop is common sense, unfortunately, as much as most of us do wash it, we fail to rinse it until it is clean.

The final water with which you rinse the mop head should remain clean, indicating that your mop head has been cleaned effectively.

Let the mop dry fairly, away from the hot sun. Then keep it in a clean washing bucket.

Using Too Much Cleaning Soap

Soaps should clean your surfaces, but did you know if not handled properly they could cause damage or even make the floors dirty?

Using too much soap to clean doesn’t help, use the recommended amount for a certain amount of water and for a given surface area.

If used in excess, so much soap tends to leave behind grime that upon drying, traps a lot of dirt that is so visible.

Drying floors manually

After mopping, drying the floors minimizes wet spots and even protects the electric cables from a power surge, and you from accidents such as tripping or electrical shock.

But would you believe it if I told you that drying floors manually would make your floor dirty even after you mopped it pretty clean?

It does, especially when the rack you are using is dirty or there are traces of soap on the floor.

Believe it or not, drying floors manually does not help out much.

Mopping in Swirls

If anything, how to mop should be introduced or taught somewhere in all schools’ curriculums.

If you are mopping and aren’t paying attention to how you are doing it, then you are losing.

Everything that ends up successful, is done with some order, and how you mop isn’t an exemption.

Mopping With Unclean Water

It might appear odd or impossible, but I have seen it myself. I have seen people, courageously mopping with dirty water.

Say, water that has been used for laundry or doing the dishes is brought up again, dubbed as recycled for the floor.

True, things can be recycled, but this is not the right way.

Cleaning with unclean water used for other purposes is putting the gleam of your floor in jeopardy.

As much as you can, try to use clean water for mopping, recycling used water for mopping has a role in floors that have lost their texture and the initial beautiful touch.

How To Stop Your Floor From Being Dirty After Mopping

Vacuum Floor before Mopping

Although most people hardly do it,  there is a power in vacuuming that holds up the quality of your floor you couldn’t imagine.

Floors, especially those under a lot of traffic. The vacuum cleaner could appear to be a complicated device but it makes everything with how it works.

There are billions of dust and debris, some you wouldn’t see with the naked eye, that the vacuum cleaner using its suction capabilities picks from the floor.

It makes it a lot easier for the mopper, to finish up cleaning by getting rid of or loosening other dirt the mopper wouldn't wash off.

Mop with Cold Water

9 out of ten times, or perhaps ten of ten, you have used cold water while mopping over warm water.

I doubt you understand the advantages that come with it. You could perhaps be doing it for it is the design.

But, what you may not know is that there is a myriad of reasons and advantages of using cold water over warm for mopping than just helping the floor to be clean after mopping.

From being economical over boiled or warm, and keeping the floor color sparkling clean, mopping with cold water is recommended especially since it unlike warm water hardly evaporates but dries down slowly.

Warm water will evaporate to leave tracings of soap even before the floor dries which shouldn’t be the case. 

Tip: Combine vinegar with cold, clean water, for a clean and sparkling floor while mopping

Rinse with Cold Water and Let the Floor Dry Itself

Do you rinse your floor after mopping, it is with most people’s radiation that floors aren’t rinsed after being cleaned.

Then how are you to get rid of the soap remains and ensure that your floor is sparkling clean in the end?

In fact, behind every successful mopping, one that does not leave the floor dirty is rinsing.

Rinse as much as you can until the final water has no soap or any dirt. Rinsing a mopped floor is king.

While at it, desist from using any soapy water, but ensure the water is very clean. Rinse. Rinse and Rinse that floor, it deserves it.

Sweep Before Mopping

If you are not vacuuming that floor, then at least sweep it before mopping.

Like it or not, there is no way your floor will stay clean when you do not sweep it before mopping, and if it will, then you are going to have much work to do.

Sweeping is easy, sweep through the room, under the tables and couches, and ensure all solid particles are moved to the bin. 

If possible redo the sweeping to be sure. How would it be like moving straight to mop an area that had lots of traffic, leaving mud or dust everywhere? No one should do that.

So, ensure that you sweep if you ain’t vacuuming that floor. Then collect all the litter before mopping. It doesn’t call for much.

Always Wash The Mop Pad After Each Use

The Mop pad will either get you the results you want or leave you cussing.

It is easy, if you are to have clean floors each time you are mopping, then be as good as to have a clean mop pad.

If possible, have three or four, if there are any that have seen better days, dump them and replace them with new ones.

You do not expect to get a clean floor after mopping with a dirty mop pad, do you?

So, after each use, wash and rinse them then dry them out in a fair environment away from too much sunlight.

Conclusion

Is your floor still dirty after mopping? After reading this, it should no longer be.

The floor plays a key role in the beautification of your room, keep them as clean as possible.

Of course, by mopping them you are, but they should not be dirty after mopping, that can be so embarrassing and traumatizing.

Follow the guidelines here for a brighter, cleaner floor. 

These common mistakes, from not vacuuming beforehand, cleaning with a dirty mop pad, not washing the pad, using hot or warm water to using lots of soap, are some of the major reasons you could be experiencing dirty floors even after mopping.

It is a clarion call that you end up with clean floors after mopping. That is why you are doing it.