White Granite Flooring? Be Conscious About…

GraniteFlooring

Natural stone flooring is durable, beautiful, luxurious, and certain to add value to your home, and one of the best and most popular natural stone flooring materials is granite. While typically associated with things like countertops and backsplashes more so than with floor coverings, granite is still an exceptionally durable and attractive flooring option. If you want to install granite flooring in your Shelby Township home, here’s everything you need to know about this luxurious and long-lasting material, from Floor Coverings International!

What is Granite?

Granite is a variety of natural stone that is made from cooling magma in the earth. This slow and high-pressure process results in granite, an igneous stone that is particularly strong and hard. Granite is made up of minerals such as quartz and feldspar, which contribute to its characteristic sparkle. Granite can be used in nearly any part of your home and comes in both honed, matte slabs, as well as brushed, shiny tiles.

One of the main drawbacks to granite for many people is its price tag. If you’re doing flooring on a tight budget, you should know that granite flooring is not for the penny pinchers. Granite is known for being a luxury flooring material, and its price tag reflects this. For a small room like a hallway or bathroom, you can expect to pay a couple hundred dollars on the low end, and a couple of thousand on the high end to floor it with granite.

The Look of Granite Flooring

Once you get past the sticker shock though, granite is exceptionally beautiful in appearance and will make a dramatic and attractive addition to any part of your home. Granite looks elegant and sophisticated, and no two slabs of granite flooring are quite alike, making for diverse and interesting patterns and possibilities. The natural, mottled look of granite, can, as we mentioned, come in sleek, high gloss formats, or in more matte, muted, and rustic textures. You can mix and match to create unique designs, or stick with minimal monochromatic looks for a more modern interior. If you do choose to go with the glossy look, keep in mind though that granite can become very slippery, especially when wet, and so it might not be suited for young children or elderly people. Granite can also be cold underfoot, so while this may provide wonderful summertime relief in warmer climates, if you live someplace cold then don’t neglect your slippers! If the chilliness is a problem though, granite is suitable for radiant in-floor heating. Granite also comes in a wide range of color choices, from elegant black to gold and white and many other earthy and beautiful hues. The speckles of quartz in the stone also provide a dash of sophisticated sparkle.

Maintenance of Granite Flooring

Granite is a very low maintenance floor, once it has been properly installed. Regular sweeping and occasional mopping should be sufficient to keep your granite floors in tip-top shape. You might want to reapply your sealant at some point, in order to keep your granite protected against stains and moisture, but beyond this your granite floors should require little effort and minimal maintenance on your part. Still, be sure to clean spills immediately and don’t let dirt build up on your floors, but these simple rules can be applied to the maintenance of any flooring material.

How to clean the White granite flooring

How to clean the White granite flooring

Granite stones are porous which makes them prone to staining easily, are high maintenance, and if not treated carefully are susceptible to chipping and cracks. The thought alone of having a stained, chipped, or cracked floor daunts the living daylight out of people who are planning on getting their homes a granite flooring.

While other darker shade granites— black, blue, brown, etc are less porous and are stain resistant to some extent. It’s the white granite flooring you need to keep an eye out for. It would be a nightmare incarnate to one day wake up and see stains marring your beautiful white granite flooring, to have grime tainting the granite flooring stone, because, white granite flooring stones are more porous and absorb solvents quicker than the rest.

But, despite all the talks surrounding the stone, you got your home a granite flooring; a white granite flooring at that. Had you known that maintaining granite flooring would come with this many pitfall, you wouldn’t have installed them in the first place; even after doing tons of research on granite flooring, and finding out how laborious a work it would be to keep the lustre of granite flooring intact.

Dreading all the hard work that will go into keeping the granite flooring perpetually frozen in time, people avert their eyes from getting these granite flooring tiles installed for this sole reason. But, should you hold back from giving your house that glamorous look because these white granite flooring are not staining resistant, or are high maintenance? Absolutely not. Sure, keeping them anew would be hassle, but if done correctly you wouldn’t have to break your head over coming up with ways to keep your granite floors stain free.

Here are a few steps to follow to keep your white granite flooring encased in eternal good condition.

·         Clean immediately:

Whenever a solvent is spilled onto the white granite flooring, make sure you’re quick to react and clean up all of the spill immediately. A meteoric action will save your tiles from soaking up the solvents, and remaining stain free.

·         Blotting and dabbing:

The best course of action when cleaning a spill on the granite flooring is to dab the spill away. Do not wipe on the stone, as it may leave scratches. Always resort to blotting or dabbing when it comes to cleaning the floor tiles.

·         Use sponge:

Use a sponge for cleaning the white granite floors instead of cloths, as the pores in the sponge quickly absorbs the solvents when compared to a washing cloth.

·         Using appropriate cleansers:

Not all cleansers are ideal for cleaning the granite flooring. Different stones have different tendencies of putting up with chemicals. So, choosing a pH balance cleanser, would ensure lasting lustre of your house’s white granite flooring.

If you do use a suitable cleanser for your floor, using it regularly will render your floor’s shine nonetheless. Use warm distilled water to clean the floor if it’s not too dirty. Only occasionally should you use any cleansers on your granite flooring.