1. No gritty substances, grease, putty, oil paint, dirty water, chemical solutions, etc. should be allowed to fall on the floor.
2. No carpentry, plumbing, or masonry work should be done on the floor, stains from wet wood shavings or polish are very difficult/impossible to remove. Protect the floor with thick plastic if polishing / melamining your furniture. No heavy articles should be dropped of dragged across the floor. If such work has to be carried out, the floor must be protected by placing wooden planks or heavy and clean gunnysacks over it. Once the floor is damaged on account of rough treatment, you will suffer unnecessary extra expenses for getting the floor re-polished or repaired. Even then, it may not be possible to remove the damage completely.
3. A newly laid and polished cement-tile floor will develop a dull, greyish appearance. This is caused by “efflorescence” or a greyish film on the surface of the tiles due to the soluble alkalis in the cement / chunam bedding in which the tiles are fixed. Efflorescence will not ultimately affect the quality or the beauty of the floor. It will disappear after some months when all the salts have come to the surface and been washed off by daily cleaning. This normally takes about 3 to 6 months. Thereafter a “Bharat” floor will show a beautiful sheen and improve with use and age if properly maintained.
4. To bring out the sheen or polish of the floor, the following simple method should be followed, right from the day the polishing of the tiles or in-situ terrazzo has been completed.
a) The floor should be swept, to remove all loose dust and dirt.
b) To half a bucket of clean water, add about 2 tablespoons of kerosene or a mild liquid soap cleaner. We also have a cleaning solution which will clean the floor and also enhance the sheen by using it daily.
c) Dip a course, thick piece of cloth into the solution, squeeze out the excess liquid from the cloth, and then scrub the floor and dado (if any) hard and thoroughly. It is most important to prepare a new solution as and when the old one has become dirty. Each room should be cleaned with a fresh bucket of water / Solution.
d) Take a dry cloth and again rub the floor hard and dry. Cleaning should be done correctly and daily for the first 2 to 3 months or longer, after the floor is polished, till the efflorescence disappears. Thereafter swabbing of the floor should preferably be done daily or at least 2 to 3 times a week. Tiled or in-situ wall areas should be treated the same way.
Never use any kind of acid, alkali, detergent, household cleaning or scouring powders, polishing or abrasive stones, scouring soaps, etc. For cleaning your tiles floor or removing stains from it. Do not use any wax or phenyl on the floor.