How to Care for Your Floorcloth
Unpacking
Your floorcloth will be shipped wrapped around a concrete forming tube of at least 8” in diameter and will either be wrapped in cardboard or inserted in a second tube for shipping. You can carefully cut away the tape at the ends of the package and relieve the rolled floorcloth of its outer packaging. However, prior to unrolling the floorcloth, please be sure it has warmed up to room temperature as installing cold floorcloth can cause them to crack.
Installation
Ensure that the floor where the floorcloth is to be installed has been thoroughly cleaned. Place the roll approximately where you want one end of the floorcloth to be situated. Remove the outer layer of paper and the tape on the leading edge of the floorcloth. Slowly pull the floorcloth across the floor, keeping it low to the ground, as it unfurls from the tube. Once the full length of the floorcloth has been unspooled, remove the tape from the end. If the floorcloth is wider than four feet, it is best two have a person pulling on each side of the leading edge to avoid any kinking of the floorcloth material. The floorcloth may have some gentle curves from being rolled up…allow it to flatten out overnight.
To position the floorcloth, hold the short side and gently fluff the floorcloth to get a little air underneath it and then it can easily be moved into place.
Note that felt feet should be put on the base of any furniture that resides on top of your floorcloth.
Floorcloths work best on hard flat surfaces such as wood, concrete and smooth tile. Floorcloths will be damaged over time if on carpeted surfaces or tile that is uneven or has deep grout lines.
Cleaning
Your floorcloth should be vacuumed as often as you vacuum the room it is in. The floorcloth can be further cleaned with a damp (not wet) mop or sponge using a gentle, non-abrasive cleanser. Any dried on spots can be addressed with the scrubby side of a sponge, using a gentle repeated motion.
Maintenance
Your floorcloth will last for decades if properly maintained. We encourage our clients to authorize us to apply a coat of wax as the final finish coat on our floorcloths. Wax can make floorcloths slightly slippery for frictionless footwear such as socks or smooth leather soles, so its application is optional, but highly recommended. We recommend re-waxing our floorcloths, after thoroughly cleaning, periodically. In a very busy kitchen, re-wax every four to six months. In a bedroom, you might never need to re-wax.
Moving/Storage
If possible, keep the shipping tube(s). Moving a floorcloth from room to room can be done by one or two people fairly easily if the floorcloth is relatively small. For large floorcloths or to store floorcloths that cannot be stored flat, roll them around a minimum 8” diameter tube with the decorated side on the outside of the roll. Rolling a floorcloth with the decorated side in will cause extreme damage.