If you have a range of different flooring surfaces throughout your house then you are lucky in most senses. Harder flooring is a very elegant way to finish off a room, and you will no doubt understand that the general maintenance of the floor is a lot easier if it is hard, as opposed to having wall to wall carpeting. There are of course issues in that the hard flooring can be made from a variety of materials, so it is sometimes hard to know how best to clean such things, as certain products or techniques may not be right for certain floor materials. You will perhaps see that a universal treatment of all materials is not likely, but if you can locate the individual problems that occur with such cleaning issues, then you would do well to work towards one. The main issues that occur when cleaning harder floor surfaces are usually one of three - wetness, scratching and chemical issues. Have a look over the following breakdown for all three, to get a good idea as to how you should best clean your hard surface flooring.First off - Wet. How to combat things getting too wet? Well, as a starting point, you will need to use less water! The issue with water on certain materials is that the material is porous, and will therefore accept water into it, soaking it up. The new volume that the material takes on with the water will alter its shape and can change its appearance as well, leading to warping, cracking and staining in some materials. Most materials used on the floor will be treated with a varnish or a gloss, that protects the actual grain of the material from water and friction, but exposure to too much water can still lead to the material soaking up a certain amount of it. You will find that the best way to tackle this is to ensure that your flooring is always water sealed, by coating it with whatever it is finished in fairly regularly, as per the manufacturers instructions. Also, when mopping, use a pretty dry mop, that have been wrung well, which will ensure that no water is left standing on the surface. Scratches are the main problem that people face, as they will lead to the other two problems in many cases. Whilst unsightly, the main issue with a scratched up floor is that the covering or varnish will have been lifted off, and the exposed material is very vulnerable to water or chemical damage. These scratches will usually only be as obvious as they can be because the material beneath the varnish is being stained, and that is in issue in itself. Whilst most scratches are caused by issues other than cleaning, you can avoid causing it with your mop by vacuuming regularly, and ensuring that you have done so just before you mop. You can also ensure that your mop and cleaning product are ‘non-scratching’.Chemical damage is the scariest sounding of the issues at hand with your hard flooring, but in fact, it is fairly easy to combat. It essentially refers to the chemicals in the cleaning products that you use being too acidic or too alkali, and this means that the reaction could cause staining or warping etcetera. To combat this, you need a PH neutral soap, which is fortunately exactly what washing up liquid is! You will find that a couple of drops in warm water, with a well wrung out, non scratching mop head, is really all you need to wash a range of surfaces!