Mop Vs Broom: Which Do You Need?

Cleaning your home might not be exciting but it’s essential. You have different types of cleaning tools at your disposal that make the cleaning process easy.

In this article, we’ll compare two of the most popular cleaning tools, including the mop and broom. It’ll allow you to understand when to use these products efficiently to achieve the most effective cleaning results.

Mop Vs Broom

If you can’t decide whether to use a mop or broom in your house for cleaning purposes, read the following information regarding the two tools carefully.

Broom

A broom is a manual cleaning tool mostly used to sweep up dust and dirt from floors and other surfaces like ceilings and walls. A broom uses its hard, firm bristles to push dirt into a pile, where you then scoop it up and throw it away. Brooms are used on hard floors only.

• There are two primary parts of a broom including the handle and the broom head or brush.The handle of a broom is usually made of wood but there are some products available in the market that come with a metal or plastic handle. 
• The broom head or brush can be made of different materials such as synthetic fibers, corn husks, and straws.

How Does a Broom Work

To use a broom correctly, you need to grab its handle using both hands. Then you need to make contact between the floor and the broom’s bristles and start moving your hands back and forth to sweep up dust and dirt.

It’s important to note that you don’t need to use any detergent or cleaning solution while working with a broom. Unlike most mops, you need to use a broom dry to clean the floors effectively. It also means that you can’t clean stubborn stains and grime stuck to the floor using a broom.

When to Use a Broom

You can use a broom for cleaning purposes when you:

• Need to sweep floors to remove loose dirt, dust, and grit
• Don’t have enough time and need to perform a quick clean-up
• Need to prepare your floor for mopping
• Want to clean up messes, such as crumbs and sugar granules, in the pantry and cabinets
• Need to remove cobwebs from walls and clean fans and attics

Benefits of a Broom

Here’s a list of benefits that a broom offers over a mop.

• More affordable cleaning tool
• Doesn’t need any detergent or cleaning solution to work
• Cleans floors quickly
• Great for cleaning hard-to-reach places
• Easy to use

Tips to Use a Broom

The following are some important tips that you need to keep in mind to use a broom for best results.

• Clean your house daily or at least every other day using a broom.
• Don’t get your broom wet and it’ll damage its bristles and shorten its lifespan.
• You can wash your broom that comes with plastic bristles using sudsy water. But you need to make sure that you don’t store it until the broom’s bristles are completely dry.
• Don’t apply too much downward pressure while using a broom as it’ll lead to permanently worn-out bristles.
• Make sure that all the bristles of a broom touch the floor at the same angle. Otherwise, the bristles making a higher angle with the floor will wear out faster.

Mop

A mop is a cleaning tool that’s used in both residential and commercial buildings to clean floors. Unlike brooms, mops come in varied forms, from dry mops that utilize a pad to wet mops that utilize microfiber or yarn.

There are different types of mops available on the market, such as string mop, flat mop, spin mop, and steam mop, and all of them work with a cleaning solution.

The only exception to this rule is the dust mop that works pretty similar to a broom.

There are three different parts of a mop, including the mop handle, frame, and mop head. The handle of a mop is usually made of metal or wood. But there are products available in the market that come with fiberglass or aluminum handles.

The frame that connects the mop handle to the head is made of high-quality metal with some kind of water-resistant coating. Lastly, microfiber, cotton, and nylon are some common materials used to make mop heads.

Most mops also come with a bucket to hold the cleaning solution that you need for mopping. A mop bucket can also have a built-in wringing mechanism to remove the excess cleaning solution from the mop head.

How Does a Mop Work

First, you need to mix a few drops of a floor cleaner with hot water in a bucket and then dip the mop head in it to let it soak in the cleaning solution. After that, you need to wring the mop thoroughly to make it damp before starting the mopping process.

Don’t use a dripping or wet mop to clean hardwood, vinyl, or laminate floors. That’s because water can damage these floors beyond repair.

When to Use a Mop

You can use a mop when you:

• Need to deep clean your house
• Get rid of stubborn stains and grit stuck to the floor
• Need to clean up wet messes and liquid spills from the floor
• Want to sterilize your floors in addition to cleaning them

Benefits of a Mop

Here’s a list of benefits that a mop offers over a broom.

• Restores the shine of your floor
• Kills bacteria and other germs on floors and provides a healthy environment
• Can prevent scratches that can damage the shiny and smooth finish of your floors
• Mop heads can be replaced, which can save you money in the long run

Tips to Use a Mop

The following tips will help you mop your floors properly and effectively.

• Always sweep your floors using a dust mop or broom to remove loose dust and dirt before mopping.
• Read manufacturer’s recommendations to mix water and floor cleaner using the right ratio.
• Always wring your mop to remove excess water before placing it on the floor.
• Wash and dry your mop and bucket before storing them.
• Don’t step on the floor area that you have already mopped as it’ll cause mop streaks.

Final Words

Both brooms and mops are effective cleaning tools but you need to make sure that you use them correctly. We recommend you have both of these tools in your house cleaning toolkit.

Use a broom daily to sweep your floors in order to get rid of dust, dirt, hairs, pollens, crumbs, and other solid debris.

Use a mop on your floors once a week or every other week for deep cleaning and to remove stubborn stains and grime from the floors.