How to Clean Hardwood Floors Without Damaging Them

Properly cleaned floors are desired by all and are fortunately not hard to obtain, especially if you stay ahead of your game. Dry mop or vacuum often, put away hard-bristled rugs, sweep, park gritty boots and shoes at the door, and when your floor looks dull, get into all nooks and corners with a damp mop and a high-quality neutral solution.

Hardwood Floor Cleaning And Maintenance

In most households, a typical wooden floor must be cleaned and mopped at least four to six times a year. Methods To Clean And Maintain Your Floors

Choose A Soft-bristled Broom

Like any other job, cleaning tools impact your cleaning activity a lot. So, be preemptive in your approach and choose a bristled broom that can easily reach the corners of the room while being big enough to do the job quickly - moving with the grain, of course.

Vacuum With The Soft Floor Nozzle

Manual carpet beaters and rolling brushes can easily fade and ruin the finishing of the floor. Robot cleaners or vacuums do the job nicely for you; invest in one. Choose the one that will not vacuum itself in the corner and will not require you to stop for recharging it before an hour.

Attack Sticky Debris With Cleaner ASAP

If you spill any sticky debris on your wooden floor, clear it as soon as possible. Squirt a little floor cleaner and use the cloth to vigorously rub the debris. If you don’t like to crouch down, plant the rag on your feet and rub it. Liftoff the dust and pet hair using a microfiber mop. For ideal cleaning, use a mop treated with positive charges so it can lift the negative ion ephemera. Make sure to keep the mop head moving with the grain.

Use A Damp Mop With A Microfiber Pad

Another way to clean your wooden floor safely is by using a damp mop with a flat head or a microfiber pad. Use a microfiber string mop that has been thoroughly wrung up when it looks dingy. Move with the grain and control the amount of cleaning solution used by using a spray bottle. Aim for a heavy spray mist or a gentle squirt of the cleaning solution with an estimation of a half teaspoon per sq feet area. During this process, there is no need to rinse or buff either. Rather a cloth diaper or cleaning soft socks will do the job for you.

Ways To Avoid Major Damage

Don’t Ignore Wet Or Sticky Spills

They won’t go on their own. Just spill a little juice on the floor, don't delay, and clean it immediately. Even if a small ice cube moves under the table, get it out and clean the place at once.

Don’t Bring On The Heavy Equipment

Brooms and other cleaning products from heavy cleaning machines can damage your wooden floor’s finish because they are designed for tougher floors.

Avoid Applying The Wrong Cleaning Product

Wrong cleaning products damage your floor rather than cleaning it. For example, acrylic polish diminish the floor shine while trying to put more on; similarly, murphy oil soap can leave residue on the polyurethane, and paste wax simply makes the floor slippery. Therefore, be careful about the nature of the cleaning products you are using. You can easily find its compatibility with your flooring material by reading the instruction card available with all good quality cleaning products.

No Steam Cleaning

Never steam clean a wooden floor. Save this cleaning technique for tiles, vinyl, and linoleum flooring.

Beware Of The Flooding Zone

Standing water or overly wet mops can leave moisture between the boards and through tiny tears that are formed when the wood shrinks or expands with temperature. Over time the accumulated moisture can damage your flooring wood and produce a foul smell as well.

What Makes Wood Floor Shine?

The use of proper cleaning methods and compatible cleaning products can make your wooden floor last long and maintain its shine. Some of the elements that you should look for when buying ready-made solutions for your wooden floor are;

Solvents: They speed the drying process, minimize the sticky and filmy build-up, reduce the exposure to moisture, and speed up the cleaning process.
Surfactants: They loosen the stubborn grease and hard dirt stains from the floor and emulsify them so they can easily move to the mop head.
Chelators: They help in fighting water and snow-melt salt damage.
Citric Acid: It combines with alkaline materials in the cleaner and forms a less damaging and more effective neutral cleaning solution. As for the cleaning process, it helps remove and break the dirt particles and makes the process quick and easy.
Oxidizers: They are found in extra strength cleaners. They release hydrogen peroxide to clean burst the dirt from long-neglected floor surfaces.