What is the Best Way to Clean Hardwood Floors?

The best way to clean your wooden flooring is to identify sticky and damaged areas to keep it fresh and shiny for a long time. However, choosing the right tools and cleaning solutions also improves the lastingness of your hardwood floors. So, taking good care of wooden floors is a must. Also, you should be mindful of the weather, like winter or spring cleaning, when taking special care of your floor.  

In this blog, we’ll discuss cleaning your hardwood floors from scratch to finish. So, let’s dig down. 

6 Steps on How To Clean Hardwood Floors

These six steps can make your floor clean, fresh, and shiny in all seasons. For example, prepare the floor before starting cleaning, choose the right tools for cleaning, and choose the right cleaner for stubborn stains. 

Step 1: Prepare the Floor

The very first step to cleaning the hardwood floor is to prepare the floor for cleaning the surface.

On the first hand, remove furniture, rugs, and pets from the area to clear the floor of dirt and particles. Next, sweep or vacuum the floor to remove dirt or other materials. 

Check the floor for sticky spots or damaged spills. Use warm water and a mild dish soap solution to dissolve the sticky area. You can also freeze the gum or wax with an ice pack. 

Step 2: Choose the Right Tools

Picking up the right tools ensures a good quality of cleaning and longevity of your hardwood floors. It can prevent damage, minimize the risk of overwetting, and enhance the shine of the floor. Before starting the cleaning process, you need to collect all the tools in one place. 

Using the right tools confirms that dust or dampening can be removed and that the floor can be mopped without damaging it. Make a checklist of which tools you need to clean your hardwood floor. 

However, if you seem to find difficulties finding the right tools for cleaning up your hardwood floors, these tools can ease your tension a bit:

• Microfiber Mop

• Spray Mop

• Dust Mop 

• Soft Bristled Broom 

• Bucket or spray Bottle

Also, avoid using harsh tools like abrasive brushes or scrubbers, as they can damage the floor's finish. Regular maintenance and deep cleaning can help prevent scratches and spills.

Step 3: Select an Appropriate Cleaner

After selecting the right tools for your hardwood floors, it is time to choose the right cleaner. You can use a pH-neutral cleaner that won’t damage the finish. 

However, you can simply make your own cleaning solutions. A mixture of warm water and a small amount of pH-neutral dish soap can help remove dirt and grime. 

Also, this is a gentle reminder not to use vinegar on wood surfaces. The acid in vinegar can ruin the finish over time. Avoid using a cleaner with any sort of wax or finish on the floor.

Step 4: Clean the Floor

Once you are done preparing the floor, pick the right tools, and clean the solution, Then, start to clean the floor. 

Dip your mopping brush into the cleaning solution and squeeze it hard. Do not leave any excessive water or solutions on the floor. Excessive water or moisture can damage your wooden floors. Make a direction with the grain on the floor. Then, mop the floor following these lines. That will save you from leaving any streaks or water marks on the floor. 

Also, look for the other areas where people walk more, such as doorways, hallways, and kitchens. These areas attract more dirt than other areas and get easily dirty.

Step 5: Dry the Floor

After mopping the floor, you must let it dry to prevent any damage. Use a clean, dry cloth to wipe up any excessive water, especially around the corners of walls and under furniture. These places are hard to reach by air. To dry the floor faster, open the windows or use a fan. 

Also, avoid using a hair dryer to dry the floor quickly. Speeding up the heat can damage the floor's finish. 

Step 6: Polish and Protect

Apply high-quality floor polish to your hardwood floor. Then, let it dry for half an hour, give it another coat, and dry it for another half an hour. That will protect the floor's finish and give it a shiny look. Also, to prevent scratches, place soft pads under the furniture. To move furniture from one place to another, lift them up, but don’t drag them that may leave a few scratches on the hardwood floor. 

How Often to Clean Hardwood Floors?

To keep your hardwood floor clean and shining, you need to clean it regularly. Simply remove the dirt that comes by if doors or windows are open. Sweep daily or dust mop. There could be loose dirt, dust, or pet hair on the floor. 

Vacuum the entire floor once a week to keep it clean. This helps remove any clingy dirt or debris that may not work with a broom or brush. 

Mop the floor twice or thrice a week with clean water and a small amount of pH-neutral hardwood floor cleaner. That will remove any germs from your floor. Also, while mopping the floor, don't stand on it. 

If you want your hardwood floor to shine all the time, you should give it a deep cleaning once a month, especially in the traffic areas. The entire floor should be cleaned, reaching into every corner and under furniture. Use a cleaner that is best suited for your wooden floor.

How to Maintain Hardwood Floors?

Having hardwood floors needs regular maintenance. Also, they can be damaged easily if you don’t take good care of them. So, to keep your hardwood floor healthy and shiny, you should maintain these following tricks: 

• Regular Cleaning: To keep your wooden floor clean and shining, clean your floor on a daily basis such as by brushing, mopping, and sweeping.

• Avoid Excess Moisture: Always pay close attention if any liquid spills on the floor, if so, then mop the floor with a clean cloth instantly. 

• Protect from Scratches: To protect your wood floors from scratches, use felt pads under furniture legs and area rugs in high-traffic areas where people tend to walk around and get crowded more.

• Use the Right Products: Use pH-neutral cleaners for hardwood floors. Clean your floor with microfiber mops to protect the finish.

• Control the Environment: Use a humidifier in winter to prevent dryness, and use curtains or blinds to block direct sunlight.

• Schedule Professional Maintenance: For a smooth finish, you can seek help from a professional team. They can inspect major issues, clean deeply and provide a smooth finish.

• Establish Good Habits: Clean the floor regularly, avoid water damage, protect them from scratches, and control the environment.

Conclusion

If you want a super shiny and clean hardwood floor, you should consider doing these, such as cleaning up the floor regularly, just like sweeping or brushing the floor. Picking up the right tools and cleaners is the game changer when you have a wooden floor. After cleaning, you need to dry the floor so that any footprints don’t lie on your floor. You may hire a professional cleaning service to work faster and get the work done in the right way. There are several benefits of hiring the professional teams. 

However, cleaning the hardwood floor seems a hard task. Also, it needs to maintain all this mixture accordingly. If you do not clean in the right way, you can mess things up and damage your floor.  So, if you don’t want to damage your priceless floor, let Collective Cleaning Service handle it all. We will help you clean the floor and restore the shine.